PAKISTAN POWERS PLANTING

PAKISTAN : Captain Imran Khan - the Prime minster of Pakistan on Sunday launched a countrywide drive to plant 10 billion trees across the country in five years, to counter the challenges of global warming and deforestation.

The prime minister inaugurated the  ''10 billion trees tsunami''  drive by planting a sapling of deodar in the Makhniyal area where he had also kicked off the  ''billion tree tsunami''  project of the KP government in 2015.

The first day of the drive was observed as  ''Plant for Pakistan Day''  when around around  1.5 million saplings were planned to be planted in a single day across the country.

Talking to reporters after launching the drive, the prime minister said Pakistan would would be the  seventh  most affected country by global warming so enhancing forest cover was crucial.

The plantation drive was crucial for generations to come, he said, adding that it was the  fight for  life and death. He said though this plantation season about to end, the government would keep up striving to make this initiative a success.

In reply to a question,the prime minister said tree plantation was not solely the government's job, rather  it was about the whole of mankind and the whole nation.

''Everyone must take part in the campaign to plant trees else the land will turn into a desert as the glaciers are already melting away owing to global warming.''

He said the massive plantation would also help address the challenge of growing pollution, like smog. He said unfortunately that  timbers worth Rs 200 billion were axed during the previous decade. [AFP]