KARACHI – The National Forum for Environment and Health (NFEH) has demanded the federal and provincial governments to adopt the tree plantation drive in the country as an integral part of the national agenda while setting aside all their mutual political differences.
The NFEH President, Naeem Qureshi, stated this in a press statement issued on Wednesday on the eve of Earth Day being observed all over the world.
Mr. Qureshi mentioned on the occasion that the theme of this year’s Earth Day was “Restore our earth” as conducing the countrywide plantation drive was the best, most effective, quickest way available in the country to do the same.
He said the campaigns like 10 Billion Tree Tsunami or urban forest drives should be wholeheartedly adopted and pursued by all the federal and provincial governments in the country without taking into account their mutual differences.
He said the tree plantation campaigns should become an essential part of the national action plan among other components like those related to the anti-terrorism and anti-money laundering strategy.
He said the tree plantation campaign should be extensively carried out in the country, as otherwise, there was no way out available to tackle the menacing problem of environmental pollution in the country.
The NFEH President said the unchecked industrial and vehicular emissions had been causing irreparable damage to the environment as resultantly the cause to restore our earth becomes much more challenging.
He said the federal government’s 10 Billion Tree Tsunami plan and the Sindh government’s urban forest programme should supplement each other and should be run in a harmonious manner.
He said that much work had still to be done to improve green cover in the country as mutual political differences shouldn’t come in the way of making progress on such campaigns of national importance.
The political leadership in the country should sit together and find a consensus strategy to carry out the tree plantation campaign in the same manner the national action plan was earlier adopted against terrorism with complete unanimity, Mr. Qureshi added.
