Year 2021 to be called year of trees, says Sindh's forest minister

KARACHI: Sindh’s minister for forests Nasir Hussain Shah said Monday in view of the committee on forests formed by the Supreme Court of Pakistan, they will mark the year 2021 as the year of trees by planting as many saplings as possible, ARY News reported.

We welcome the forest committee by SCP, Nasir Hussain Shah said earlier today and added that the oncoming year will be known as the year of trees in Sindh as the provincial government has recovered hundreds of thousands of acres owned by the forest department.

The leases of land handed out by the department in the years 2005-06 as per to Forest Policy have now been rescinded, the provincial minister with portfolios of local bodies, information, and forests.

In order to set in place a database of Sindh forests, the provincial government has sought the help of GIS satellite survey and added that with the instructions of PPP chairman Bilawal Bhutto, various projects are underway to transform Sindh into a green province.

We have trifurcated the forestation project in Sindh comprising, a) Urban Forests, b) Green Sindh, c) Green Pakistan, Hussain said.

If there’s any manifestation of the Billion Trees project, it’s in Sindh, the provincial minister said adding that the projects include planting mangroves across coastal areas to the tune to millions.

READ: Governor SBP inaugurates Polyculture Forest, Museum Laboratory

In a relevant development earlier this year, the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) governor Dr. Reza Baqir inaugurated the Polyculture Forest at Pakistan Security Printing Corporation (PSPC) Karachi and a Paper Conservation Laboratory.

According to the SBP, he was briefed about the project in detail by the management. The Polyculture Forest is inspired by the incumbent government’s priority of encouraging people, communities, organizations, businesses, and civil society to collectively plant trees and thus play their part in improving climatic conditions.