KP's Billion Tree Tsunami Project progressing at a staggering pace
PTI Chairman Imran Khan assures that WWF has declared 85 per cent of the campaign successful.
Dunya News Report (Humaira Sajid)
HARIPUR- While talking to media after inaugurating the billion tree tsunami in Haripur on Saturday, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Chairman Imran Khan assured that WWF has declared 85 per cent of the campaign as successful.
During a briefing by the Environment Secretary Syed Nazar Hussain Shah and representatives of the International Monitoring Organization, World Wildlife Fund (WWF), officials of WWF presented findings of a monitoring report that had scientifically monitored 50 per cent of the implemented target in 28 forests and 10 watershed divisions. The WWF officials disclosed that the survival rate of the newly planted sapling was recorded at 82pc. Amid the appraisal of the initiative for growing 1bn trees and controlling deforestation, the WWF representatives termed BTTP an ambitious, sincere and committed initiative for protecting ecological environment.
Chairman Imran Khan has stated that more than 11 crore trees have been planted in Khyber Pakhtoonkhwa (KPK) and further 1.2 billion trees will be planted in the province by 2018, thus making the jungles 10 times larger than the ones in Changa Manga.
In response to the recent criticism raised on KP’s Billion Tree project by Chief spokesperson for the federal government, Information Minister Senator Pervez Rashid, PTI chairman accused the federal government of wasting funds on metro bus service and the orange train project. He also raised the issue timber mafia that had constructed buildings on the forest land and unconcerned behavior of the Punjab government to take an action against them.
At the Makhniyal village of Haripur District, the KP Chief Minister Pervez Khattak and PTI Chairman Imran Khan were briefed about the ‘Billion Tree Tsunami’ project and it was stated that the KP government has so far planted 115 million saplings and sown seeds at a cost of Rs1, 578m. The briefing further stated that an amount of Rs9, 826m has been allocated for phase II of the project which was launched last year and would conclude in 2018 with the targeted plantation of one billion saplings.
Early in December the chief spokesperson for the federal government Pervez Rashid said Imran Khan’s statement of planting 100 million trees was just an addition to his false claims. While addressing the press conference in Lahore, Pervez Rashid said that the PTI leader did not provide any details about the massive workforce required, mode of purchase, and the transportation of such a huge number of saplings. “When did this gigantic task take place?” the minister questioned. He said: “Either there was no existence of these trees, or the resources of the KP government were being plundered under the garb of ‘100 million trees’.”
This eventually triggered a counterargument from PTI spokesperson Dr. Shireen Mazari who criticized Pervez Rashid and said: “Unfortunately, PML-N cannot think beyond concretized projects like the metro or the Orange Line, which threatens to destroy the nation’s rich cultural heritage.” She said if requested by the minster KP government can take him to the plantation sites so he can see the Billion Tree Tsunami project for himself. “After all, it is not a fake project like the Nandipur project was,” she added.
Dr. Shireen Mazari also requested the senator to realize KP government’s relentless efforts concerning environmental preservation and a strong vision to take actions against climate change. She referred to the Prime Minister’s speech as uninspiring at the recently held Climate Change Conference in Paris and said: “While Prime Minister Sharif had no concrete specific proposal to put up at the Climate Change Conference in Paris, PTI’s Amin Aslam gave a presentation on the Billion Tree Tsunami project at the pavilion of the IUCN in Paris as part of the Climate Change Conference.”
The government of Khyber Pakhtoonkhwa assigned Rs15 Billion for the Billion Tree Tsunami Project and it was acknowledged and formally registered by under the global Bonn Challenge, a voluntary regime set up under the UNFCCC umbrella for restoring 350 million hectares of forests around the world. With the help of this project, KPK became the first sub-national entity in the world to enter this monitored regime, which also includes big forest countries such as the US, India and Brazil. a
At the Climate COP21 meeting in Paris, K-P was honored as one of the global “forest restoration leaders” along with Mexico, Honduras, Costa Rica and India — all voluntarily carrying out large afforestation and forest preservation projects to tackle global climate change.
