ISLAMABAD – Adviser to Prime Minister on Climate Change Malik Amin Aslam Tuesday categorically said to ensure transparency and timely execution of the Ten Billion Tree Tsunami (BTT) initiative “Third Party Monitoring and Evaluation” was inevitable.
He chaired the meeting of inter-provincial and inter-ministerial for Spring Tree Plantation Campaign 2019, which was attended by the representatives from all the provinces, said a press release issued here.
The representative from Forest Department of all the provinces comprehensively briefed Malik Amin Aslam about the previous year’s achieved targets and the newly set targets for the current year.
The adviser had directed all provincial forest departments to formulate a memorandum of understanding (MoU) or terms of reference (TORs) for setting up uniformity in the project.
However, till the end of February, all provincial forest departments should fix the day to kick off the project for the ongoing year’s spring season. A target of five million trees for plantation was set for the first day of Spring this year, he added.
The Adviser on Climate Change inquired about the monitoring and survival ratio of the trees previously planted and the modus operandi that all provincial forest departments had implemented.
The representative apprised the adviser that various measures had been taken for monitoring and evaluation of the planted trees that includes forest employees monitoring, drone surveillance, assistance from World Wildlife Fund (WWF), Pakistan Space and Upper Atmosphere Research Commission (SUPARCO), Department of Planning and Development, Directorate of Monitoring.
The tree plantation targets achieved in the previous year by Punjab forestry-department was 12.83 million, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa forestry department was 18.06 million, Sindh forestry department 11 million, Balochistan forestry department 0.36 million, Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) forestry department 3.25 million, Gilgit Baltistan forestry department 0.08 million, erstwhile Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) forestry department 6.72 million, National Highway Authority (NHA) 0.25 million, and ministry of Defence 1.7 million, the press release said.
However, the new target set by Punjab Forest Department for the Spring season 2019 was 12 million, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa 100 million, Balochistan 1.2 million, AJK 4.881, and Ministry of Defence 2 million trees and total numbers of trees that would be planted throughout the country in the Spring season would be 142.60 million, it added.
The meeting was attended by additional secretary Ministry of Climate Change Baber Hayat Tarar, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUNC) Country Director Muhammad Akber, Balochistan Secretary Forest Muhammad Saeed, Chief Conservator of Forests (CCF) Balochistan Abdul Jabbar, Director administration Pakistan Aeronautical Complex (PAC) Kamra, Malik Mumtaz, Director Environment Capital Development Authority (CDA) Irfan Niazi, Secretary Forest Sindh Abdul Rahim, Chairman Forest Gilgit Baltistan Khadim Abbas, Joint Secretary Ministry of Defence Noreen Bashir and other representatives of Forest Department from provinces.
