Pakistani province plants one billion trees to help slow down effects of global warming

[El_Swordsmen]

Cricket-star turned politician Imran Khan launched the green initiative in Khyber Pakhtunkhaw after vast areas ravaged by floods and widespread felling.

A province in Pakistan has planted a billion trees in just two years as part of an effort to restore forests wiped out by decades of felling and natural disasters such as floods.

Cricket-star turned politician Imran Khan, who heads the political party Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), launched the green mission in Khyber Pakhtunkhaw in the north-west of the country.
Mr Khan said the mission, which is part of an international forest restoration challenge, was achieved ahead of its December deadline.

The project – dubbed Billion Tree Tsunami – aims to slow down the effects of global warming in Pakistan which ranks in the Top 10 in a list of countries most likely to be affected by the phenomenon.
And the effort in the province, which lies in the Hindu Kush mountain range, has surpassed an international commitment after it restored 350,000 hectares of forests and degraded land.

The work in Khyber Pakhtunkhaw was focussed along the area beside the Gambila River, in the Bannu District, where vast swathes of forest were wiped out in the past after its banks broke.

The Billion Tree Tsunami was completed this month ahead of the deadline set for December 2017 and is expected to be extended across Pakistan.

It comes after decades of tree felling have reduced the country’s forests to less than 3 per cent of its land area. About 40 per cent of the remaining forests are in the north-western province.

Mr Khan said: “If you plant trees, we have discovered, by the river banks it sustains the rivers. But most importantly, the glaciers that are melting in the mountains, and one of the biggest reasons is because there has been a massive deforestation. So, this billion tree is very significant for our future.”

The PTI party head launched the green project in Khyber Pakhtunkhaw as part of an international goal that calls for the global restoration of 150 million hectares of deforested and degraded lands by 2020, and 350 million hectares by 2030.

The International Union for Conservation of Nature set up the Bonn Challenge in 2011 and more than 20 countries have so far signed up to the commitment.

The organisation congratulated Mr Khan on reaching a “momentous milestone”.

A statement read: “This marks the first Bonn Challenge pledge to reach its restoration goal.”


http://www.independent.co.uk/news/w...e-imran-khan-khyber-pakhtunkhaw-a7892176.html

 

[NeonNinja]

They are doing a great job for future generations

 

[Dotachin]

Noble effort, but we are past the stage where planting trees can help solve global warming. Only solution is shifting to clean energy and quit fossils all together.

 

[Dr. Abdul Basit]

Noble effort, but we are past the stage where planting trees can help solve global warming. Only solution is shifting to clean energy and quit fossils all together.

Agreed but that will lead to an economic disaster for country and investers and also the whole world at large,

 

[Danish saleem]

may i saw one pic in which only 10000 trees visible? i hope these trees not planted in twitter and FB!

 

[flameboard]

may i saw one pic in which only 10000 trees visible? i hope these trees not planted in twitter and FB!

they weren't planted in the same place

 

[Clutch]

 

[STRANGER BIRD]

Transformation of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa landscape from Gray to Green

 

[Solomon2]

Efforts to maintain forests are no bad thing, global warming or no.

An old German law was for each newly-married couple to plant ten trees for future generations but while that slowed things down it wasn't enough. And care has to be taken to do it right: a poorly-planned reforestation effort can result in short-lived trees and a denuded topsoil.

So I do not find the pictures above encouraging. I don't know what trees these are but they appear to be planted too closely together to survive more than a few years. If so, I hope it's just nurseries and the trees will be transplanted later.