By Ali Imran
ISLAMABAD: Special Assistant to Prime Minister (SAPM) on Climate Change, Malik Amin Aslam has said that the civil society organizations need to play role in highlight steps taken by the government to increase forest covered area in the country and climate-resilience at national and sub-national levels.
Addressing a tree plantation ceremony held here on Sunday in upscale locality in collaboration with a civil society organization, he was of the view that when forests are managed sustainably, it can grow healthy and it also can provide essential goods and services to the people worldwide. Malik Amin Aslam further stated that the forests hold key importance in all aspects and their significance cannot be underestimated or exaggerated.
“We rely on forests for our survival right from the air we breathe. Being backbone of natural ecosystems and habitats for animals and source of livelihoods for humans, forests also offer watershed protection, prevent soil erosion, fight environmental degradation, air pollution, improve human health and address devastating fallouts of global climate crisis,†he explained.
The Special Assistant to PM stressed that it was, thus, imperative that all forces and segments of the civil society play their part in increasing the country’s forest cover to make Pakistan clean, green and climate-resilient.
He also urged the civil society organizations, particularly educational institutions, to join the incumbent government’s largest-ever afforestation initiative Ten Billion Tree Tsunami Programme (TBTTP) launched under Prime Minister Imran Khan’s vision for clean and green Pakistan.
Malik Amin Aslam said that there are so far many success stories, which have emerged as a result of the implementation of TBTTP. For instance, the afforestation programme has help raise Pakistan’s importance and drawn global appreciation for it as a serious and committed country in fighting the adverse impacts of climate change on human society and the natural ecosystems, he added.
