Sir: Forests play a very important role in improving air quality. Trees are mandatory if you need a clean and cool environment. According to the US Department of Agricultural (USDP), forests take six tons of carbon dioxide and provide four tons of oxygen. Experts of the field are of the opinion that forest cover should account for around 20 to 25 percent of every country’s overall area. Unfortunately, Pakistan only has 4.8 percent coverage at around 4.22 million ha. The larger cities are in terrible shape, and in the province of Balochistan, you can probably count the trees, if you make an effort. With time this situation is going to worsen. The temperature is going high every day because of the lack of trees. However, it seems like we have not learned our lesson yet since everyday forest cover is becoming smaller and smaller. These days even our leaders keep talking about growing plants, but it does not seem like they are doing much. We need to grow trees and plants as a matter of emergency! JALIL AHMED PHULAIN Kech Published in Daily Times, June 10th 2018.