Daily Times

Sindh’s Minister for Forests Nasir Hussain Shah said on Monday that in view of the committee on forests formed by the Supreme Court of Pakistan, they will mark the year 2021 as the year of trees by planting as many saplings as possible.

“We welcome the forest committee formed by the SCP,” Nasir Hussain Shah said and added that the upcoming year will be known as the year of trees in Sindh as the provincial government has recovered hundreds of thousands of acres owned by the forest department.

The leases of land handed out by the department in the years 2005-06 as per to Forest Policy have now been rescinded, the provincial minister said. In order to set in place a database of Sindh forests, the provincial government has sought the help of GIS satellite survey and added that with the instructions of PPP chairman Bilawal Bhutto, various projects are underway to transform Sindh into a green province.

“We have trifurcated the forestation project in Sindh as urban forests, green Sindh and Green Pakistan,” Hussain said.

He claimed if there’s any manifestation of the Billion Trees project, it’s in Sindh, saying that the projects include planting mangroves across coastal areas to the tune of millions. In a relevant development earlier this year, the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) governor Dr. Reza Baqir inaugurated the Polyculture Forest at Pakistan Security Printing Corporation (PSPC) Karachi and a Paper Conservation Laboratory.