Prime Minister Imran Khan on Friday said that the country needs to work together to reverse the harmful and threatening effects of smog that plagues cities like Lahore as a consequence of its urbanisation.
“The forest cover of Lahore has been reduced by 70 per cent in the last 12-13 years,” said the premier, due to which Lahore now faced the issue of smog particularly during the month of February. “If this kind of consistent smog remains, it reduces the [average] lifespan by 6-11 years.”
“Global research has shown that you can’t quantify the long term effects of smog on society,” he said, and also expressed the government’s resolve to change this practice and reverse the negative effects of rapid urbanisation.
PM Imran said that he has seen the city transform right before his eyes, lamenting that as the population grew, planning was not done to accommodate the city’s burgeoning needs.
“No one ever cared before, and now all these effects are before you which we are setting out to reverse,” he said.
The above was said during the launch of the countrywide spring tree plantation drive wherein PM Imran urged the whole nation to join it for their children’s future.
“We need to bring in a culture which encourages tree plantation,” the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) Lahore branch said in a tweet.
جیلانی پارک لاہور میں اربن فارسٹ کے آغاز کی تقریب سے وزیراعظم @ImranKhanPTI کا خطاب:#Plant4Pakistan
— PTI Punjab (Official) (@PTIPunjabPK) February 12, 2021
“The whole nation should take part in it because this is a question of our children’s future. All including school children, university and college students should be made part of it. Allocate them specific areas for protection of plants,” the prime minister said while addressing the launching ceremony of spring tree plantation at Miyawalki Urban Forest at Jilani Park.
Advisor to Prime Minister on Climate Change Malik Amin Aslam, Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar, Punjab Minister Mian Mahmood Rasheed and Special Assistant to CM Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan attended the event.
The prime minister unveiled a plaque and planted a sapling to launch the plantation as part of government’s efforts to accomplish the target of 10 billion trees during the five-year term.
The premier said that the children’s participation in 10 Billion Tree was essential to protect their future.
On the occasion, PM Imran lamented that in parliamentary democracies, the previous governments had been more concerned with their election victory and so they had only executed short-term projects to win votes.
He maintained that long term planning was needed for any country’s development and cited the example of China, which had started massive plantation in the country and also introduced green cities to suppress the pollution caused by massive development.
He also quoted the example of Singapore, where the main river there was “nothing but sewerage” before but now lies transformed today the the country’s prime minister set out on a mission to make the city state more environmentally friendly.
“That same river has fish swimming in it today,” he said.
“You have chosen 50 sites to implement the Miyawaki concept whereby a jungle that grew in 50 years previously will now grow in 10 or 20 years. So this is an excellent first step,” he said.
The Jilani Park’s Miyawalki Forest is one of the 51 sites being developed in Lahore to revive the city’s greenery and address the issues of pollution, particularly the smog.
The other sites where forests are being developed include Jilani Park, Bahria Park, Township, Pathrowonwali Park, Arjun Road and Bilal Park in Green Town, Qarshi Park, Ghalib Market Park, Main Park, Main Boulevard and Aslam Riaz Park in Gulberg, Block H-1 Park, Phase II, Sabzazaar, Block E-1 Masjid Ya Rasool Allah Park, Gulshan-e-Ravi, Saggian Park 1, Jallo Botanical Garden, Canal Road (Harbanspura to Fatehgarh), Jallo to BRB Canal, Tajbagh, Triangle Park near the railway station, Sher Shah Block Park, Garden Town, Main Park of Shadman Market, Wasa Office, Shadman, Gulshan-e-Ravi Park, Gulshan-e-Iqbal Park, Kareem Block and Moon Market parks in Allama Iqbal Town, Ayubia Market Park, Muslim Town, B-1 Block Park, Johar Town, International Market M-block, Model Town Extension, Canal Road, greenbelt Fatehgarh to Harbanspura, Circular Garden, Rewaz Garden, Family Park, Faisal Town, Qainchi Park Ferozepur Road, Greater Iqbal Park, G-1 Market Johar Town, Begum Kot Triangle Shahdara and Halloki interchange.
Pioneered by a Japanese botanist Akira Miyawaki, Miyawalki is a unique technique that helps build native forests 10 times faster and 30 times denser. Under the approach, dozens of native species are planted in the same area, close to each other, which ensures that the plants receive sunlight only from the top, and grow upwards than sideways.
