Feburary 14, 2010:Hyderabad
Gift to Mother Earth
WWF’s Indus for All Programme and Indus Development
Organization planted saplings of various tree species at Railo Mian
Forest near Jamshoro as sign of love and affection to earth. The
ceremony was attended by representatives of civil society
organizations, writers, teachers, students and local community.
Speaking on the occasion the Programme Coordinator Indus of Indus for
All Proramme Nasir Ali Panhwar said that people of Sindh has
established new trend by declaring tree plantation day on the
valentine day. He said that about twenty thousand saplings has been
planted in a day in four sites of the Programme including Keti
Bunder, Keenjhar, Chotiari and Pai Forest He said that environment
community was in minority as a whole but such kind of mass
participation in tree plantation campaign would bring positive
results. He said that ideally, 25 percent of the total area of the
country should be under forest but ironically forests exist only on
4.8 percent area as per official figures. He said that due to host of
reasons forest coverage is declining in Sindh. Prof. Mushtaque Mirani
said that the agro forestry needs to be promoted and efforts should be
made to stop further deforestation in the province. He said that
government should ensure that trees along the various canals are
protected. Prof. Badar Soomro said that due to global warming, climate
is changing and trees would play vital role in maintaining ecology. He
said that young generation needs to be sensitized. Aijaz Abro said
that tree cutting is considered criminal act in civilized world as
trees add to the beauty of the country and help improve the
environment, ecology and quality of the life. He said that valentine
day is celebrated to commemorate the love and affection of the
dearest. The valentine sentiments can be offered to a beloved, a
mother, a father and any body whom we love. He said that our soil is
our mother, thus we offer her a gift of tree to nurture and enrich
her. He said that it is one of the major source of the building
industry and it employees millions of people in the timber industry
across the world. Zain Daudpoto said that illegal occupation on forest
area should be removed and government should ensure that no further
illegal occupation takes place. He said that local community needs to
be empowered to protect the forests. Shoukat Soomro, Aftab Akhund,
Shoukat Memon, Shahid Panhwar, Lutuf Shah, Marvi Panhwar and others
also spoke on the occasion. On this occasion three hundred sapling
were planted.
For further Information:
Nasir Ali Panhwar
, Programme Coordinator,
Indus for All Programme, WWF – Pakistan
Contact: 0300 3079491,
napanhwar@gmail.com
Muhammad Zafar Khan
, Manager Communications and Environmental Education
Contact: 0300-3495901
, email: zafar.hilbi@gmail.com
Badrunnisa Tunio,
Communications Officer,
Indus for All Programme, WWF – Pakistan
arshi_mtunio@yahoo.com
