World Wide Funds for Nature-Pakistan (WWF-P) hails the suo motu action taken by the Supreme Court (SC) of Pakistan on cutting of the trees on both side of the canal for widening of the road.
Director General WWF-P, Ali Hassan Habib, while appreciating the decision of Supreme Court, said that no developmental project should be initiated at the cost of environment and also without conducting EIA (Environmental Impact Assessment).
He also stressed that the people at helm of affairs must make sure that the environmental laws are implemented in letter and spirit as weak implementation of laws play havoc with environment. He added that cutting of trees is not a viable solution for solving the increasing traffic problem.
WWF-P is not against development work but it will continue to raise its voice at any such developmental initiative that can harm the environment, he added.
"With one of the highest rates of deforestation in the world, Pakistan's forests are in urgent need of protection and conservation. Pakistan is a semi arid country with less than 5-percent of its area under forest cover.
He said that the WWF-P hopes that the Supreme Court would help stop the damage being caused to the environment through various developmental projects.
Meanwhile, the WWF-P and the Punjab Wildlife and Parks Department signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for conservation of vulture species in Pakistan. The Secretary Forest, Wildlife and Fisheries, Major Iqbal Ahmad and Director General WWF-Pakistan, Ali Hassan Habib and Imtiaz Tajwar, Director General Punjab Wildlife and Parks Department signed the MoU.
This project aims to set up a captive breeding facility for the critically endangered white backed vulture species at Changa Manga and also to conduct a thorough survey of the remaining colonies of the species in Punjab.
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