The Depart-ment of Forests, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has sown 9.820 million saplings of different species that would be planted during spring tree plantation campaign 2012 with special focus on Malakand, Hazara and southern circles to arrest the effects of climatic change, global warming and desertification in the province.
Chief Minister Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Ameer Haider Khan Hoti and Environment Minister Wajid Ali Khan are likely to inaugurate the campaign in the third week of the current month for which arrangements have already been finalised. According to officials of the department, a total of 9.820million fit planting stock are available to make spring tree plantation drive a success.
The Department are sending the required fit samplings stock to all stakeholders including government departments, defence forces, NGOs, educational institutions, watershed areas, farmers and Forest Department across the province to make KP lush green. The federal government has given a target o7.2 million tree plantation to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa for spring season, disclosed the official.
The province, he said, had been divided into six circles namely Southern, Lower Hazara, Upper Hazara, Watershed Project, Malakand East and Malakand West wherein 2.074 million, 2.169million, 1.105million, 0.771million, 2.124million and 1.577million samplings would be planted with help of different institutions and stakeholders respectively. The services of armed forces, VDCs, civil bodies organisations and farmers is being utilised to bring maximum areas under forest and vegetative cover in KP to combat desertification, global warming and climate change issue that are posing great threats to the environment of third world countries.