Sindh Forest Department on Thursday made a world record planting over one million saplings of the mangrove species in a day in district Thatta in a day. However, the media was not given access to witness the plantation drive for the reason best known to the concerned authorities.
The earlier record was plantation of 847,275 saplings by Sindh Forest Department in 2013 at Kharo Chaan, Thatta district that also remained intact. The forest department officials said their current attempt was to plant at least 1,000,000 (one million) saplings of the mangrove species; however, they claimed planters successfully planted 1,129,294 till the given time.
As per standard fixed guidelines mandated from the GWR authorities, the record had to be set in 24-hour period by 300 planters only during the daylight which, according to the officials, was successfully achieved. Earlier, Secretary Forest Sohail Akbar Shah said since we would be attempting the record in estuarine inter-tidal mudflats, the availability of maximum time is critical.
Taking assistance from the Tidal Data of the Pakistan Navy, the most suitable 19th April 2018 was chosen to avail maximum daylight ie around 12.5 hours. So, in real time we attempted from 6:30 AM to 7:00 PM, Pakistan Standard Time. He confirmed to have planted as many as 1,129,294 till the given time.
PPP chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari and Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah separately planted saplings in the small island located in the sea at Keti Bandar. The chief minister spoke at the ceremony at Keti Bandar. He said purpose of their attempt was to highlight and showcase the importance of Indus Delta Mangroves, its affiliated biodiversity and most importantly the communities dependent on this precious but threatened ecosystem. "Our experience of the GWR 2009 and 2013 has brought the coastal areas into limelight and socio development activities are on the rise in these areas," he said.