PR No. 63 Islamabad: November 13th, 2018

Adviser to PM on Climate Change Mr Amin Aslam chaired a meeting on Conference of the parties (COP-24th) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change UNFCCC) today. The meeting was attended by the Chairman Prime Minister Youth Program Mr. Usman Dar, Secretary Climate Change Shahrukh Nusrat, Secretary Forest Punjab Mohammad Asif and other representatives of forest department form Punjab and KPK province. Mr. Amin Aslam said that after the successful completion of Billion Tree Tsunami in the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, now the Tehreek- e- Insaf government in the center will implement the project across the country. The project aims at mobilizing the community and encouraging them to participate fully for Clean and Green environment and for their financial benefit. The departmental heads from the Ministry of Forest of Punjab and Khyber Pakhtoonkhwa made a presentation of the proposed models/PC 1 for tree plantation, irrigation/watering, monitoring/guarding and cost/expenditure for a period of five years. The representative of Punjab Forest department briefed the adviser about the proposed model/ mechanism for mass forestation in the province of Punjab. Accordingly it was proposed that land could be acquired for a specified time form private/ independent owners and from government ministries i.e Railway, Postal, Forest etc for mass a forestation and after the completion of gestation period the land could be handed back to the owner for maintenance. According to PC1 the Punjab province will plant 437.041 million trees at an expected cost of Rs. 34.297 billion, mounting to Rs.78.47 per plant. The representative of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Forest department had a past experience of mass tree plantation in the previous government of Pakistan Tareek-e-Insaf and came with a model of Woodlots/ Owner’s plantation ( 1 hay to 20 hay) planting through owners on their land .The woodlot will be raised over an area of 20016 hectors. The objective of woodlot plantation will be to enable community land owners to raise multipurpose fast growing tree species (poplar and eucalyptus trees) to meet local needs of fuel and timber besides easing the job of forest department by planting small piece of land. The woodlot model will transfer skills and technology of raising woodlots to the community and improve the livelihood of land owners. The projected cost per plant will be Rs 44 for dry areas and Rs 17 for rainy areas of province Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Chairman Prime Minister Youth Program Mr. Usman Dar said that Prime Minister soon will launch PM Youth Nursery Initiatives wherein young students will be engaged to participate fully in Billion Tree Tsunami Project under Clean Green Pakistan. The PM Youth Nursery will encourage young people to engage in tree plantation and acquaint themselves to the importance of clean environment and the initiatives will provide space for youth to experience the changing environmental impact in Pakistan. Mr. Amir Naeem and Ms. Simi Khan a senior Group Head from Pakistan Poverty Alleviation Fund briefed the adviser about the policies and practices adopted and implemented by the Pakistan Poverty Alleviation Fund in poverty alleviation in different districts and union of Pakistan and also how the poverty alleviation will participate to make the billion tree project viable.

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