ISLAMABAD: President Dr Arif Alvi Saturday urged the youth to play a role and become a part of the government’s campaign to stave off disastrous global heating through the ambitious Billion Tree Tsunami programme.
Addressing a ceremony related to the monsoon tree plantation drive in Islamabad, the president said the onus to keep the environment clean and green now rested on the young shoulders and expressed the confidence they would carry this burden and secure Pakistan’s future.
He stressed the adoption of eco-friendly routines at the scenic and tourist spots by properly disposing of trash and garbage.
On the occasion, the president along with his spouse, Samina Alvi, also planted saplings of Chir Pine.
Minister of State for Climate Change Zartaj Gul, Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Climate Change Malik Amin Aslam and a large number of people also attended the ceremony.
The president observed that young people had to play an active role in the plantation drive as it had always been the youth that changed the future course of nations.
Sharing his past experiences prior to becoming the president, he said they had distributed 100,000 saplings among different households in Karachi, giving away 100,000 seeds laden pencils among the students asking them to plant them in pots.
The president noted that human footprints had proved heavy on nature as the indiscriminate use of pesticides and insecticides had already eliminated a large number of insects which played a vital role in the pollination process.
He also lauded the efforts of both ministers in spearheading the plantation drive.
The president said the government’s efforts and strategy over Covid-19 and the tree plantation drive had proved very successful and acknowledged by the world.
He also underlined the need of keeping tourists spots in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Gilgit-Baltistan clean and green as recently these places had attracted millions of tourists.
Earlier, Aslam briefed Alvi about the ongoing monsoon tree plantation drive under the Billion Tree Tsunami initiative.
He said about 500 million saplings will be planted across Pakistan as a target set for monsoon plantations.
The attendees also planted a number of different saplings in the green area.
