Punjab Assembly Speaker Urged People To Make Pledge On World Environment Day To Make Scheme Of Planting 10 Billion Trees Successful.
Punjab Assembly Speaker Ch Pervaiz Elahi Has Urged The People To Make A Pledge On The Occasion Of World Environment Day To Make The Scheme Of Planting 10 Billion Trees Successful. He stated this on Saturday while addressing a ceremony held in a hotel in connection World Environment Day by Environment Protection Department in collaboration with WWF-Pakistan. The event was hosted by Provincial Minister for Environmental Protection M Rizwan.
Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi, chief guest of the ceremony, said that World Environment Day was being observed all over the world and it was a matter of great pride for Pakistanis that Prime Minister Imran Khan was hosting World Environmental Day due to the stable policy of Pakistan. He said it was encouraging that Pakistan had issued Green Eurobonds worth Rs500 million worth which would be a source of success for the upcoming generations and it would be possible to achieve a green Pakistan only through green financing.
Environment Minister M Rizwan said, unfortunately, Pakistan was one of the 10 countries being severely affected by the growing effects of global warming.
He said today there was a need for everyone to play their full role in preventing global warming because for the last several decades no long-term planning had been done to curb the environmental pollution. In fact, rapid deforestation and rapid growth in the urban sector have severely damaged the environment in the country. However, it is fortunate that since the formation of the PTI government, serious efforts have been made to control environmental pollution and fruitful results of the initial steps were being received.
He said that Punjab government had declared smog as a disaster and a long-term policy was adopted by all stakeholders to eradicate it. He said that more than 8,000 kilns across Punjab had been successfully shifted to Zigzag or environment- friendly technology while Euro fuel was being used in the country to control vehicle emissions. In addition, an Environment Endowment Fund of Rs 5billion had been set up in Punjab while two major projects of Rs400 million were being implemented to provide clean water.
Along with this, the Ravi Urban Development Authority is taking important steps to raise the groundwater level. For the first time in the history, the Irrigation Department is formulating a formal policy for the purpose.
The provincial minister stressed that the Environment Protection Department was currently working on a mega project worth Rs273 million dollar in collaboration with the World Bank, with an emphasis on restructuring the department so that work on capacity building could be expedited. The representatives of other departments also addressed the ceremony.
This news was originally published at The News.