President
Asif Ali Zardari has urged upon the environmentalists and civil society
to make concerted efforts to protect existing forests and turn the
country green by planting more trees to arrest the negative impact of
environmental degradation for a prosperous future. In
a message on World Environment Day, he congratulated United Nations
Environment Programme for adopting the right theme for the year 2011
i.e ‘Forests Nature at your Service’ that underscores the intrinsic
link between quality of life and the health of forests and forest
ecosystems.The
President said the World Environment Day is a wake-up call for the
world community to realize that the land and water resources are under
acute threat of degradation and badly impacting life of all living
creatures including human beings.
He said climate change is posing a
major threat to the country’s economy and existence, and this is largely
owed to carbon emissions in industrialized counties.
He said undoubtedly forests are at the heart of possible solutions to all the environmental problems. Their functions to absorb atmospheric carbon make them lungs of the world and the key players in climate change mitigation, protection of land, water and wildlife resources.
President Zardari said the depletion of forest wealth has drained the world’s wetlands, depleted fish stocks, and emitted enough heat-trapping gases to keep the planet warming for a long time to come. The problem is even more acute in Pakistan which recently witnessed unprecedented floods that many believe is linked to climate change.
He said the government is fully aware of the fallout of the challenge posed by forest depletion. Under Millennium Development goals (MDGs) it plans to increase forest cover from 5-6 percent by the year 2015. This will bring an additional one million hectares of land area under forest.
The President said Pakistan has legitimate expectations from the newly developed mechanism of forest carbon trading whereby local people are compensated for their contributions to environment protection.
He expressed satisfaction that the PPP government had actively participated in international negotiations on environmental issues and several programmes were underway to implement international agreements. APP
He said undoubtedly forests are at the heart of possible solutions to all the environmental problems. Their functions to absorb atmospheric carbon make them lungs of the world and the key players in climate change mitigation, protection of land, water and wildlife resources.
President Zardari said the depletion of forest wealth has drained the world’s wetlands, depleted fish stocks, and emitted enough heat-trapping gases to keep the planet warming for a long time to come. The problem is even more acute in Pakistan which recently witnessed unprecedented floods that many believe is linked to climate change.
He said the government is fully aware of the fallout of the challenge posed by forest depletion. Under Millennium Development goals (MDGs) it plans to increase forest cover from 5-6 percent by the year 2015. This will bring an additional one million hectares of land area under forest.
The President said Pakistan has legitimate expectations from the newly developed mechanism of forest carbon trading whereby local people are compensated for their contributions to environment protection.
He expressed satisfaction that the PPP government had actively participated in international negotiations on environmental issues and several programmes were underway to implement international agreements. APP
