By Ramesh Raja

Spring is upon us; a season of life, growth and hope. Yet, Sindh, once rich in riverine and desert forests, now suffers from scorching heatwaves, floods, soil erosion and environmental collapse. Over the past two centuries, Sindh has lost most of its forests, and since 1947, nearly 80% of its trees have vanished, with most destruction occurring in the last 30 years. Today, commercially viable forests cover only 2% of Sindh’s land.

The Urgent Need for Plantation

Deforestation has increased local temperatures by up to 4.5°C, leading to severe heatwaves. During the 2024 heatwave, thousands were hospitalized, many animals died, and millions faced food shortages. Rural communities dependent on forests are among the hardest hit. Plantation is no longer optional—it is essential for climate stability, food security, disaster prevention, and the well-being of all Sindh’s people.

The Crime Against Trees

Illegal logging is rampant. Trucks loaded with neem, babul, and other timber leave rural Sindh daily, paying thousands of rupees in bribes. Environmentalists report that officials, politicians, landlords, police, and bureaucrats are complicit, while poor laborers cut trees for meager wages. This unprecedented destruction has left riverbanks bare, highways barren, and once-green areas like Makli and Thatta completely stripped of trees.

Historically, forests were used during the British era for railways, military cantonments, and canals. Post-independence, the construction of Sukkur, Guddu, and Kotri barrages disrupted natural flooding and forest regeneration. Policies like the 2005 Andal Agroforestry Policy, intended for afforestation, instead enabled forest land occupation and large-scale tree felling.

Benefits of Plantation

* Environmental: Trees absorb carbon dioxide, release oxygen, reduce heat, and prevent soil erosion.

* Disaster Prevention: Strengthen riverbanks and canals, reduce floods, and mitigate heatwaves.

* Economic: Provide timber, fruits, fodder, and medicinal plants sustainably.

* Social & Health: Reduce stress, provide recreation, and support local communities.

* Aesthetic & Urban: Beautify highways, streets, and cities while cooling urban heat islands.

Where and How to Plant

* Riverbanks & canal banks: Thousands of kilometers available to prevent breaches.

* Highways & roadsides: Plant trees to beautify and shade roads.

* Urban areas & schools: Parks and streets can be greened to reduce pollution and heat.

* Desert and arid zones: Drought-tolerant indigenous trees to combat desertification.

Who Can Plant

* Government Departments: Forest Department, Environment Protection, Irrigation & Drainage, Highways, NHA, PDMA, WAPDA.

* NGOs: WWF-Pakistan, Indus Earth Trust, Roots for Equity, Green Pakistan Initiative, IUCN Pakistan.

* International Organizations: FAO, UNEP, REDD+, World Bank, Asian Development Bank.

* Communities & Corporate Sector: Schools, universities, local communities, CSR programs.

International Standards & Ratios

* Global standard: At least 30% of land should be under forest cover.

* Arid/semi-arid areas: 10–20% cover provides critical ecological benefits.

* Urban green cover: 20–30% recommended.

* Riverbanks & canals: Trees along 30–50 meters on each side.

Indigenous Trees for Sindh

* Neem, Babul, Ber, Khejri, Tamarind, Pipal, Miswak (Salvadora persica)

* Adapted to local climate, drought-resistant, support wildlife, strengthen riverbanks, and provide fruits, timber, and fodder sustainably.

Call to Action

The Chief Minister and government authorities must set clear plantation targets this spring, mobilize departments, enforce laws, and coordinate with NGOs and international organizations. The public must participate—plant trees, attend rallies and seminars, and hold officials accountable.

Spring is more than a season—it is a chance to restore Sindh’s forests, rivers, deserts, and communities. Every tree planted strengthens our land, protects our people, and secures a greener future. Plant, protect, and preserve—Sindh’s survival depends on it.

Read: Academic Power Shift: China Outpaces US, UK

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The author of this article, Engr. Ramesh Raja, is a Civil Engineer, visionary planner, PMP certified and literary enthusiast with a passion for art and recreation. He can be reached at engineer.raja@gmail.com  

The post Plant a Tree, Protect Sindh first appeared on Sindh Courier.

• Suggesting holistic plan for greening of Sindh University, the author says ‘plan will overcome past failing’
• It will involve everyone who works on or lives on campus through hands-on activity

[Editor’s Note: ‘Greening of Sindh University’ is a letter addressed to the Chief Minister of Sindh (CC to Sindh Chief Secretary) in 2021. According to the author, this letter was emailed to Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah in Oct 2021. He had requested a common acquaintance, Mr. Mushtaq Chhapra, to send (on 29 Oct 2021) his note to Murad Shah, with the recommendation: “I am enclosing a proposal on Greening of Sindh University from Dr. Q.I. Daudpota who is a childhood friend. My sincerest request is to evaluate the suggestion as it is a need of time. Climate Change has become a catastrophe world over.”

“I did not hear back from Mr. Shah, and this is all the more disturbing as the University is within Jamshoro district, which is his constituency!” author says.

“I wholly support Sindh’s concern in its struggle for its rights within the federation. But what about things that Sindhis can do for themselves with very little financial outlay and without blaming other provinces for their woes? Not doing so is an indictment of the Sindh government and its mandarins. Those who wield power in Sindh need to act selflessly with keen determination, as Pakistan and Sindh are collapsing through apathy. Can I please expect substantive responses (not just acknowledgement of receipt) from the Minister’s and Chief Minister’s office?” author said in a social media message, however, he has not been responded yet.]

By Q. Isa Daudpota

The eve of the important Climate Change conference in Glasgow and the current momentum for tree plantation in Pakistan, presents an opportune moment for Sindh to contribute significantly.

What is proposed is a holistic plan linking environmental development with transformational educational, research and social changes. Such a medium scale plan has not been tried before in Pakistan at least. If implemented judiciously, it has the potential to metamorphose the landscape of all campuses in Sindh initially and then in the country. The key to this change is long-term institutional commitment involving all those affiliated with the institution, with nominal internal financial inputs, supplemented, when needed, by governmental, societal or business funding.

In the 60-odd years of the Jamshoro campus of Sindh University, the barrenness of the terrain has not changed significantly. This is despite the initial outlay of significant funds for plantation. The activity relied largely on the whim of successive vice-chancellors, with little thought given to formulating an overall plan for the sustainability of saplings that were put into expensively dug holes filled with sweet soil trucked in from elsewhere. Watering of plants spread over an unwarranted sprawling campus was by a few bowsers, which naturally couldn’t succeed.

The suggested plan will overcome this past failing. It will involve everyone who works on or lives on campus through hands-on activity described later. This level of involvement will be mandated as a requirement in return for the privilege of being associated with the university. For its success, consultation with representatives of all stake-holders on campus is essential.

In addition to the required physical labor, the faculty will work to transform their existing curriculum and books by linking the work done with hands to the overarching requirements of showing linkages between subjects. The close understanding of the practical life and the theoretical and experimental under-pinning of knowledge being an essential component of sustainable living.

Israel has demonstrated that with brain- and will-power even a desert can be greened.   Sindh University has the advantage of a major canal of the Indus nearby. While pumping water is still expensive, even with the help of solar panels, there are clever, simple ways of using water efficiently, including rain water harvesting, land contouring for water preservation and basic recycling of waste water, which is plentiful.

Judicious choice of native trees and bushes is needed as is the efficient channeling of grey water for their healthy growth.  This is a technical problem which is relatively easily solved.  The more difficult – nay almost revolutionary – task would be to ensure that everyone on campus, including the vice-chancellor perhaps, becomes involved in this activity. This would require that students, faculty and all other staff on campus spend 1-2 hours weekly getting their hands dirty with planting and taking care of the greenery.

The subject of ecology and environmental science by its nature is holistic and intimately linked to biological, physical and social sciences, and of course with the humanities. The faculty should be tasked to complement or modify the curriculum being taught presently – largely as stand-along subjects – into showing fruitful linkages between different subjects.   Such an exercise – by pushing academics sitting in their intellectual silos to interact closely with colleagues in, wrong perceived, alien fields — could transform the academic culture of the university.

The effect of this would be wide-ranging, not least in producing graduates able to link their studies with the concerns of society at large. At a practical level they will be better trained for the job market.

To set the ball rolling, the Chief Minister, Sindh, may ask a committee of 5-7 experts from academia, forestry, NGOs and business to produce a plan for Sindh University within three months – allowing a launch in the coming spring. If successfully implemented, the plan can be replicated with improvement on the neighboring campuses of Mehran Engineering and Liaquat Medical universities.  Then onto other campuses in Sindh and Pakistan.

I write this based on my experience of hands-on plantation work at Sindh University for 5 years in the early 1980s.  Unfortunately not much has changed since; I rarely visit but am updated by friends who live there. With judicious planning and proper implementation, encouraged by the Chief Minister’s office, one should see the start of a big change by early 2022.

Finally, I leave you with some stark statistics from Israel, which shows how a focus on knowledge and a culture of hard work has turned it into an agricultural powerhouse. Despite being a largely desert area of just over 22 thousand square kilometers, its earning from export of agricultural produce is $ 2 billion annually. Pakistan with over 40 times its area, blessed with five rivers and excellent soil, has less than 3 times the earnings from export of primary agricultural commodities.

The proposed plan is an example of the kind of ideas and actions that can make us at least as successful as the country established less than a year after Partition.

Read: Climate Change and the Future Generation

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The author is an Islamabad resident. He lived on Sindh University Jamshoro campus for five years. Email: daudpota@gmail.com Tel: 0300 9104088

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By Hanan Zaffar, Jyoti Thakur

A teacher has been leading afforestation efforts in India’s Thar Desert for over two decades and was recognized by the United Nations. But the process is not without challenges, he says.

In India’s Thar Desert region of Rajasthan, changing climate, soil erosion and deforestation make the quality of land the poorest in the country. Degradation of land in the dry and sandy Thar, which spans over 60 percent of the state, poses a threat not only to desert ecology but also has an impact on people’s food security and source of livelihood.

Since 2003, Shyam Sunder Jyani – a native of the region and an associate professor of Sociology, has been working towards restoring and preserving the ecosystem and biodiversity of the Thar Desert through his approach of familial forestry, which aims at integrating the region’s culture and nature.

Jyani, who belongs to one of India’s marginalized caste groups, hails from a farming family in the 12 TK village in Ganganagar district – about 12 miles away from the India-Pakistan border. Worried about the menace of desertification in the region, the professor interacted with locals and eventually formed a grassroots network of villagers and youths to further the concepts of ‘Familial Forestry’ and ‘Institutional Forest,’ where trees are planted on family land and in public spaces, respectively.

The former had won him the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) Land for Life award – the world’s highest award for land conservation and restoration – in June 2021.

Established in 1994, the UNCCD is the only legally binding framework that globally addresses problems related to desertification and drought.

FairPlanet spoke with professor Jyani about the challenges and triumphs of the grassroots network he established as well as his take on the concepts of familial forestry and institutional forest.

FairPlanet: Where did the idea of developing familial forestry come from? Can you take us back to the origins of this 19-year long journey?

Shyam Sunder Jyani: When I first came to Dungar College in 2003 as an assistant professor, I observed that the campus only had 10 to 15 trees left. And even those trees were dying. So in the same year, I rescued the trees with my students. And that whole exercise made me realise that this district is more arid than Ganganagar, my native district. The district lacked greenery, which doesn’t occur to our imagination when we think of Rajasthan. However, once my students and I rescued and planted some neem (Azadirachta indica) trees, I got quite keen on making the district green.

So as my subject is sociology, I first thought of taking a cue from people’s mindset and understanding what people in this area really think of the environment. So, I observed that people in my area, or I think in most parts of this country, worship trees and water. They already have a semblance of connection with nature but certainly lack empathy. So I wanted to touch on that aspect and bridge the gap.

Climate action as a way of life

Can you talk about the concept behind Familial Forestry, how it is being implemented and at what magnitude?

With a bottom-up approach, Familial Forestry directly involves the community, especially the young people of the region. We realized that trees have a central role in the environment and domestication of trees make families sensitive towards nature and its protection. So my students and I started off with an emphasis on clubbing rituals and festivals with trees to make climate action an integral part of family and social structure. Under this concept, we promote plantation of indigenous and fruit-bearing plants at home like khejri (Prosopis cineraria), rohida (Tecomella undulata), ber (Ziziphus mauritiana), amla (Phyllanthus emblica), etc.

Native plants and trees are not just more efficient in sequestering carbon than monoculture tree plantations, but they also help reduce hunger and malnutrition as people have easy access to some amount of fruit in their regular diet.

Essentially, we started connecting people and making them understand that in a desert like ours, we can never turn a plant into a tree unless we are emotionally attached to it. For that, we must make a plant part of our family. We have to treat plants and trees as green members of our family, because family is the basic unit of our society.

“We must make a plant part of our family.”

On a local or village level, not every individual is aware of climate change or how it impacts them. But they certainly understand how imperative trees and lands are for them. My motive is simply to make them understand the ways in which they can conserve and preserve them.

We make frequent visits to villages and keep interacting with school students, youth, women and elderly people on a regular basis. We also provide them plantation training and post-plantation care, which adds on to their knowledge of their surrounding environment.

As of today we have planted over 3.8 million saplings in over 15,000 villages of Rajasthan. Interestingly, over 90 percent of what we plant does survive in this arid terrain.

What is the idea behind Institutional Forestry?

The idea behind creating an Institutional Forest is to extend the approach of Familial Forestry from house to community by developing small and medium-size forests in educational institutes and on abandoned or degraded public land.

Because we have to understand that replacing established forests with new plantations doesn’t make sense, what we need to do is to restore and resuscitate the abandoned and degraded land by planting native trees. We again do this by engaging students and the local community.

We developed our first institutional forest in 2013 – Gandhi Institutional Forest – on our college campus, which now is home to 100 tree varieties with different types of desert grasses and other floral-faunal diversity.

Our largest institutional forest is ‘Dev Jasnath Institutional Forest’, in Lunkaransar, Bikaner district. The 80 hectare forest is a unique grassland in this area which possesses almost all varieties of native grasses, herbs and shrubs.

Earlier it was an abandoned land, deteriorated by illegal strip mining of gypsum – Rajasthan accounts for its largest deposits. I visited the area in February this year and through community participation, we rallied and organized land-walks until the local administration put a ban on mining in the forest.

Today we have around 200 forests in Bikaner and a few other districts.

Expanding the reach

Do you reckon the Familial Forestry approach can be applied outside Thar Desert?

Yes, it is being applied in other 33 southern and eastern districts of Rajasthan. Desert is only limited to the western area and its 12 districts of the state. Some years back, people from different states started reaching out to me on social media platforms. They were curious about what familial forestry is and how they can implement it in their region. So I started responding to their queries on a personal level. In some cases, I also delivered seeds to farmers in Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana and other north Indian states.

As per my information, the concept is being replicated in seven other states of India after 2017.

As far as outside country implementation is concerned, the United Kingdom and Canada have a familial forestry chapter – meaning individuals forming groups and applying this idea in their respective regions. These collectives usually share their efforts to rescue plants on Facebook and Twitter.

Even my students who live in different parts of the country have been making an attempt to implement this idea in their locality. Because the idea of familial forestry is not to just plant trees, but also to evoke consciousness within families and create discourses on the environment and make people sensible towards it.

As a member of one of the most marginalized caste groups, what are the hurdles you have encountered along the way?

When I was studying in Jaipur, people from my community were not given rooms for rent because our caste was deemed synonymous for criminals. So I have come a long way in terms of my education and the work that I do.

However, when I had begun the tree plantation on my campus, I faced huge backlash from many upper caste teachers, who undoubtedly were more in number. They used to say that ‘I’m doing this to grab the college land.’ Even in Lunkaransar, the mining was backed by a dominant caste group and it’s well understood that no illegal mining can take place without local support.

However, what really helped or rather saved me is the students’ support. These students come from OBC (Other Backward Classes – socially and educationally backward classes) and Scheduled Caste (SC) communities.

Read: Impacts of Climate Change: Thar can reduce its vulnerability

That being said, neither my project nor I have ever received any kind of support from the authorities, which makes my job more difficult.

After the Lunkaransar drive, I started receiving threats on WhatsApp and calls. Even in terms of funds, it has been my own earnings that I have invested for years in buying seeds, saplings and conducting training sessions etc. But to say that it has no support from people, even financially, would be a lie.

As you mentioned, you spend your earnings on this project. Why are you doing this and what inspires you to keep at it?

The biggest challenge today, in my understanding, that human lives encounter is the loss of habitable character on earth. Undoubtedly, the future survival in the coming years is going to be quite difficult, if we don’t act now on it. Because in times like this, it becomes our moral responsibility to do our bit, take measures which are in our capacity.

So when I got a permanent job, I realized that I have the means and privilege and I must contribute. I come from a farmer’s family so the affection towards land and trees came naturally to me. Moreover, my sociology background helped me understand the significance of ideas. Therefore, I developed this idea so that it could transcend and not get restricted to my knowledge and understanding.

Initially, when I had started, I had never imagined that this idea would take such a form and become the caravan as it is now. Honestly, my plan was to give a few years to this and after that I had thought of leaving it to public support with my little contribution.

But earlier when we managed to stop gypsum mining in Lunkaransar and eventually rejuvenated the entire land, I could sense the profundity of people’s faith in me and their pursuit towards this cause during this process. We raised around 1cr through crowd funding which helped in getting the entire land area fenced. It has become quite a sight now. So, I feel – and I discussed this with my family members as well – that if I stop now, it would be an injustice to the cause and the idea.

Read: Every Time Thar Desert Tells A Different Story

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Hanan Zaffar is a journalist and documentary filmmaker based in South Asia. His work has appeared in VICE, Al Jazeera, DW News, Newsweek, TRT World, Channel 4, Middle East Eye, The Diplomat, and more.

Jyoti Thakur is an independent journalist based in Delhi. She covers gender, environment and social justice.

Courtesy: FairPlanet (Posted on January 6, 2023)

The post Meet the Tree Man of India’s Thar Desert first appeared on Sindh Courier.

Staff Report

Karachi, Sindh

The Dawoodi Bohra community of Sindh has initiated Environmental Conservation Drive, as part of efforts to combat the climate change.

The community, under the guidance of its Spiritual Leader His Holiness Dr. Syedna Mufaddal Saifuddin has dedicated 2 days a month whereby every individual of community will participate in environmental conservation activities.

Dr. Syedna Mufaddal, during his recent visit to Karachi from India, had urged that plantation and cleanliness activities should be taken up extensively on community as well government level. In order to comply with the instructions, the community initiated the project with an awareness cycling rally followed by a plantation program at the Bin Qasim Park, Clifton area of Karachi, the capital city of Sindh province. More than 300 health enthusiasts participated in the program and 110 saplings were planted.

A comprehensive Nazafat (cleanliness) activity was followed the next day – 25th December in the old city area. Community volunteers, joined by the provincial Caretaker Religious Minister Dr. Aneeq Ahmed and Mayor Karachi Barrister Murtaza Wahab, cleaned an area spanning almost 2km from the Bohrapir market to the City Court. Apart from picking up garbage, the volunteers picked up construction debris and tried to resolve sewerage overflow issues in the area with the assistance of the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation.

A spokesperson from the community stated that if every individual takes up this activity and dedicates just 2 days a month for environmental efforts, the effects will go a long way in realizing a sustainable, clean and green Pakistan.

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Aamir Latif 

KARACHI, Sindh Pakistan

A state-run Turkish aid agency on Saturday planted hundreds of tree samplings at a community park in Pakistan’s port city of Karachi to honor the people who sacrificed their lives to foil the so-called coup in Türkiye on July 15, 2016.

Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency (TIKA) planted over 250 samplings at the park located in Karachi’s southern district at a ceremony attended by the local and Turkish community members, girl and boy scouts, and media professionals, to honor as many martyrs of July 15.

TIKA, which has already been carrying out a string of development, health, and educational projects across Pakistan, will further develop the park as well.

The ceremony began with a recitation from the Holy Quran by a visually impaired boy scout followed by Turkish and Pakistani national anthems.

A “moment of silence” was also observed.

Addressing the ceremony, Vice Consul General Oguz Kozanli said the martyrs of July 15 charted a new page in Türkiye’s history with their blood, which will always be remembered.

He said the people and the security forces of Türkiye stood united and saved the democracy on July 15, 2016, with their unwavering resolve and unyielding commitment.

Halil Ibrahim Basaran, TIKA’s Karachi coordinator, said Ankara and Islamabad have always stood together in trying times, whether it was devastating earthquakes in Türkiye in February this year or unprecedented floods in Pakistan last year.

The people of Pakistan stood by their Turkish brethren in their successful struggle against the conspirators who wanted to derail democracy in Türkiye on July 15.

The defeated coup

This year, which marks the seventh anniversary of the botched coup, events are being held under the theme of “Türkiye’s Heroes of the Century,” to honor the people who defended the country at the cost of their lives on the night of July 15.

The attempt by FETO terrorist group to overthrow the government began around 10 p.m. local time (1900GMT) on July 15, 2016, and was thwarted by 8 a.m. the following day.

FETO and its US-based leader Fetullah Gulen orchestrated the defeated coup, which left 253 people dead and 2,734 injured.

Since its designation in October 2016, every year, the country marks July 15 as Democracy and National Unity Day, with events held to commemorate those who lost their lives beating back the putschists and to remember the bravery of the nation.

Ankara also accuses FETO of being behind a long-running campaign to overthrow the state through the infiltration of Turkish institutions, particularly the military, police, and judiciary.

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Aamir Latif is a Karachi-based senior journalist. He represents Anadolu, a Turkish news agency.

Courtesy: Anadolu Agency (Posted on July 15, 2023)  

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Sakrand, Sindh

Over 1000 saplings were planted at Shaheed Benazir Bhutto, University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences new campus in Sakrand during the tree plantation campaign launched on March 30, 2023.

Students and the faculty actively participated in the tree plantation drive. The first sapling was planted by the Vice Chancellor followed by Deans, teachers, and administrative officers. The activity was initiated by the Green Society aimed at creating awareness besides

During the activity, Professor Dr. Abdullah G Arijo gave a presentation on Water Pollution. The presentation was attended by a large number of students and faculty.

Vice Chancellor Prof Dr. Muhammad Farooq Hassan speaking on the occasion, said that plantation is essential for the country’s ecosystem and clean environment. He said that plants produce oxygen and through transpiration, help reduces global warming. “Massive plantation drives can reduce the effects of global warming,” he said.

Dr. Farooq said that launching a plantation drive is easy but maintaining plants until they turn into trees is a difficult task. Therefore, it is the responsibility of every member of society to play their role in taking care of these plants.

He said that both the public and private sector plant tens of thousands of saplings but, unfortunately, most of them die due to lack of care and maintenance thereafter.

He further said that the new university campus requires the plantation of ornamental and fruit-bearing plants. Those who start this charity today will be rewarded forever and this ongoing charity will be a great contribution.

Prof. Dr. Zahid Iqbal Rajput, Dean of Animal Sciences together with Vice Chancellor announced of campus botanical Garden and Herbarium Centre at SBBUVAS and hoped that SBBUVAS would become clean and green if more young people can be engaged in the cause of planting trees.

He further said that tree plantation shall be a regular event and plantation drives should be conducted on a regular basis. He hoped that from this moment onwards the university administration will take care of the saplings after they have been planted. A significant number of students, university officers and faculty took an active part in the campaign. (PR)

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Sindh Courier

Vadodara, Gujarat, India

Tree Plantation Program was organized by Sujag Sindhi Samiti & Gayatri Nagar Yuva Mandal Jointly at Gayatri Nagar Ground behind Old RTO Sant Kanwar Nagar Warasia Vadodara on Monday July 08, 2022.

Mr. Mukesh (Prem Prakash Dharam Tirth), Dr Sheetal Mistry, Mr. Hiro Kanjwani (Both Councilors Ward-6), Haresh Agnani (President Sujag Sindhi Samiti Vadodara), members of Gayatri Nagar &Sujag Sindhi Samiti were present in the program.

A total of 31 saplings were planted on Gayatri Nagar Ground. Last year 20 saplings were planted. With this, the number of saplings at Gayatri Nagar Ground has come to 51. The tree plantation drive is part of 75th Independence Day celebrations ‘Amrut Mahotsav’, Mr. Haresh Agnani said.

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From Our Correspondent

Jamshoro

Terming deforestation as a major cause of rampant climate change, the environmental experts on Monday stressed the need to plant more and more trees in the country in order to combat climate change and reduce the intensity of sweltering heat.

They said that Pakistan was currently facing a major challenge of climate change due to deforestation and the only way to get good riddance from the hot weather was to plant as many saplings as possible adding that cutting of trees across the country especially in Sindh was posing a big threat of warming.

This they said while addressing the awareness walk organized by the Green Youth Movement Club and the Directorate of Student Affairs, University of Sindh to mark the World Environment Day.

The Awareness rally started from Allama I.I. Kazi Central Library and culminated at the Institute of Mathematics and Computer Science (IMCS) and converted into a procession. Dean Faculty of Natural Sciences Prof. Dr. Wazir Ali Baloch, Dean Faculty of Pharmacy Prof. Dr. Khalida Faryal Almani, Dean Faculty of Social Sciences Prof. Dr. Hamadullah Kakepoto, Director Student Affairs Dr. Muhammad Younis Leghari and others led the walk.

Addressing on the occasion, the Director Student Affairs and Environmentalist Dr. Muhammad Younis Leghari said that Pakistan was currently facing a major challenge of climate change and the only way to get rid of it was to plant as much trees as possible.

He said that deforestation was taking place all over the country including Sindh as the trees were being cut down by the powerful mafias, due to which the heat was increasing every year.

He feared that if deforestation was not stopped, it would be difficult to live on the land in the near future and no one would be able to withstand the effects of sweltering heat due to increasing global heating.

He further said that due to deforestation and non-planting of trees, rains were not falling, resulting in warmer weather.

Dean Faculty of Natural Sciences Dr. Wazir Ali Baloch said that the heat wave in Sindh in the month of May was intolerable and it was all because of deforestation and cutting down of trees. “We need to pay more attention to tree planting, which should be started from our homes,” he said.

He said that after planting the saplings in houses, one should plant in one’s own street and then in the whole area in order to combat climate change adding that the issue of the environment was not only a problem in Pakistan but also in the entire world.

“Climate change is a global issue; therefore, the United Nations (UN) should play an effective role in this regard”, he urged.

Dean Faculty of Social Science Prof Dr. Hamadullah Kakepoto said that the youth, women, children and the elderly needed to be made aware of the health effects as a result of the environment and that they were required to be informed that the survival of future generations depended on tree planting.

Students’ Welfare Officer Allah Wadhayo Sahto, Deputy Director Girls Student Affairs Dr. Najma Nawaz Channa, Chairman Department of Freshwater Biology and Fisheries Prof. Dr. Khalid Hussain Lashari, Incharge Arts Faculty Building Dr. Sikandar Ali Soomro, Engineer Sajjad Hussain Shah, Dr. Ahmed Ali Brohi, Dr. Sujo Mal, Manzoor Ali Panhwar, Dr. Amanullah Mahar, Dr. Sheeraz Sheikh, Kashif Ali Narejo, Prof. Dr. Shahabuddin Mughal, Dr. Riaz Ahmed Rajpar, Abdul Ghaffar Bhatti, Abdul Hakim, Saqib Ali, Aziz Tunio, Ashfaq Ahmed, Fatima Ali , Nimrah Ali, Kashf Al-Dajai, Saima Sheikh, Vice President Green Youth Movement Club Kashif Jamali, Communication Leader Mehdi Soomro also participated in the walk.

Awareness Walk in Shaheed Benazirabad

Hari Welfare Association in collaboration with District government Shaheed Benazirabad and CSO organized awareness walk to mark environment day and to create awareness among communities at mass level.

The walk led by Akram Khaskhaskheli, Shahzad Ahmed of HWA, M Sabir Qureshi, A. B. Rehman Khaskheli of Social Welfare Department, started from DC Chowk to Press Club Road Nawabshah. People from different walks of life attended the walk holding placards and banners inscribed with slogans for protection of environment and cleanliness.

Speaking to the walk Akram Khaskheli president Hari Welfare Association said that we are facing climate change harmful impacts, Deforestation is major issue of climate change. He said that all citizens need to start tree plantation at their own level, and its responsibility of all citizens to play their role for the protection of our environment.

Akram added that according to a report Sindh’s riverine forests had declined to 0.05 million hectares (0.35%), irrigated forests to 0.08 million hectares (0.14%), and mangrove forests to 0.2 million hectares (1.41%). Collectively, the overall forest cover has declined to 1.9% in the province. According to environments standards, any country or state in the world should have at least 25% of forest cover out of its total land area for better environment.

The survey says Sindh has a total area of 14.091 million hectares, out of which 1.9% land is covered with forests which is too low.

He said that Pakistan is agricultural country, more then 65-70 percent population depends on agriculture and livestock, environmental problems directly effects agriculture and livestock and 70 percent population of our country, hence government urged to protect environment and ministry of climate change must play its role to save environment.

He said that provincial and federal government should take concrete measure to implement all environment protection laws immediately, tree cutting practice must be banned and to take initiative for the protection of forest in Sindh.

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Tando Jam: Sindh Agriculture University, Tando Jam (SAU) launched Mega Tree Plantation drive at its main campus here on Thursday August 12, 2021.

Prof. Dr. Fateh Muhammad Marri, Vice Chancellor, SAU, along with United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (UNFAO) Country Head Ms. Rebekah Bell and Abdul Raheem Soomro, Secretary Agriculture, Government of Sindh planted the saplings at a ceremony to kick off 10-day drive that will continue till August 21.

The mega tree plantation drive launched in connection with Independence Day of Pakistan, will also take place at SAU’s other constitute colleges and campuses at Umerkot, Dokri and Khairpur Mirs.

Prof. Dr. Fateh Muhammad Marri, speaking on the occasion told that the SAU will plant 30,000 saplings of various types which are suitable in Sindh climate at main campus as well as SAU constitute-colleges and campus.

Dr. Marri added that SAU students would plant trees and will take care of trees at the campus.

Ms. Rebekah Bell highlighted the role of tree plantation and added that to cope the challenges of climate change and food security there is need to plant trees and community and students may be engaged in the mega tree plantation drive.

Abdul Raheem Soomro, Secretary Agriculture, Government of Sindh, said that trees are the vital organs of the earth and they restore and protect the environment. He said that forests are precious natural resources but are destroyed due to weak planning.

Soomro added that water scarcity, land degradation, climate change and drought are main issues and they may be addressed through tree plantation. “Only the trees can boost the better environment for better livelihood”.

Prof. Dr. Muhammad Ismail Kumbhar, Director UA & FA, SAU Tandojam said on the occasion that forest are the precious natural resources and integral part for livelihoods as 1.6 billion people of world depend on forests as it also plays a pivotal role in regulating the climate and sustaining communities and supporting biodiversity globally as well as locally.

Dr. Aamer Irshad, Head of Program (UNFAO), Ms. Maria, Head of Administration (UNFAO), Dr. Bari, Advisor NRM (UNFAO), Aamer Sultan, Security Head (UNFAO), Noor Muhammad Baloch, Director General, Agriculture Research Sindh, Prof. Dr. Qamaruddin Chachar, Dean CPD, Prof. Dr. Aijaz A. Khooharo, Dean FASS, Prof. Jan Muhammad Marri, Dean, CPT and Prof. Dr. Ghiasuddin Shah Rashidi, Dean, FAV, Prof. Dr. Aijaz Hussain Soomro, Director IFST, Prof. Dr. Abdullah G. Arijo, Academic Advisor SAU and other faculty members, administrators, employees and officers also planted the tree samplings during the campaign initially 500  saplings were planted on first day of the campaign. (PR)

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Scouting create sense of discipline, love and brotherhood in children that makes them useful members of society – Commissioner

Scouts urged to participate in tree plantation drive

Hyderabad: Divisional Commissioner Hyderabad Muhammad Abbas Baloch has urged upon the teachers, students and specially the scouts to take part in tree plantation campaign to address the climate change particularly the increasing warming.

He expressed these views while addressing a function to commemorate International Scouts Day at Government Naval Rai Hiranand High School Hyderabad, here on Monday February 22. This event was organized by Director, Primary & Secondary Education Hyderabad Syed Rasool Bux Shah who is Commissioner Scouts as well. District Education Officer Ghulam Mohi-ud-Din and representatives of scouts and teachers’ organizations were also present on the occasion.

Commissioner Hyderabad further said that this year the Government of Pakistan and the Government of Sindh have jointly initiated planting trees as much as possible, and as part of this initiative one million saplings will be planted in Hyderabad in collaboration with all stakeholders.

He said that the Scouts can play the leading role in the tree planting campaign following the Corona SOPs.

Divisional Commissioner said that he himself studied in a government school and had been a Scout and being a civil servant too, he always has valued the scouts because just like other forces, Scouts can play a vital role in the time of natural disasters and other difficult situations. “Scouting creates sense of discipline, love and brotherhood in children that makes them useful members of society” he added and assured the Education Department of all out support to promote Scouts activities and also promised them to resolve any issues related to Scouts and their annual activities. (PR)

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The post World Scouts Day Observed in Hyderabad first appeared on Sindh Courier.