Pakistan is devising a national action plan with the assistance of the Food Agriculture Organisation (FAO), the World Bank and stakeholders for the protection and rehabilitation of forests and landscapes, said an official. A two-day workshop on consultation for preparation of a National Action Plan was organised at the Pakistan Forest Institute for devising a strategy to minimise the impact of environmental changes on forests and landscapes.

The workshop was addressed by Director General of Pakistan Forest Institute Peshawar Akbar Khan, Inspector General of Forests and Climate Change Islamabad Abdul Qadir Shah, Director of Forests Research Dr Anwar Ali, a representative of the World Bank, and environmental and forest experts, according to information available with WealthPK. Akbar Khan said experts and stakeholders were being called in from all the provinces for consultations to prepare workable recommendations on the national action plan that would be sent to the government for approval.

Under these recommendations, Akbar Khan said, effective planning would be made for promotion and protection of forest areas besides allocation of budget for this purpose. “Under the plan, donors and investors would also be lured for investment in this sector,” he said. “By making investment in this sector, we would be able to minimise the harmful impact of environmental degradation, and promote and rehabilitate our agriculture and forest lands,” he said.

Other speakers said the climate change has also badly affected Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, and besides disturbing the capacity of organic food production and raising environmental challenges, it has also hit other important sectors. They said that by devising this national action plan, the country would be able to tackle all these challenges effectively. The speakers also called upon the government to ban the establishment of housing societies and other structures on agricultural lands.

Credit : Independent News Pakistan-WealthPk