Pakistan set a world record on Wednesday by planting over 532,887 saplings in a day.

HATTA(Sindh,Pakistan)

The federal ministry of environment planted mangrove saplings ‘Rhizophora Mucronata’ on the coastal island on ‘Khedewari’ along the shores of Keti Bandar in Thatta district.

The tree plantation drive was organised by the ministry in cooperation with the Sindh forest department and local people and in financial coordination with the National Bank of Pakistan.

The earlier record was set by India on June 12 and 13 when 447,874 saplings were planted in Assam. Before that Mexico had planted 3,48,393 saplings on Aug 29 and 30 last year.

The task was accomplished by over 300 local volunteers who were divided in groups of 20, each supervised by one forest manager and helped by other designated persons. Within the first hour, they planted 97,000 saplings.

Federal Minister for Environment Hamidullah Jan Afridi, provincial ministers Asghar Taqi and Sassui Palijo and Inspector General Forests Dr Mohammad Iqbal Siyal were present on the occasion.

MNA Marvi Memon and IUCN’s representative in Pakistan Tahir Qureshi acted as observers.

Adil Ahmed, the Adjudicator of Guinness Book of World Records, Pakistan, who had monitored and assessed the world records in India and Mexico, also visited the site.

He told newsmen that the process of enlistment in the Guinness Book would be carried out after a reassessment of plantation.

Ms Palijo and Ms Memon, who hail from Keti Bandar, told Dawn that the event was a healthy achievement. They said non-release of sweat water into Indus downstream Kotri for a couple of years had resulted in the diminishing of mangroves.

APP adds: The task was accomplished five hours before sunset. It was expected that the number of saplings would exceed 600,000 by the end of the event.

The plantation was organised as part of a series of events planned by the ministry to mark the National Year of Environment.

In view of global significance of mangrove forests, particularly in the context of the tsunami of 2005, the event was planned in the mangrove areas on the coastal island, which are devoid of vegetation.

The head of WWF International and secretary general of International Ramsar Convention on Wetland have congratulated the ministry of environment for setting the world record in tree plantation.

They lauded the efforts of the environment minister who took national and international environment organisations on board and made the event a success.

An official said: ‘The ministry will look after the site for three years to ensure maximum survival of saplings.’

The ministry has initiated Rs13.5 billion projects in the forestry sector in the four provinces, Azad Kashmir, Northern Areas and Fata to increase the forest cover by 1 per cent under the Millennium Development Goals till 2015.

Daily Dawn,Thursday, 16 July, 2009