KARACHI, July 17: Sindh Forests Department is sending a team of experts to the Keenjhar Lake on Saturday to study the “mangroves” that have been discovered in the lake, it is learnt.

According to the sources, the team would comprise scientists and experts from various government as well as non governmental organizations involved in the Nature conservation and research.

Responding to the Dawn queries, Sindh Forests Secretary ShamsulHaq Memon said the team would comprise experts from the IUCN — the World Conservation Union, the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), Sindh Forests Department, Karachi University etc.

He said usually the mangroves were found in the delta region where rivers meet the sea as the mangrove trees require sea water as well as sweet water to grow and survive.

He informed that presently there were over a hundred thousand acres of mangrove forests in the Indus Delta, adding there were some mangroves in the deltas of other smaller rivers in Balochistan also.

He said that it was very unusual that “mangroves” had been found at the Keenjhar Lake, which was neither a delta nor close enough to the sea. So, following the news of the discovery at the lake, the department constituted a team of experts to visit the lake, study the trees and submit a report.

He said that the team would visit the lake on Saturday and after its return would submit the report, after which a future strategy would be formulated.

Reportedly, a team of scientists and researchers from the Karachi University had announced a few days back that they had discovered mangroves in the Keenjhar lake.