THIS is apropos an interview with Dr Zafar Iqbal ‘Plantation drive must involve locals for sustainability’ (Aug 22).

Cheeko and shareefa are indigenous and not exotic fruit trees, and people in Karachi plant these trees in their houses along with coconut and jungli badam.

Similarly, coconut cannot be recommended for coastal areas of Sindh since it needs freshwater for its survival in the form of artificial irrigation or heavy rainfall. The expert perhaps is impressed by coconut plantations along the coasts of Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Thailand, etc, where there is heavy rainfall.

How come the date tree has become a part of Karachi’s ecosystem? The expert has committed an error in declaring conocarpus erectus as one of the “mangrove species growing naturally in the coastal belts of the world”.

Dalbergia sissoo (sheesham) has never been part of Karachi’s ecology and categorising it as ‘lost species’ is incorrect.

The expert has proposed neem and lignum to be avoided during plantation in Karachi. Lignum has proved to be the best tree species for landscaping in Karachi.

Trees that are recommended to tackle rising temperatures are siris, neem, alstonia, kachnar, amaltas, gul mohar, jungli badam, imli, gul-i-nishtar, and rain tree. On the other hand, trees that tackle falling water table are lasura, railway creeper, aralia, nerium, dum dum, mehndi, aqeeq, fan palm and williatic kikar.

Shamsul Haq Memon

Karachi

Published in Dawn, August 31st, 2017