Why leaders of developed and successful counties don’t find themselves spending precious time on plantation that can be done basically by any body who has nothing to do?

Punjab CM, SS kept chopping trees wherever they came in the way of turning Lahore into concrete. What a contrast here!

Good start. IA may this succeed.

We should also give credit to the current Federal minister of environment Malik Amin Aslam. He was the brainchild behind the billion tree tsunami. He has proposed GreenPakistan and Plant4Pakistan initiatives that are now announced by Imran Khan. During the last tenure Nawaz Sharif and Shahbaz have hijacked everything and became one-man show of Ideas. But this government should be different. All people who give ideas should be given equal credit, rather than singing praise of one personality only.

PM Imran Khan in action launching country wide tree plantation scheme and not afraid of getting his hand dirty. This is a sign of great leader, who cares about people and well being of the country.

Only an oxford graduate can do this

Can you expect the same Initiative from corrupt Nawaz Sharif and Zardari?

We need forests to buffer our Pakistan's climate. #Buffer4PKClimate.

Good initiative

Awesome initiative by the PM.

Pakistan go green and greens...!!!

Best time for this work is rainy season.

Absolute need of the times. Thank you PM"

Karachi desperately needs to double it's trees and green public spaces.

Great job for greener Pakistan. A better Pakistan for future generations.

Good job but don’t plant eucalyptus it is not suitable for My Pakistan

indeed an excellent step..Trees exhale for us so that we can inhale them to stay alive. Can we ever forget that? Let us love trees with every breath we take until we perish

Besides planting new trees it must also ask citizens not to cut down existing trees. Stop forest from unlawful cuttings.

Trying to copy Modi

Much needed step, great initiative by PM khan, its good to see a Premier who signifies global threat confronting to nation eather than just personal needs.

Making Pakistan Great and Green again is at the heart of PM Imran Khan thats something fabulous.. Hats off to his ambitions..

Turn Pakistan into a green country to fight climate change. This is extremely important. I hope they plant trees which are local to the environment.

Imran has a plan. Love it.

A correct step, though late, but in the right direction urgently required to check the menace of climate change, causing rise in ambient temperature affecting distortion in rainfall pattern, flash flooding due to melting of glaciers in the highlands up north, & water crises which we find ourselves in. During preparation of Tourism plan in year 2000, I found deforestation and encroachment on green areas raging at an alarming rate, seriously endangering already depleted fragile ecosystem and environment resources of the country rapidly. Due to sheer negligence & apathy of our government agencies & their criminal connivance with timber & land grabbing Mafias, our forest and green over has further depleted from 5.4% in 2000 to 3.4% existing. Desertification in Baluchistan & other low rainfall areas are becoming more pronounced. Latest drinking water crises in Quetta city, is a warning of environmental disaster in the making. To avert this, tree plantation is a step in the right direction.

This is a good start.

One thing I am confident about Imran Khan is that he is a true leader and knows people follow those who do the things themselves first. His intentions are right. One has to wait and see how he puts plans in practice.

Motivating by a personal example is most becoming and effective.

His initiative is highly laudable. Greenery is most vital for our ecosystems and it is highly appreciable that PM of Pakistan has taken up that task in his very first ventures.

great start....

IK has only two hands, but 200 million Pakistanis have 400 million hands.

Pakistan also has other provinces Prime MInister

Great endeavor

Commendable

Plantation of trees is as important as it is to give it water and care after plantation. The authorities working under the PM have not specified the relevant plan w/r there to. Look, various trials and errors, if and when made, are at the cost of taxpayers of the country. Otherwise, it is a good program initiated by the PM.

Excellent! PM Imran Khan is a visionary leader. The people of Pakistan must actively cooperate with him. To overcome the problems of pollution and climate change every Pakistani should do his duty.

Excellent initiative captain. Bravo

True visionary leader who thinks about future generations, nation building and taking the country forward on all fronts. Unlike his predecessors who only cared about their personal wealth, power, VIP protocols and next elections..Pakistan is indeed fortunate to have IK as its leader. Those who criticize him on trivial matters, please think rationally and support, at least morally, to who you honestly believe is the right person to lead this nation under the prevailing circumstances. Consider the challenges he is facing in bringing the nation back on track after decades of mess created by his predecessors. It is not an easy job and it will take long time. Look at the process of change that we have seen within less than two weeks. It's a phenomenal achievement.. Pakistan Zindabad

Each District Administration to incite and help the people throughout the year to make their areas green and full of plantation.

For an average tree to grow to its normal height, an area of at least 25ft by 25ft, is required. Working on that basis for 10 billion trees, it would require a total area of 230,000 sq. miles Total land area of Pakistan is 340,000 sq miles out of which total available land for plantation is only 160,000 sq miles, including all lands under human habitation in villages and cities plus infrastructures. This would show a serious lack of knowledge of our Naya Pakistan leaders about our own available parameters.

The Great Khan, love him.

Leader of the nation leading from the front! Great kaptaan!

great work climate change is a real thing a problem to tackle the sooner the better

When Abu Dhabi & Dubai in the U.A.E. can convert their desert into lush green region, why not Pakistanis do the same by ensuring that millions of Pakistanis start planting trees of various sorts in Baluchistan and Sindh as part of the "Green Drive".

MKe sure deforestation be stopped and make illegal to cut trees down as fire woods.

Very Good Movement

The youngsters must be made aware of the benefits of planting and taking care of trees.

Very good initiative

I'm writing from Abbottabad. Apart from the tree-launching campaign, I would like to know why our electricity has been cut off since morning , due to the PM's visit? Many parts of Abbottabad and Haripur district have had this terrible power outage and in other areas, power has been coming and going intermittently. The whole Sunday holiday has been destroyed for us and people are facing many problems. We pay taxes and hefty utility bills for what? I demand that the new PM take personal notice of this.

After 10 billion tree plantation, Pakistan better start looking like the Amazon Jungle and Rain Forest, in about 10 years to attract millions of tourists!

Good move Imran! Plant more trees, this is an investment for the future.

It is a great move ...Most popular person should cash on it... just for humanity...

Wonderful initiative by the Prime minister. This will go a long way in improving foreign exchange reserves and improve the economy and job market for your irrespective of their professional qualifications. Indeed an excellent out if the box thinking by the PM. Khudos to Naya Pakistan.

Well done.

This is really a brilliant step by new govt infact the previous govts were unaware of the importance of these things.Good to see it in Naya Pakistan

Shabaash Kaptaan !

PM.

Great idea. Make sure honestly 1.5 million tress are planted. Make local volunteers committees to monitor and report.

No fake plantation on paper only. Pakistanis will do?

Where are the anti IK zealots now?

Well done PM

In each August we these kids of pics!

Excellent initiative.

Excellent initiative. We r all with Imran Khan

Pakistan Zindabad

Excellent innitiative by PM we all support you this is the desperate need for the country

Planting trees is not enough, indeed means very little unless we also drastically reduce all sorts of pollution and take active steps in our daily lives to change attitudes practically.

Very good initiative. I hope PTI government makes some plans to curb the polution around Lahore.

This is a good initiative. I think the time has come to every nation, the particular south Asian country should realize, before it gets too late. Good work and every person should participate to make it successful.

Nice eye catching initiative but Can someone tell Mr Khan that money doesn't grow on trees!

Great initiative by IK, these are things that Pakistan and everyone in the world need to focus more on.

Excellent move

Chadharys of Gujrat plantet trees in Gujrat back when Musharraf was president and they were ruling Punjab. They sold their own government trees from their personal farms. Those trees did not survive as they were not fit for plantation in Gujrat. Cars and people were damaged and lot of corruption was made.

Excellent....Education is the key to success of this project.

Pakistan is pure green and peace - good IK

Not missing the photo opportunities.

@Jawad-Downunder. ... They want to collect the praise.

Well done PM. We need trees in Pakistan to fight this growing pollution. The eastern Pakistan have no trees left and Karachi is a desert. We need trees. Great work PM khan.

Plant these trees where people can water them

@M. Saeed please support a good initiative. Even if only 10% are planted, it will have a huge positive impact in water management and stabilizing environment

Great initiative but best if it is done with a con commitment education and awareness campaign so the saplings actually become trees and are looked after by people/govt or both. Otherwise the success rate may be low. Just planting trees will not be enough. They will need to be nurtured. Hats off to IK for the initiative.

Feels like Pakistani Modi...

@ali if he breathes he is probably copying Modi, should he stop? What a strange point you make!

@M. Saeed

It all depends on the kind of trees one is planting. Your calculations are a bit off because you are requiring a larger area per tree than necessary. Just go to a forest or "janglaat" and measure distance between the trees or you can google it. Here's what I found:

http://www.kansasforests.org/conservation_trees/careandtips/spacing.html

I would say on average one would need 15 x 15 ft to plant one tree. Using this figure one can plant almost 20 billion trees in the 160,000 square miles you mention.

I would urge religious leaders to take this campaign on board. Make it a national habit to plant or water a tree after Friday prayers or Sunday service or temple.

This is a great. The people of Pakistan should join The Prime Minister in this scheme right away. Mobilize Students from High School to College.

@Magister which one is yours?

I'm all for the plantation of trees Mr. PM, but you got companies destroying our forests by cutting thousands of trees daily, you are planting them, they are cutting 5 trees for every one tree you plant, Please find a way to stop it, jail the owners and everyone involved.

10 Billion Tree Tsunami, PM leading from the front. Preserving environment is crucial for the economy also.

@M. Saeed A very valid point raised but keeping in view the vast deserts of Baluchistan province, your calculated area will be further reduced. Having said this, you being an enlightened person must realize the fact that a nation comprising of only 56% literate/semiliterate, many of them are unable to fathom such political sloganeering. Just consider it the same way as Butto’s famous Roti, Kapra & Makan, a very popular slogan of early 70’s, driving the masses into frenzy but was never fulfilled by him /his successors. Nevertheless, this approach towards man made environmental disasters we find ourselves in, is a positive & very crucial undertaking, & needs support at grassroots levels through mass awareness campaign lodged by educated people like yourself & others. Even if if are able to carry out 25% of what the govt. is aiming at we will be out of danger zone. The country becoming concrete & asphalt jungle, with no O2 replenishment will cause environmental disaster in the near future

Need to control goats else they eat every small sapling and entire effort will go waste

Being Indian with many wonderful Pakistani friends and a big fan of Imran Khan from his cricketing days I find him dynamic - honest and right person to lead Pakistan - and though tree plantation is small challenge in current scenario compared to many challenges faced by Pakistan - it is very important to combat climate change All the best and success and Peace

@Anti-Corruption very well said. Your emotional onslaught is valid and to the point. The issue here is that most of the criticism we find is non constructive, and made without understanding a very intricate and complex issue which if not attended to will cause an environmental disaster of a magnitude unimaginable. The recent news of city of Quetta, suddenly coming into grip of acute scarcity of drinking water, Karachi suffering the same malaise since a decade or so, beside agriculturist of Punjab and Sind raining hue and cry regarding water shortages, are all result of manmade tools of disaster, wherein for decade together our corrupt and conniving past governments allowed timber and land Mafias free hand in tree falling and land grabbing to reduce meager green cover further resulting in aggressive climate change. The PTI, after its successful tree plantation drive in KPK, is moving in the right direction, and must be supported through mass awareness campaign by people like & others.

Many such like tree plantation campaigns have been carried-out in the past 71 years without any tangible results as even today, less than 6 percent of the land is covered with trees in the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. Let's wait and see if the current stride by the new PTI government to plant trees in the country headed by it's maverick leader could yield positive results or not? Only the upcoming time will confirm.

@Ayesha Sadozai A very pertinent & candid comment. It is very disheartening to see that our previous government taking unprecedented loan of $35 billions from international lending agencies, spent most of it on infrastructure other then renovating the age old transmission lines. Although, the power generation capacity was substantially raised but it could not bring the desired change to the suffering of people living away from the provincial capitals due to ominous tripping of electrical transmission paraphernalia incapable to take generated electrical load. As rightly said by you, I, for one, am with your demand that the government must correct the situation on priority basis & provide relief to people during sizzling hot season of the year. The government must take concrete steps to correct WAPDA, a white elephant, through organizational changes & prudent policy doctrine so that the inbuilt inefficiencies & indifferent attitude of this public enterprise could be put on the right path

So how many people it takes to plant a sapling?

@Dr. Salaria, Aamir Ahmad - I am pretty old and I don't remember any tree planting campaign carried out so openly as this one. Let us not be naysayers wait and see results. Respectfully

@ali good initiatives should be leveraged and appreciated. Just make sure that the saplings are nurtured properly till they are independent of supervised support .

@Jawad-Downunder. Because those countries are already developed. From my experience, England and New Zealand are the greenest countries in the world and have quite a high development index. However, Karachi and other cities have turned into ruins with trees being burned down. Prime minister is leading by example and wants to emphasise the importance of planting trees; he also is a citizen of this country.

@Jawad-Downunder. My dear because it is a motivation, if they see leader doing they will do it ,otherwise they just don;t care. it is called public awareness and motivation

Great thought by the responsible sensible leader.

@What about me; as you can clearly see in the picture, one. The rest of the crowd is gathered to give the occasion its due importance.

@MG good point. I remember when Ayub Khan suggested the same in the 60s, there was a deafening uproar by the media.

Dear Prime Minister, You are planting the place which is already surrounded by lush green valleys. Better start from Sindh especially from Karachi.

no policy for country's economy, no infra structure policy, no agriculture policy, no police reforms, no judicial reforms, nothing for social sector. directly started from plantation. their early stunt in this field raised many questions. it is said that in one billion tree scheme initiated by kpk previous government marred with corruption and its factual figure of plantation. or this is the easy way to mint money?

Great work Imran, It would have been a good will gesture from PPP and Muslim League Nawaz if they had climbed this wagon of tree plantation drive together with Imran. But what do they care.

@M. Saeed It depends on the type of the tree. Not all trees require 25 X 25 sq. ft. on average. A quick google search resulted in a study conducted by Iowa State University.

i hope the govt makes sure these are not water draining "safaida" trees. otherwise wonderful initiative.

Excellent initiative

Appreciated....a visionary man.....many such things expected in future as well.....