MINGORA: During the ongoing lockdown when the tourist resorts are lying deserted, the officials of Malam Jabba ski resort have launched a tree plantation campaign to restore the forest without disturbing nature.

The campaign was launched by Malam Jabba chairlift and ski resort management under which it claimed they would plant over 3,000 trees in the Magic Mountain Adventure Park and Malam Jabba Chairlift and Ski Resort.

General manager of adventure park, Pir Waris Shah, said preserving nature in its original form and promoting ecotourism was main objective of the plantation campaign.

“We have launched the plantation campaign under which we will plant 3,000 trees in the first phase here, for which we have also consulted agriculture experts, including from foreign countries. The experts supported us in providing guidelines to plant saplings,” he said.

He said that they would carry out more plantation to make the area greener and more environment friendly. He said a foreign horticulturist also participated in the plantation campaign.

“I have been in Pakistan for five months now and found it a wonderful country with amazing people. We are here at the magic mountain which is one of the ecotourist places in beautiful Swat valley. I am excited to provide my expertise in the ongoing plantation,” said Wessel Van Der Walt, a horticulturist from South Africa, adding he was planting trees in Malam Jabba to restore and keep the forest as it was in the past.

“We are planting trees and restoring forest in a way to save the ecosystem as much as possible,” he said.

Published in Dawn, May 11th, 2020