KARACHI: The Vice Chancellor of the University of Karachi, Professor Dr Khalid Mahmood Iraqi on Wednesday inaugurated the Spring 2023 Open House at the university’s Prof. Dr S.I. Ali Botanical Garden and Herbarium Centre for Plant Conservation.

Speaking on the occasion, the Vice Chancellor (VC) said that plantation is essential for the country’s ecosystem. “A massive plantation drive can reduce the effects of global warming,” he said.

Dr Iraqi said that launching a plantation drive is easy but maintaining plants until the saplings turn into trees is a difficult task. Therefore, it is the responsibility of every member of society to play their role in taking care of these plants.

“Every year, the public and private sector plant tens of thousands of saplings but, sadly, most of them die due to lack of care and maintenance,” he said.

He further said that plantation is an ongoing charity as trees are valuable assets.

President Unikarians International, Professor Ejaz Ahmed Faruqi, who is in-charge of the Botanical Garden and Herbarium Center, hoped that Karachi would become clean and green if more young people can be engaged to the cause of planting trees.

He also said that plantation drives should be conducted on regular basis and stressed that people and organisations take care of the plants after they have been planted.

“Every member of society should plant at least one sapling, which would be a gift for the future generations,” he added.

Later, the KU VC Dr Iraqi and Professor Ejaz Ahmed Faruqi planted a sapling each in the garden to launch the spring plantation drive on campus.

Published in Dawn, March 16th, 2023