LAHORE: The Punjab government will plant 42 million trees on 50,869 acres under the CM Plant for Pakistan Initiative.

Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz said on Saturday that large-scale tree plantation and environmental projects were being launched under the Punjab Green Programme.

She said around 1.375 million trees were being planted on 3,790 acres of forest wasteland under the Agroforestry Initiative.

She said the scope of the Green Pakistan Programme had been expanded to plant 466.4 million more trees on 251,000 acres. Plantation of 5m trees in rows on 10,223 avenue miles along canals of Punjab had been initiated, she added.

She said the provision of world-class facilities for promotion of eco-tourism at the Lal Suhanra National Park and Salt Range were being ensured.

She said wireless network, digital cameras, GPS devices and CCTV cameras were being provided for eco-tourism.

She said, “Construction of an eco-friendly LEED certified multi-storey building has been started to establish a protected nature area and modern facilities are being provided for the staff.”

She said the shielding summits programme for disaster prevention in the mountains of Murree and Kahuta, recruitment of 600 fire watchers, provision of fire vehicles and watchtowers were being ensured. She said that a modern GIS-based protection system had been introduced. She said immediate detection of fire and encroachment was possible with drone, satellite and LIDAR technology.

The CM said that digital tree enumeration in the form of rows and GIS-based survey had been started in Punjab.

She said. “Modern machinery has been purchased for forestry work, the process of plantation and forestry operations has been accelerated. Establishment of 104 Forest Command & Control Centers for 24-hour monitoring across the province is significantly increasing the capacity for forest protection.”

Meanwhile, the CM announced that poor widows living in villages would get buffaloes and cows.

“Some 11,000 rural women will be given buffaloes and cows with a budget of Rs2bn in 12 districts of southern Punjab. As many as 4,870 cattle will be given in the first phase of the programme,” she said. She said the Livestock Assets Programme aimed to increase milk production and provide employment to rural women at home.

Published in Dawn, June 22nd, 2025