PESHAWAR, Sept 3: The government will launch the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) project in all the provinces to increase the forest cover and green area, Dr Bashir Ahmed Wani, Inspector General Forests said.

“We have chalked out a comprehensive strategy to bring 2,500,000 acres of land under plantation to achieve the target,” said Dr Wani, while talking to NWFP Wildlife Department Chief Conservator Dr Mumtaz Malik who had called on him at his office here on Sunday.

He said a meeting of senior officers of the ministry of environment and provincial environment and forestry departments was recently held at the planning commission. It was decided to allocate Rs8 billion for the forestry sector.

He said that the government had already launched Turbela Watershed Management Project (TWMP) costing Rs531 million for plantation in Batagram, Mansehra, Swat, Abbottabad and other watershed areas through participatory and collective approach.

He said the government had evolved out a comprehensive policy to involve community for making maximum plantation on both government and private lands to achieve the desired results.

Dr Wani said one of the reasons behind huge human and property losses during the earthquake in Hazara and Azad Jammu and Kashmir was lack of forests and vegetative cover on mountains.

He said the government was utilizing all resources to educate people about the importance of forest and wildlife species.

He said divisional forest officers (DFOs) and range forest/wildlife officers had been directed to regularly visit schools and colleges to educate students about the importance of forest and wildlife in the country.—APP