Air quality to be improved through whopping plantation in KP.

PESHAWAR -- Khyber Pakthunkhwa Forest Department has prepared a comprehensive plan to combat environmental and air pollution in cities through whopping plantations under 10-billion trees afforestation project (10BTAP).

Gulzar Rehman, Conservator Southern Circle, KP Forest Department told reporter on Wednesday that controlling of environmental, vehicular, industrial and air pollution in big cities including Peshawar was a big challenge and solid efforts was being made to reduce it through massive afforestation under 10 BTAP.

Under the plan, he said, whopping plantations would be carried out on sides of GT road, Islamabad-Peshawar motorway, link roads, canals, water channels, schools, colleges and universities' lawns from February next year of spring season. Non-productive lands in nearby villages, towns and cities of adjoining districts would also be utilized for plantations.

With the help of Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and others relevant stakeholders and departments, he said, constructive measures would be taken to improve air quality by using the best available technologies and implementing Clean and Green Pakistan (CGP) program in letter and spirit.

Terming air pollution is a silent killer, he said it take lives of hundreds of thousands of people every year world over due to different diseases including lung cancers, heart, ENT, allergies and respiratory system disorders especially during the winter season due to shortfall in rainfalls because of climate change and make negative effect on the country's economic growth as well.

He said pollution and climate change was incurring about nine percent loss to Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per year and this huge amount could be saved by combating these challenges for which support of public support was vital.

'Air pollution is very much a cross-border issue in many Asia-Pacific and South Asian countries, where inhabitants share the same air mass and vulnerable to the above diseases ,' he said, adding cooperation of SAARC countries were imperative to tackle this invincible killer on collective basis before it pose serious health implications on human, aquatic and wildlife creatures.

He said over 3.2 million saplings were planted in the first made Ghari Chandan Forest at Peshawar during first phase of BTAP aimed at to counterbalance the effects of environmental, vehicular, industrial and air pollutions in Peshawar and...