Nairobi, 28 July - Fresh
from the victory of the T20 Cricket World
Cup, Pakistan hit another high by setting
a Guinness World Record for planting 541,176
trees in 24 hours. The young mangrove saplings
were planted by 300 volunteers on 15 July
without using any mechanical equipment in
the vast wetlands of the Indus River Delta
in Thatta District.
The tree-planting, which
is part of Pakistan's pledge to plant 120
million trees in UNEP's Billion Tree Campaign,
took place some 150 kilometers southeast
of Karachi in a biodiversity sanctuary that
was designated in 2002 by the government
as the Wetland of International Importance.
Achim Steiner, UN Under-Secretary
General and Executive Director UN Environment
Programme (UNEP), said: "The Billion
Tree Campaign has been setting records since
it was launched in 2006 as one avenue and
conduit for global public concern over climate
change".
The record-breaking
event, organized by Pakistan's Ministry
of the Environment, is also part of the
country's activities marking this year as
the National Year of Environmental Protection.
"Pakistan's Guinness
World Record will contribute to our new
goal of planting seven billion trees - one
for everyone on the planet with a bit to
spare - by the crucial UN climate convention
meeting in less than 135 days. I am ever
more confident that this record can be broken
too and inspire governments to Seal the
Deal in Copenhagen in December," Mr.
Steiner added.
"Guinness World
Records would like to congratulate the people
of Pakistan on achieving this incredible
record. It involved the hard work and good
will of hundreds of people, and was done
for a fantastic cause," said Damian
Field, a spokesperson for the Guinness World
Records.
Mangroves, which are
being cut down in Pakistan and other countries
for fodder, fuel and timber and are particularly
useful in carbon sequestration. In addition
to providing a breeding ground for fish
and other wildlife, mangroves protect coastlines
from erosion as well as tsunamis.
"We have seen from
the Asian Tsunami that where there were
mangrove forests, you had less damage,"
said Ibrahim Thiaw, Director of UNEP's Division
of Environmental Policy Implementation.
Pakistan has been particularly
active in increasing the national forest
coverage and has set a target of one million
hectares of new forests by 2015. To make
this happen five mega-forestry projects
have been launched in the country. In addition,
50 million saplings will also be planted
during the monsoon period this year and
70 million were planted in Spring 2009.
The previous record
for the most trees planted in a single day
was held by India with 447,874 trees.
In a call to further
global action, UNEP is inviting everyone
from civil society to the business community
to Governments to plant trees as part of
the Billion Tree Campaign and register their
commitments to plant on the campaign's website:
www.unep.org/billiontreecampaign
Further Resources
Billion Tree Campaign
Trees on Farms Key to Climate and Food-Secure
Future
Tree Planting Campaign Hits Four Billion
Mark
