National News

ISLAMABAD, (APP): Rapid cutting of trees in the federal
capital was causing a major environmental degradation and the situation may further deteriorate in the coming years if attention is not paid to the issues related to climate change.
Sustainable Policy Development Institute (SDPI) leading
environmental expert Kashif Salik told APP that trees play a critical role in regulating climate through the means of carbon cycle.
Expressing serious concern over the fast illegal cutting of trees,
he said that the residents of slums were fully relying on firewood for cooking and keeping themselves warm in the winter season.
He further said that tree cutting in the capital was harmful for the
environment and pollution could reach at alarming levels if CDA does not plant more trees in the city and its surroundings.
“lack of trees could also cause diseases such as sunstrokes and
headaches”, he added. Kashif said that after seas,forests are the second largest storehouse of Carbon.
He said the trees remove carbon from the atmosphere as they grow
while storing carbon in leaves, woody tissue, roots and organic matter in soil.
“Provision of alternative source of energy to the slum-dwellers can
greatly help protect vegetative cover that is a vital ingredient of natural environment,” he added.
Pakistan Environmental Protection Agency senior official said that
due to widespread cutting of trees and rapid urbanisation, the temperature in the capital city has started to regularly cross 46 degrees in summer season.
He said that the environment in the city was deteriorating because of new constructions and uprooting of trees.