Premier aims to create more green jobs for Pakistan’s youth, especially women

Highlighting the threats posed by environmental degradation through depletion of tree cover across the world, Prime Minister Imran Khan on Friday emphasized collective action to protect the ecosystem for securing a better future.

The prime minister said this while addressing the launch of Gala for United Nations Decade on Ecosystem Restoration virtually. The UN Decade of Ecosystem Restoration aims to “prevent, halt and reverse” degradation across millions of hectares of terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems.

The premier highlighted Pakistan’s efforts towards this goal and appealed to the international community to join hands for protecting the environment.

Prime Minister Imran’s address comes ahead of the World Environment Day which is being hosted by Pakistan in partnership with the UN Environment Program, decades after it hosted it in 1985, to showcase its initiatives for environmental preservation. One of these initiatives is the 10 Billion Tree Tsunami project, the largest-ever plantation drive in the country’s history, which aims to plant 10 billion trees across the country until 2023 to counter the effects of global warming.

Despite little contribution to global warming, Pakistan is among the countries considered to be most threatened by its effects. Due to threats of floods, land degradation, displacement and to provide a better future to next generations, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf government has taken a number of initiatives for the protection of the ecosystem.

On Friday, as the prime minister addressed the launch ceremony, he mentioned the government’s initiative of increasing national parks in Pakistan and its focus on increasing mangroves cover.

He also hoped that the government would be able to create green jobs for the country’s youth, especially women. He highlighted that 80,000 such jobs had already been created in remote areas, and many women were employed to plant nurseries.