Out-of-work labourers help tree planting mission
islamabad — When construction worker Abdul Rahman lost his job to coronavirus lockdown, his choices looked stark: resort to begging on the streets or let his family go hungry.
But the government has now given him a better option: Join tens of thousands of other out-of-work labourers in planting billions of trees across the country to deal with climate change threats. Since Pakistan locked down starting March 23 to try to stem the spread of Covid-19, unemployed day labourers have been given new jobs as “jungle workers”, planting saplings as part of the country’s 10 Billion Tree Tsunami programme.
Such “green stimulus” efforts are an example of how funds that aim to help families and keep the economy running during pandemic shutdowns could also help nations prepare for the next big threat: climate change.
“Due to coronavirus, all the cities have shut down and there is no work. Most of us daily wagers couldn’t earn a living,” Rahman, a resident of Rawalpindi district in Punjab said. He now makes Rs500 per day planting trees — about half of what he might have made on a good day, but enough to get by. “All of us now have a way of earning daily wages again to feed our families,” he said.
The tree-planting programme aims to counter the rising temperatures, flooding, droughts and other extreme weather in the country that scientists link to climate change. As the coronavirus pandemic struck Pakistan, the 10 Billion Trees campaign initially was halted as part of social distancing orders put in place to slow the spread of the virus.
But earlier this month, the prime minister granted an exemption to allow the forestry agency to restart the programme and create more than 63,600 jobs, according to government officials. While much of the country is still observing stay-at-home orders, local police and district authorities have been told trucks carrying trees should be allowed to travel and villagers permitted to leave their homes to work with the project.
Abdul Muqeet Khan, chief conservator of forests for Rawalpindi district, said that the planting project is in “full swing”. —
Due to coronavirus, all the cities have shut down and there is no work. Most of us daily wagers couldn’t earn a living. All of us now have a way of earning daily wages again to feed our families Abdul Rahman
A labourer