Since Pakistan instated their nationwide lockdown on 23 March, thousands of workers have been laid off. The country’s 10 Billion Tree Tsunami programme will now see some 60,000 jobs created as new workers join the fight against climate change.
The initiative was launched by government in 2018 as a measure to stabilise the climate and extreme weather conditions Pakistan has experienced overt the past years, according to Al Jazeera. Now, the programme will expand to absorb residents who have lost their jobs as a result of the COVID-19 lockdown.
Most of the reforestation is happening on about 6,000 hectares of land near Islamabad. Since the start of the programme, around 30 million indigenous saplings have been planted in the Punjab province, reports My Modern Met.
‘This tragic crisis provided an opportunity and we grabbed it,’ Malik Amin Aslam, climate change adviser to the Prime Minister told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.
‘Nurturing nature has come to the economic rescue of thousands of people.’
Image credit: Twitter/10BillionTreeTsunami
