ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan has announced the establishment of fifteen national parks in all the federating units as part of efforts to protect the nature.

Launching the ‘Protected Area Initiative’ in Islamabad on Thursday, he said guidelines will be given to the provinces to preserve these national parks. He said this is a major initiative for our future generations.

He expressed satisfaction that all the provinces are participating in this initiative which will also provide job opportunities to the youth. 

The Prime Minister pointed out that global warming and climate change pose serious threat to Pakistan. He said this is the reason we launched ten billion tree tsunami program to counter this threat. Protecting green areas and parks will also help in this endeavour.

Imran Khan directed the provinces to take the threat seriously and undertake the requisite steps for the protection of green areas.

The Prime Minister said Pakistan has a diverse landscape and has twelve ecological climatic zones. He however regretted that nothing was done in the past seventy years to protect the forest cover.  He stressed for developing master plans for the cities and making protection of green area basic component of town planning.

Highlighting the potential of eco-tourism in the country, he said we are opening areas for tourism. He however asked the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government to frame by laws before opening the tourist spots. He said we also need to prepare plans to protect endangered species such as snow leopards with the support of local people.