PTCL, in collaboration with WWF-Pakistan, will be part of a tree plantation groundbreaking ceremony, whereby seeds will be planted by local community members at Miani Hor, Lasbela District, Balochistan on Tuesday (today). The two recently signed an agreement for planting 200,000 mangrove seeds in Balochistan, as part of the conservation organization’s nationwide tree plantation campaign, called Rung Do. On the occasion, Syed Mazhar Hussain, chief human resources officer at PTCL, said “PTCL being the largest telecommunication company in Pakistan, takes responsibility to address the serious issue of deforestation in the country. Rab Nawaz, Senior Director Programmes, WWF-Pakistan said, “Pakistan is amongst the top ten countries affected by climate change, where citizens can help by planting one tree at a time. Through this campaign, WWF-Pakistan aims to contribute to the Bonn Challenge, a global effort to bring 150 million hectares of the world’s deforested and degraded land into restoration by 2020, and 350 million hectares by 2030”. Between 2000 and 2010, Pakistan lost an average of approximately 43,000 hectares of forests every year. With only 2 percent forest cover remaining, the country’s deforestation rate is the highest in Asia and is well below the recommended cover of 25percent. Therefore, in order to mitigate the adverse impacts of climate change, regulate water cycles and increase green cover across the country, WWF-Pakistan has pledged to plant a total of 1.4 million trees by August 2019 through active participation of different stakeholders, local communities and passionate individuals along with corporate organizations.