ISLAMABAD: The government of Pakistan has planted 707 million saplings in a period of five years from 2011 to 2016 in four provinces including Azad Jammu Kashmir, Gilgit-Baltistan and Federally Administered Tribal Areas.

A senior official of the Ministry of Climate Change said on Friday that as many as 15.312 million saplings had been planted under the Green Pakistan Programme (GPP) till December 2017.

He said that around 14.787 million saplings of different species were available in various nurseries for plantation under the programme.

He said the main objective of the GPP was to facilitate transition towards environmentally resilient Pakistan by mainstreaming notions of adaption and mitigation through ecologically targeted initiatives covering afforestation, biodiversity conservation and enabling policy environment.

He said the estimated cost of the GPP was Rs3.652 billion for a period of five years. Under the programme, he said, a total of100 million new indigenous plants would be planted in different ecological zones.

Internews