A team of volunteers in Pakistan has set a new world record by planting more than half a million trees in one day.

Guinness World Records confirmed that 541,176 trees had been planted in the southern Sindh province of  Pakistan on 15 July. BBC Reported

Pakistan has made it to the Guinness Book of World Records by planting 541,176 saplings in one day to break the Indian record of 447,874 trees set on June 12.

Pakistan’s environment ministry arranged the plantation drive earlier this week as part of series of events being held to observe the National Year of Environment that is also aimed at developing forest resources through international competitions.

The event was monitored by the IUCN representative Tahir Qureshi and independent monitor Marvi Memon, both also the nominees of GWR, of which a representative Adil Ahmed was also there to monitor the event.

Through the plantation held at Keti Bandar, Tehsil Thatta, some 150 kilometres in the Southeast of Karachi, Pakistan broke Indian record of 4,47,874 trees that had beaten Mexico’s record of planting 3,48,493 trees on June 12-13 this year.

Three planters were selected from the local communities, who have been trained to plant maximum number of saplings in the daylight, but the planters acted beyond the expectations, breaking the previous Indian record by 1400 hours.

After culmination of the plantation at sunset, the Minister for Environment Hamidullah Jan Afridi received a shield and certification of Guinness World Record in maximum tree plantation category from the representatives of the world body.

The environment ministry has initiated a Rs.13.5 billion forestry sector project in the four provinces, Pakistani Kashmir, the Northern Areas and the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) to increase the forest cover by one percent under the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by 2015. One million hectares of land would be required to achieve this target.

“The fact also remains there that despite planting millions of saplings every year, the forest cover area is stagnant at 4.9 percent over the decades,” the statement said.

Mangroves grow in delta regions where the fresh waters of the river mix with sea water.

Experts say the new saplings will have difficulty surviving because of diminishing river water in the region.

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