At UN, Boris Johnson highlights PM Imran Khan’s 10 billion tree project

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has called on the world to follow the example of Prime Minister Imran Khan’s Ten Billion Tree Tsunami project.

In his address at the 76th United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) session on Wednesday, he told world leaders that humanity has to "grow up" and tackle the menace of climate change. He said it was “now or never" for the world to meet its goal of limiting the global temperature rise to 1.5C above pre-industrial levels.

British High Commissioner to Pakistan Dr Christian Turner tweeted a video clip of PM Johnson’s UN address where he can be seen appreciating his counterpart's plantation initiative.

In the clip, Prime Minister Johnson says “We are going to plant millions of trees in the UK but I was blown away…. I would like to invite everybody to follow the example of Imran Khan of Pakistan who has pledged to plant ten billion trees in Pakistan alone.”

He added that it was important that the developed world recognise its obligations to help least developed countries down this path in these technologies (to cope with climate change).

Johnson is set to host a major United Nations climate summit in Glasgow, Scotland in the first week of November. He is using the United Nations platform to urge governments to take concrete emissions-cutting measures and put more money into helping poor countries clean up their economies.

In his UNGA address, the UK Prime Minister also said: “We recognise that this is not just about using technical fixes for CO2: we need to restore the natural balance, we need to halt and reverse the loss of trees and biodiversity by 2030, and that is why we in the UK are committed to beautifying the landscape, strengthening our protection against flooding, by planting millions of more trees.

“We started this industrial revolution in Britain: we were the first to send the great puffs of acrid smoke to the heavens on a scale to derange the natural order,” he added.