The Daily Times in Pakistan reports that the plantation of an alien plant species, the conocarpus, has become widespread throughout the city of Karachi.
Former Mayor of Karachi Mustafa Kamal led City District Government Karachi (CDGK), planted around 2.2 million conocarpus plants in the city.
“Almost all the parks, roadside species and major arteries have now conocarpus, which, according to experts, will bring an environmental disaster in the city in near future,” the article states.
The Karachi government planned to plant a variety of trees for better environment but instead planted only a single species, the Conocarpus, according to The Daily Times:
Forest experts are terming it as monoculture and warned of adverse impacts on city’s general atmosphere. Nature conservationists termed such mass level plantation of same species on plants as monoculture and they believe that monoculture creates a similar environment, hindering bird population, forcing them to migrate, since different birds have varying nesting habits and prefer different trees.