Most trees planted in 24 hours by a team of 300 people

On Wednesday, 15 July 2009, Guinness World Records™ Adjudicator Aadil Ahmed attended the record attempt for the most trees planted in 24 hours by a team. The event took place in Keti Bundar, Thatta District, which is about 200 km (125 miles) south-east of Karachi in Pakistan.

Aadil's journey for the event started with a three-hour car trip from the city of Karachi followed by a 40-minute boat journey to the location of the attempt, which was in quite a remote region, green and lush and surrounded by a lovely blue sea. It was a beautiful warm day with a nice breeze coming in over the water; Aadil received a warm welcome, with local town members throwing petals and a local band playing traditional music. The day turned into a festive event; fresh from the victory of the T20 Cricket World Cup the Pakistanis were determined to achieve a new GWR feat.

The event was organized by the Ministry of Environment (Government of Pakistan) and was part of their planned initiatives to mark 2009 as the National Year of Environment in Pakistan. The attempt took place in collaboration with the Forest Department Sindh and the National Bank of Pakistan.

The team of 300 planters – local community members who had experiencing of working in the costal area – were carefully selected and well prepared for the event. Due to nature of the land being used the planters knew they had a difficult task on their hands, as they had to plant as many trees as they could before the tide came in: once the tide was in, planting would have to stop for a few hours. Mudflats were chosen as the location for this event, as this is the best location for the type of tree that was to be planted.

The planters had chosen mangrove (rhizophora mucronata) saplings, as this kind of tree plays an important role in carbon seizure and acts as a protection against natural disasters such as tsunamis. Mangrove forests are also a great breeding ground for fish, shrimps, prawns and other wildlife.

Fifteen teams took part, each consisting of 20 members; every team was given a dedicated portion of land to work on, which was clearly marked out with flags. The event took place on two islands that are next to each other and a total of 322 hectares (795.85 acres) of land were used in the record attempt.

Mr Tahir Qureshi, an International Union for Conservation of Nature member, and Marvi Memon, a National Assemble member, were elected as independent witnesses and were present throughout the event, making sure everything was conducted in the correct manner.

The record attempt was attended by many local dignitaries and media, including the Minister of Environment for Pakistan, Hamidullah Jan Afridi, who had travelled from the capital Islamabad to attend the event. The record attempt took seven months to plan and involved many members of the forestry arm within the government, including: Dr Sial (Inspector General for Forests); Dr Shazad and Mr Qaimkhani (Deputy Inspector Generals for Forests); Mr Naeem Raja (Assistant Inspector General for Forests); and event co-ordinator Mr Tanveer Haider. Mr Rahim Bux Awan (Chief Conservator for Forests) and Mr Riaz Ahmed Wagon (Conservator for Forests) also took part in organizing the record attempt. Mr Kamran Lashari (Secretary for the Ministry of the Environment) played a large role in creating the festivities surrounding the event, making sure the locals and guests enjoyed the day; throughout the event Mr Lashari encouraged the planters by trying to boost morale in the teams.

The record attempt started at 6:45 a.m. and by 7:35 p.m. it was all over. The previous record had been set in India: the 21 JAT Regiment (Indian Army) had planted 447,874 trees in the Shrigram Reserve Forest in Dhubri, Assam, on 12–13 June 2009. That record had now been broken!

The most trees planted in 24 hours by a team (of 300 people) is now 541,176 and was achieved by the Ministry of Environment (Government of Pakistan) in collaboration with the Forest Department of Sindh and the National Bank of Pakistan in Keti Bundar, Thatta District, Pakistan, on 15 July 2009.

The certificat

e was presented to Dr Muhammad Iqbal Sial and members of the Forest Department of Sindh, who were in charge of the tree plantation.

Congratulations to everyone involved in this event!