ISLAMABAD: As authorities draw criticism over large-scale tree-cutting in Islamabad, Minister of State for Health maintained on Thursday that cases of pollen allergy had been on a decline following targeted felling.
He expressed these views during a meeting of the Senate Standing Committee on Climate Change, which was chaired by PPP Senator Sherry Rehman and focused the management of paper mulberry trees and ecological restoration in Islamabad.
The minister shared the National Institute of Health’s data in connection with mitigating Islamabad’s severe seasonal pollen crisis during his briefing.
According to Malik, cases of pollen allergy declined from over 2,300 in 2023 to 1,031 in 2025 while overall allergy prevalence in Islamabad fell from 45.8 per cent in 2023 to 33.3pc in 2025.
This, he said, indicated a reduced per capita risk of pollen allergy despite population growth.
Malik said that the invasive paper mulberry, the scientific name for which is broussonetia papyrifera, was a non-native species and was introduced in Islamabad between the 1960s and 1980s. “It now accounts for approximately 94pc of Islamabad’s total pollen burden,” the minister added.
He further said that the federal capital faced a “critical pollen crisis” for more than two decades, with total pollen count reaching an unprecedented 82,000 grains per cubic meter of air in 2022.
Pollen from paper mulberry, he said, “poses exceptional health risks due to its lightweight particles, which penetrate deep into the lungs and trigger severe allergic rhinitis, acute asthma exacerbations, and life-threatening status asthmaticus (acute asthma)”.
In this connection, the minister highlighted the importance of the ecological restoration programme for re-planting native species of trees in Islamabad. He termed the initiative a vital public health intervention and said it was projected to reduce respiratory allergies in the capital by over 40pc, significantly easing seasonal burden on hospitals and emergency departments.
Meanwhile, he continued, to prevent the “aggressive re-sprouting [of paper mulberry trees], the ministry, in coordination with the CDA, is implementing a strict three-step eradication protocol involving cutting, complete uprooting of the root system, and soil compaction”.
“Of the approximately 80,000 paper mulberry trees identified for removal across Islamabad, 29,115 have been cleared to date, with priority given to high-density areas including F-9 Park and Shakarparian,” he detailed.
Moreover, the committee was informed that ecological restoration remained central to the initiative.
The minister further said that under the restoration policy, three indigenous trees were being planted for every paper mulberry removed.
By April, approximately 90,000 native trees, including Kachnar, Amaltas, Desi Toot, and drought-resilient Pilkan, would be planted to restore the capital’s natural ecosystem, he said, adding that the initiative is supported through public-private partnerships with contributions from Oil and Gas Development Company Limited, Mira Power and Beaconhouse.
The minister concluded his briefing, noting that the initiative aligned with international best practices in urban environmental health governance, as adopted in countries such as the United States and Australia.
He expressed hope that, by April, the project would be completed in accordance with approved technical protocols, including full ecological restoration through the plantation of indigenous species.
Recently, large-scale tree removal took place in at least three locations in Islamabad, including acres of tree cover around Shakarparian.
Islamabad’s Capital Development Authority (CDA) has maintained that only paper mulberry trees were removed as they had been causing pollen allergies, and last week Minister of State for Interior Tallal Chaudhry assured lawmakers that more trees would be planted in the coming months.
Amid allegations of large-scale environmental damage by the move, the Islamabad High Court restrained on Friday last week the CDA from cutting trees until Feb 2 and sought a detailed report on the ongoing tree-felling drive.
