Reforestation in my town

Question

Recently, I saw a video about reforestation in Thailand by dropping millions of seed bombs and thought about doing something similar in my own area (at least to start with).

I have zero knowledge about gardening... But I would like to take an initiative about growing more trees.

Why do I want to grow trees? It feels right.

• I really like nature and the life-cycle of different animals. One animal eats another animal. Those animals eat plants. Plant grows flowers. Some bees rely on flowers. Some plants become trees. Birds build their nests on trees. And we chop those trees for our bed and furniture. I'm not against the use of furniture, but we should at least grow more trees to meet our need.
• When I go to my office, I see people walking on footpaths under 35-40 degree Celsius (sometimes it touches 45). There is no shade. Many people died from heat stroke last year in my city. Providing shade to pedestrian helps.

So I need expert advice on how I can help my community. What sort of seeds would I need to buy and plant in my neighborhood. And anything else I need to know?

I live in Karachi, Pakistan.

Answer 1

You need to contact whatever your town's version of a city planner is. If you go around planting random trees, they're liable to poison them or cut them down. They don't want them growing into peoples septic systems or breaking the sidewalk.

Present your idea tot he city planner and let them know you're interested in trying to get people throughout the city interested in planting and you want their help in coming up with an acceptable list of plants. Probably something that provides shade, doesn't have super aggressive roots, and lives a long time. Around my area, they mostly plant oak trees. They'll plant crepe myrtle or Bradford pear if they want a little more decoration or just smaller trees.

Once you can agree one what types to plant, they need to make sure that the relevant parties know about them and agree not to damage them. This would be anyone that sprays poison, cuts trees, sanitation who might damage them while making their stops, road repair crews etc... It would be a project like a neighborhood garden.