Mulazim Hussain is proud of the trees he has planted.

Surrounded by neem saplings and vegetables sprouting up from scrubland in the Clifton district of Pakistan¡¯s largest city Karachi, the 61-year-old recalls a time a few years ago when the area was a giant, informal rubbish tip.

¡°Now there is greenery and happiness, children come in the evening to play, people come to walk,¡± he said, speaking near a patch of trees amid a barren expanse bordered by the sea on one side and tower blocks and offices in the distance on the other.