LAND DEGRADATION/ desertification is a global phenomenon caused by environmental and climatic factors and human activities. The Saarc workshop on ‘Rehabilitation of Degraded Lands’ (1994) defined it as “reduction of current capability and potentiality of land as a result of one or more process” or, “any land which starts producing lower than its current potentiality as a result of one or more process”.

Pakistan is listed amongst the countries where virtually land is at a risk of turning into desert so rapidly that its future reclamation becomes unpracticable. In Sindh, the suitable land under cultivation is seriously subjected to threats of water-logging, salinity, and fertilizer imbalances, industrial waste, non-agricultural use of prime land, soil water erosion, moisture shortage, low fertility, poor management practices etc. Besides, construction of irrigation canals, dams and upstream storages without due consideration to conservation has augmented the problem of shortage of water leading to degradation in ‘kutcha’ areas.

Sindh with a unique geographical area of 141014 sq km is situated at the extreme tail-end of the Indus river system, and is affected by water shortage, low annual rainfall, and poor quality ground water often leading to water logging and salinity. Its 48 per cent area is arid consisting of Thar, Nara and Kohistan. Thar, the largest desert area in the sub-Saharan conditions, extends from the coastal area of Runn of Kutch along the southern border to Sukkur covering an area of 22000 sq kms.

The Kohistan area starts from the north of Karachi and moves along Balochistan with an area of 23000 sq kms. Nara area comprises desert portions covering an area of 23000 sq kms.

The Indus Delta is the most prominent feature of the Sindh coast with sea-ward coast line of 320 km long consisting of a network of small and large tidal creeks and channels which meander up to 10-15 km towards the land from the sea, possessing bio-mass of shrimp and various kinds of fish and has remained a major source of foreign exchange. Now, the area is under serious threat due to water shortage because of the reduced flow below the Kotri.

The riverian area between the flood embankments of both sides of the Indus from Guddu Barrage is 865 km and is classified as Sailaba area, cropped up from residual moisture after flood water recedes. Presently, the area is dry leading to wind erosion causing worst impact on livelihood and natural resources of ‘kutcha’ areas.

Of the 5.7 million ha cultivated area, cultivable waste is 1.4 million ha (15.8 per cent), water logging and salinity affects 2.32 million ha and the soil erosion 0.6 million ha. The raising of ground water table to the near surface in SGW areas and the consequent salinization, has created serious problems, estimated closer to 40-60 per cent in SGW areas.

The sharp fall in availability of irrigation water and diminishing rainfall have worsened the situation and reduced the area under cultivation. During 2000-01, severe drought that hit the country not only continues but has resulted in water shortage up to 28.8 per cent of the normal supplies and registered a negative growth of 2.5 per cent. The impact of drought, shortage of water in canals, sea intrusion, and nearly 90 per cent saline under ground water remains much larger as compared to other provinces. The area under cultivation for wheat and rice has fallen by 29.5 per cent and 20.9 per cent compared to national average decline estimated at 1.7 per cent and 5.5 per cent, respectively.

The achievements against targets show that the area under wheat fell by 15.8 per cent against the national average decline of 4 per cent, and area under gram fell by 54 per cent against national average decline of 7.1 per cent. In case of rice, achievement is 413,000 ha. against the target of 500,000 ha. (13.4 per cent drop), whereas the achievement of rice in Punjab has been estimated at 1,358,000 ha. as against the target of 1,375,000 ha (1.2 per cent decline ). Although the government has fixed targets of Rabi and Kharif crops on lower side, the ground realities indicate that the farmers in Sindh are facing a worst situation. The colossal losses by sea intrusion/tidal waves, as a result of reduced flows below Kotri have inundated 159 dehs of eight talukas of Thatta and Badin districts spread over an area of 1.22 million acres, which have either been totally eroded or substantially submerged and a considerable number of people have migrated to other areas in search of livelihood.

The district wise position is given below:

Distt. No of Dehs No. of Dehs Total area

(fully eroded) partially affected

affected

Thatt 67 76 1140558

Badin 05 11 79804

Total 72 87 1220362

The shortage of water in the riverian areas due to upstream storages spill-over of river water have shown negative impact in Kutcha areas and has resulted in reduction of forest areas, which provided timber, fuel food and grazing ground for cattle and animals). The people who were dependent on growing crops during inundation season on receding of flood water, cattle ranching, baskets weaving by using wild shrubs, fishing etc have migrated to command areas.

The mangroves which are breeding grounds for fish and shrimp and produce fodder for animals, fuel wood and wood for boat-making have been reduced from 240000 ha. to 20000 ha.

The poverty in rural areas has reached to the level of 70-80 per cent of the defined income level and the unemployment which was 25 per cent in 1990 went up as high as 36.1 per cent in the 2002.

This degradation process in Thar, Nara and Kohistan cannot be reversed easily except by better management with effective coordination and a participatory approach by involving all the stakeholders in a transparent manner. Moreover, the desertification, which has occurred in canal irrigated areas, riverian areas and delta region, particularly during the recent past is due to unrealistic policies and the unprofessional management. To save the southern region of Pakistan from complete devastation, the policies will have to be thoroughly reviewed and water uses on the Indus system be regulated and planned in a professional manner.