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| September 15, 2002 | Sunday | Rajab 7, 1423 |
Experts asked to chalk out strategy: Conservation of forests, watersheds
MUZAFFARABAD, Sept 14: The federal minister for environment, local government and rural development, Barrister Shahida Jamil, has called upon the experts to look into the causes of large-scale deforestation and degradation of watersheds.
She also urged the foresters and natural resource managers to come up with a strategy and monitoring mechanism to ensure the protection of these resources for the prosperity of the present generation.
The minister was speaking as the chief guest on Saturday at the opening session of a two-day ‘National Conference on Sustainable Mountain Development’ under the aegis of the AJK Forest Department here at a local hotel.
She said the event would provide an opportunity to ponder as to why Pakistan had not been able to manage its precious forest resources, which harboured unique ecosystems and biodiversity of the national and global significance.
Mountains, she said, served as vast reserves of valuable resources such as water, forests, medicinal plants, and biological diversity as well as key centres of traditional culture and recreation.
The minister pointed out that Azad Kashmir was rich in natural forests with 42 per cent of its area comprising forests and grazing land. Besides, the territory also formed the watershed or catchment area of Neelum, Jhelum and Poonch rivers, all draining in Mangla Dam.
With the construction of Mangla and Tarbela dams, sustainable management of the mountain forests, or watershed management, had become one of the core and priority areas for the socio-economic development in the country, she said.
The government agencies had always a tendency to work in easier environments, which was the main reason the mountain communities and the mountain natural resources had been pathetically neglected in the past, she added. The minister said water was becoming the most precious and scarce commodity, and there were growing concerns that many conflicts and water disputes could crop up for sharing scarce water in the rivers.
The issue of water scarcity in Pakistan, she said, called for careful management of water resources in the mountains. Large-scale deforestation in the catchment areas had jeopardized the hydrological function of watersheds which in fact were the storehouses of water so intricately connected at the sub-surface and underground levels.
Without trees, hydrological cycle was incomplete, she said and added that Pakistan was rated among the countries with the highest rate of deforestation.
She told the audience that the ministry was planning to formulate a permanent mountain forum and partnerships, with representatives from all the provincial governments, Azad Kashmir, Northern Areas and other stakeholders, to serve as a think tank to advise the government for the sustainable mountain development of resources.
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