It is a cry in anguish, for anyone who would care to listen. The peerless Juniper Forest of Ziarat, which has trees as old as 5000 years, and is the second oldest in the world after the Junipers of California, is on the verge of a catastrophic extinction. It is infected by parasite, it is being cut down as burning wood and it is being robbed by timber thieves. No one seems to care that Juniper is not replaceable. It is a tree that grows only one inch in a year,and takes a couple of thousand years to reach full development.
As an old time enthusiast of Ziarat, I have been an annual visitor to this beautiful, cool piece of paradise, in the otherwise hot and arid Balochistan. There are many who relish with great pleasure the quiet and serene environment of this lovely holiday resort. It still retains its original purity, undefiled by the trappings of modern progress which is badly marring the beauty of hill stations like Murree.
It is in Ziarat that the invigorating Juniper provide shaded walks and hilly tracks in different directions of the valley. Every walk unfolds a singular spectacle of exceptional scenic beauty. But then this Juniper forest is fast disappearing.
I first visited Ziarat in the 60s. Me and my wife found Ziarat an unexpectedly pleasant surprise. Cool climate, serene environment, rich fruit orchards and above all the thick Juniper forests. Ziarat in the sixties was a much quieter place than today. Then it had only a couple of hotels and a small shopping centre. There were a few places to visit, among them the Residency where founder of Pakistan, Quaid Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah spent his last days and the shrine of Baba Kharwari which gave the place the name of ‘Ziarat’. It was an experience which we still cherish with blissful memories.
Ziarat still has a cool climate, but the clearly visible evidence of decline in the invaluable Juniper forest is really distressing. Junipers are one of the slowest growing trees in the world and are therefore often called “living fossils” Although they are also found in some other parts of Pakistan, Balochistan’s Junipers are one of the biggest blocks in the world.
But all that is slowly changing. Where there was lush green density only a few decades ago, one can now see wasteland patches. Similarly one can also observe lesser number of smaller offshoots around the bigger trees.
What is destroying the Junipers of Ziarat? Firstly there is the parasite infection called Mistletoe, “Tasma Pa” in local language, for which there appears to be no remedy, except to cut down the infected part or the whole plant. Then there is the painful tale of criminal neglect and culpable connivance with timber thieves. Pakistan’s Environment Protection Agency officials rightly fear that unless immediate and firm steps are taken, the killing by parasite and illegal cutting could result in the end of the Junipers in Ziarat. And one can only imagine on what ecological adversities would befall Ziarat with Juniper’s extinction. It would not merely deprive Ziarat of its health giving breath of air and natural beauty, but also damage farming. The trees also divert rainwater into the ground, replenishing the underground water resources which irrigate the soil.
Surveys by experts have calculated the pace of Juniper extinction in terms of figures. In brief the results of their surveys are depressing to say the least and confirm that this invaluable national wealth is vanishing at a horrifying pace. The figures show that more than one third trees in this forest are infested with Mistletoe which kills a tree of thousands years in just 25 years. This parasite has already killed junipers in large numbers while others are dying. Besides this, due to our criminal negligence a sizable part of the forest, about three percent by expert estimates, is vanishing every year through illegal cutting.
Talking of the parasitical damage to the Junipers, a local forest official said the only option available to them is to cut down the affected trees or their branches to save other healthy trees. He said unless this is done, the parasite seed pods, when dried, disperse through winds far and wide, as far as 20 kilometres, infecting healthy Juniper trees in other parts of the valley. The Mistletoe infestation was first discovered in 1970’s when scientists of the Pakistan Forest Institute (PFI) were investigating causes of Juniper mortality. According to a 1993 report about three to 50 percent trees are infested in the Ziarat area.
A number of programmes have been initiated by the Pakistan Forest Institute, the Forest Department of Balochistan and the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) to save Juniper Forests. The Forest Department is executing an extensive project under the Balochistan Natural Resource Management Project (BNRMP) while WWF Pakistan is working with the local communities to protect this natural heritage.
The project is a part of WWF-Pakistan’s Environmental Education Programme. It focuses on conservation and environmental issues linked to poverty. The project was aimed at creating awareness among communities about the ecological importance of Juniper tract through meetings and workshops.
The government on its part has taken some measures to contain the problem. For example they provided 7000 cylinders of free gas to the poor people in winter, to discourage them from cutting wood for fuel. But as is the case with all government programmes, subsequent refills were not given and the programme seems to have been abandoned midway.
Local environmentalists rightly complain that not enough has been done to save the forest from impending disaster. They want the Ziarat Junipers to be declared a National Park and take more potent measures to ensure its preservation. They are also of the opinion that the introduction of a new type of fast growing tree in the region is one practical solution because Junipers cannot be replaced fast enough. While the battle to save Junipers may be continued, the introduction of faster growing afforesation would be a sensible alternate measure to give Ziarat a green substitute for the slowly vanishing Junipers.
It is a cry in anguish, for anyone who would care to listen. The peerless Juniper Forest of Ziarat, which has trees as old as 5000 years, and is the second oldest in the world after the Junipers of California, is on the verge of a catastrophic extinction. It is infected by parasite, it is being cut down as burning wood and it is being robbed by timber thieves. No one seems to care that Juniper is not replaceable. It is a tree that grows only one inch in a year,and takes a couple of thousand years to reach full development.
