ISLAMABAD: Sheesham is dying and efforts to save this sensitive species of trees for over 15 years have failed.

While some experts argue that Sheesham is dying as a consequence of climate change, others believe that the spread of a disease from the continuous inbreeding between the same species for over a century is taking its toll.

“It’s like nature is angry, tired of compensating for mismanagement of the environment by man. Change in weather patterns, especially the shifting monsoons, has caused Sheesham to die,” said Prime Minister’s Focal Person for Green Pakistan Programme, Rizwan Mehboob.

He explained that Sheesham was dying near Khanewal and Gujrat, on the sides of canals in Punjab as well as some parts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Mr Mehboob said climate change did not just threaten Sheesham in Pakistan but also in Nepal and India due to extensive and sustained summers coupled with disturbed rainy seasons.

Sheesham was brought from Nepal to the plains of Punjab by the British some 150 years ago. Experts with a different theory argue that climate change could be one of the reasons but is not the main cause.

“First of all, Sheesham is not an indigenous species. It has become disease-ridden possibly due to almost no interaction with natural population and a lack of genetic diversity,” said Mehmood Nasir, who is the inspector general forest, Ministry of Climate Change.

The official believed that Sheesham was under attack by a disease called dieback possibly due to continuous inbreeding between the same species of trees.

Dieback caused the gradual death of twigs and branches which generally started from the top, he said.

Dr Fakhar Abbas from the Bioresource Research Centre, a nonprofit organisation that focuses on conservation of wild and rescued bears, also believed that continuous inbreeding was possibly causing Sheesham to die.

Dr Abbas, who conducted a DNA study to investigate why Sheesham is dying, believed that the dieback disease was targeting the immunity gene.

“It has simply not interacted with the natural species in the last 150 to 200 years.”

According to Dr Abbas, the government did not heed to suggestions from experts in 2007-08 to undertake an exchange programme with countries such as Yemen, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan to introduce different varieties of Sheesham in these countries.

“Dieback attacks Sheesham when it grows to its full height of 70 to 80 feet. Sheesham could have been saved had the government considered the advice from experts to harvest Sheesham when it grew to 30 feet.”

Nonetheless, experts now believe that all efforts to save the dying Sheesham in the last 15 to 20 have failed and there is no turning back.

It is not just Sheesham that could likely disappear in the future, Pakistan’s rare juniper forest, possibly 5,000 years old, is also dying a slow death, also from a lack of genetic diversity and continuous inbreeding.

Published in Dawn, November 13th, 2017