ISLAMABAD: A review of Pakistan’s forestry sector reveals that almost all natural forest ecosystems in the country are now critically threatened due to widespread negative anthropogenic (originating due to human activity) sources, conversion of natural ecosystems to agriculture and dwellings and unprecedented depletion of forests, it emerged recently.

The review, carried out by the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations, pointed out that no comprehensive assess­ment of this degradation had been carried out with the objective of the ranking of hot spots. The selection criteria for the inclusion of hot spots encompass characteristics like value for species-richness, uniqueness of flora and fauna, economic importance and extent of the threat to ecosystems due to biotic and climatic factors.

Based on the laid down criteria, the report identified numerous habitat and plant associations in the country as hot spots for priority action. The chilgoza forests of Suleman Range in Zhob and Sherani in Balochistan and Dera Ismail Khan and North and South Waziristan Agency and Chitral were threatened due to excessive grazing cutting for fuel and timber, excessive collection of seeds and lopping off branches, which contain future cones.

The juniper forests of Ziarat and Kalat, which were extremely slow-growing and some trees were 1,500 years old, were facing pressure for grazing and fuelwood collection. The riverine forests of Sukkur were under threat due to decreased inundation and over-grazing, and shisham dieback (a fungal tree disease).

The mangrove forests of Karachi were subject to heavy human pressure and ecological changes, reduced freshwater from upstream, excessive grazing and fuel-wood cutting and habitat fragmentation.

According to the FAO report, Pakistan was a forest-poor country with a small area of 4.478 million ha (5.1 per cent), under forests. This amounts to 0.021 ha per person, compared to the world average of 1 ha/person.

Contribution of the forestry sector to the GNP and GDP as per official estimates seems quite insignificant primarily because of a multitude of non-timber forest products and non-tangible environmental and ecological benefits of the forests were not taken into account.

The forest policy formulation process in Pakistan has mostly remained top-down and autocratic. The policy guidelines were traditionally formulated by the office of Inspector-General of Forest, thus this bureaucratic policy formulation process failed to involve real stakeholders and to avail the support of political leadership for its optimum implementation especially about resource allocation.

Almost all the forest policies of Pakistan failed to place requisite focus on providing and sustaining livelihood to local communities.

Published in Dawn, March 10th, 2020