PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa forest department is likely to have a rough ride for the enforcement of the forestry-related laws in the merged tribal districts amid reservations of some tribes, which see the move as an encroachment on their inherited rights.

Officials of the forest department have held a series of meetings with elders in some districts of the erstwhile Fata for the classification of forests.

They told Dawn that the department was trying to take tribes on board about the conservation and management of forest resources before enforcing the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Forest Ordinance, 2002, and subsidiary rules.

Oppose ‘intervention’ in natural forests, asks dept to grow own trees

A senior official dealing with the forestry-related matters said the department had offered ‘exclusive concessions’ to the tribes in return for the implementation of forest laws.

He said during consultation with elders, the department had offered to designate all forests as Guzara forests with its all benefits going to the respective communities.

“The department will retain the management of forests, whereas their ownership will lie with the respective tribes if forests are put in the category of Guzara,” he said.

The official said unlike forest-covered Malakand and Hazara regions in the province, the department had offered 100 per cent royalty to the tribes of merged tribal districts for a certain period.

“Response of the elders is positive and hopefully, we (the department) will reach an agreement with them very soon,” he claimed.

However, elders in South and North Waziristan and Bajaur districts, who had participated in the consultative jirgas, presented their own version of the story.

They say they will not accept the government’s intervention in the existing natural forests, which, they claimed, exclusively belonged to the tribes.

“We have protected our natural forests by applying tribal codes and the forest department has no contribution in the conservation of green trees in merged districts,” said Malik Amir Mohammad Wazir, who represented his tribe in the jirga held last week in Wana, the administrative headquarters of South Waziristan tribal district.

He said the jirga had rejected the forest department’s offer to place forests in merged districts under the category of Guzara.

The elder said officials, who attended the jirga, were informed that local tribes would not accept intervention in their forests.

“Instead of encroaching on natural forests, the department should grow its own trees and give incentives to local people,” Malik Amir said, adding that forest department did not plant a single tree in the area during last seven decades.

In Hazara region, where the Guzara forests exist, the department gives 80 per cent royalty to the local communities, while 20 per cent goes to the department for forest management and conservation.

Forests in Hazara and Malakand divisions have been divided into three categories, including reserved forests that belong to the government, protected forests, where the local communities have the maximum rights, and Guzara forests, which are 100 per cent owned by the communities.

Malik Mohammad Asghar of Bajaur district told Dawn that there was uncertainty over the intervention of the forest department in natural forests.

He said few days ago, the people in Barang area of Bajaur had begun cutting down green trees over rumours that the government is taking over forests.

The elder added that the district administration immediately called a jirga to check the felling of green trees and remove misperceptions regarding the takeover of forests by the government. Forests across ex-Fata belong to the local tribes.

Officials said around 1.3 million acres in the merged districts were covered by natural forests, while the forest department had grown forests over 500,000 acres.

The major natural forests found in the region have cedar, pine (chalghoza), kail, fir, spruce, chir and oak trees. The right to the conservation, protection and harvesting of forests lies with the respective tribes and the government does not have any role in this respect.

Chalghoza forests are found over around 170,000 acres in North and South Waziristan tribal districts. Pine nut, a byproduct of pine tree is a major means of livelihood for the local communities. It is exported to China besides meeting domestic needs.

Following the merger of Fata with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the forest department started homework for legal classification of natural and man-made forests in tribal districts.

Sources told Dawn that the forest department on the directives of the chief secretary started consultative jirgas to take the local tribes on board before bringing forests within the ambit of the law.

Officials said the consultation process would likely to be completed by the end of Jan and the department would send a summary to the provincial government to approve a suitable category for forests in merged districts.

They said the department after the approval of the summary would frame rules according to the local conditions of tribal districts.

The department had planned to allocate 47 per cent share of the Billion Trees Afforestation Programme to the tribal districts.

Another official told Dawn that Guzara forests was the most suitable appropriate and category for the communities of merged districts.

He said the government had intended to designate those forests as Guzara ones.

The official said the government would take over the forest conservation and management role in merged districts under the category of Guzara.

Published in Dawn, Jannuary 5th, 2021