CHITRAL: Conservationists have expressed their apprehensions over the rapid depletion of oak forests in Chitral, located only in its southern part, due to the abnormal rise in their consumption for heating and cooking purposes.

Hamid Ahmed Mir, a conservationist who worked with an international organisation, said that it took centuries for oak forests to recuperate once they were harvested in an unfriendly manner or indiscriminately chopped down.

He said that only windfallen and dried wood should be collected from the forests instead of green cutting, as woodcutters did not hesitate to chop down every tree in an area, thereby completely denuding it.

He regretted that the forest department only guarded deodar trees, while no regulation existed for the conservation of oak forests, and if one had existed, it was not enforced, leaving the forests at the mercy of unscrupulous cutters whose greed knew no bounds due to the soaring prices of oak wood.

Mr Mir said that alternative means of heating and cooking should be made available to drastically decrease the consumption of oak wood, thereby conserving its forest, while the provision of electricity and natural gas werethe only options.

Published in Dawn, December 7th, 2024