LAHORE: Identifying environmental changes, population growth, and land-use issues as challenges for forest conservation, the Punjab forest department has taken up an ambitious plan of doubling forest area in the province in next five years.

In line with this goal, the forest department has launched a largest tree plantation campaign having plans to plant 51 million saplings during 2025-26. Some 20m saplings will be planted during the ongoing monsoon plantation campaign and 31m saplings during the spring campaign of 2026.

The forest department at its one-day conference on “Empowering Forest Frontlines: Strategy, Surveillance, Sustainability” also identified that the colonial-era provisions of the Forest Act, 1927, were still in force and urgently needed revision.

Director General (Forests), Punjab, Azfar Ziya told Dawn on Saturday that the conference aimed at developing strategies to conserve existing forests, prepare new legal and policy frameworks to increase forest cover.

Forest dept to revise colonial-era law; hydroseeding technology being used for barren lands

He said forestry was no longer an academic subject – it has become an integration of environmental science, geospatial technology, social sciences, and policy. “The forest department will be elevated from a supervisory role to a leader in environmental solutions and smart land use,” he said.

The conference participants comprising relevant bureaucrats, climate change council members, academia and representatives from IUCN, FAO, and WWF Pakistan shared suggestions for improving forests, discussed challenges faced, and proposed solutions. As many as four working groups of participants discussed and presented a way forward for challenges of conservation, protection, enhancement of tree cover across Punjab as well as cross-cutting challenges.

The forest department has also introduced cutting-edge hydroseeding technology for greening barren lands for the first time to lead the country in environmental restoration, afforestation, and soil erosion control.

The forest department has used machinery to spray a mixture of seeds, fertilisers, water, and organic components on several acres of land in Forest Park Jallo, Lahore, and Takht Pari, Rawalpindi. The forest department officials say this technology will not only save time but also provide more results with less effort.

The officials say the hydroseeding would be ideal for barren lands, hilly slopes, and erosion-prone areas as well as in areas like Thar, Cholistan, Balochistan, and urban projects such as roadsides and housing schemes. “It will prove to be an effective and modern method for rapid greening, land beautification and environmental restoration,” an official said.

The officials, however, identify water scarcity, lack of specialised machinery, and trained personnel as major challenges. They say this hydroseeding technology has successfully been used in the US for highways and golf courses; for desert restoration in China as well as urban greening and watershed management in Australia, Canada, the UK, Spain, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE.

“This technology has the potential to transform barren lands and promote environmental sustainability in Punjab and beyond,” the official said.

Published in Dawn, August 10th, 2025