RAWALPINDI, June 16: Desertification has affected 43 million hectares of land and out of the total land area of 79.6 million hectares, only 16 million hectares are suitable for irrigated farming in Pakistan.

According to the third assessment report, submitted by the government to the secretariat of UN Convention to Combat Desertification, majority of the people in the country depend on arid and semi-arid areas to support their livelihoods through agro-pastoral activities.

“Desertification process resulting from degradation of lands is threatening most areas of the country and the underlying factors include a mix of natural and anthropogenic causes,” says the report.

It listed at least eight main threats leading to further degradation of productive land in the country, which include climate change, rising temperature, extended droughts; diminishing supplies of fresh water resources for irrigation; water erosion, land sliding and earthquake in dry uplands; wind erosion, moving sand dunes in deserts; deforestation and loss of biodiversity; mismanagement of arable lands; and overuse of grazing lands.

Keeping in view the magnitude of the problem and possible measures to address land degradation issues in the country, the ministry of environment with the financial support of the GEF- UNDP has launched a full-scale project on sustainable land management to combat desertification in Pakistan.

The World Day to Combat Desertification is being celebrated on Sunday to highlight the international environmental agenda. The UN convention in this regard was adopted 13 years ago.

“About 5.2 per cent of Pakistan’s land area is covered by forests, whereas both environmental and economic standards necessitate that the country should have at least 20 to 25 percent area under forests,” the report says.

It says that about 11.2 million hectares, mostly northern mountain regions, are affected by water erosion.

About 2 million hectares are affected by waterlogging and around 6 million hectares by salinity and sodicity. Wind erosion is another issue concerning land degradation. About 3-5 million hectares of land is affected by wind erosion in arid regions of Punjab (Cholistan), Sindh (Tharparkar) and Balochistan (Chagai and desert along the coast). Some of the areas have 0.5 to 4 meter high moving sand dunes, posing danger to cultivation land and local infrastructure.

Global warming is accelerating glacial melting in the north of the country threatening freshwater resources that at predicted to shrink by 27 per cent by 2050.