CHITRAL, Jan 15: The tremendous pressure on forests can be reduced by adopting alternative sources of energy, say local forest conservators.

Talking to Dawn here, they said that about 4.7 per cent of the total area of the district was covered with forest which was shrinking fast with the rapid growth of population and development activities. The oak forest in the southern part of the district was depleting fast and in the absence of any conservation strategy, its entire population was feared to stand exhausted, they added.

The forest conservators said that the powerful timber mafia was brining this tragic end of the forest with each passing day to accumulate wealth because “a piece of wood brings them the same return as does a piece of gold due to its demand in the market”. They said that pressure on the oak forest would go on increasing which was inevitable as a source of fuel to get heat in the area where mercury remained below the freezing point for over two months in the winter.

Enumerating the possible alternate sources for getting heat, they named hydropower, biogas, dung-cakes and grass-cakes. There was a tremendous potential of hydropower potential in the district and small hydro power station could be built almost in every village, they added.

Over 90 per cent of the population rear cows and other livestock for their sustenance and biogas technology could be developed in the villages to provide the people yet another source of fuel.

The introduction and proliferation of biogas technology would provide cheaper source of energy but credits must be made available to them for initial expenses, they said, adding that in the remote areas of the district, the mixture of grass and soil was shaped into cakes and then dried to use it as fuel in the winter season.

They said that the Wetland Programme Pakistan had recently distributed hundreds of such stoves among the residents of Baroghil where it had launched its project. About the provision of natural gas as alternate source, the conservators said that its availability was not ensured after the closure of Lowari Top in the winter season and it was not affordable for all sections of population. They were of the opinion that any further delay in this direction would lead to denuding Chitral of its forest which served as the sole source of energy for household use.

LOWARI TUNNEL: The people of Chitral termed it a historic event when some officials of the NHA including the general manager and project director of the project and others crossed the 8.5km long tunnel on their vehicles.