PESHAWAR, Aug 1: Various indigenous plants are on the verge of extinction in mountainous as well as flat lands of the NWFP and in the tribal areas, conservators said.
Research and Development Directorate of the NWFP Forest Department has so far identified about 20 coniferous and broad- leaf species of plants as threatened, saying that recovery of such species were important for ecological balance in the region.
Forest conservators said that the number of threatened species of plants in the region might increase as many of them had almost vanished due to ruthless exploitation of resources and destruction of the habitats.
"There is no authentic data about the threatened plants in the country," said Director-General of the Pakistan Forest Institute, Dr Sardar Mohammad Rafiq. However, he admitted, many plants were facing extinction.
The government had set up a separate section at the PFI, which regularly compiled data about the threatened plants around the country, but it had suspended activities since 1996 due to non-availability of staff, according to the officials.
The Forest Department has conducted a survey which reveals that coniferous and broad-leaved indigenous plants are threatened species in the NWFP. The environmental profile of the NWFP, compiled by the IUCN, estimated the number of rare or threatened vascular plant species to be about 500 out of 5,500-6,000 in Pakistan.
Technical Coordinator of World Wildlife Fund (WWF), Peshawar office, Dr Habib Ahmad, said that three plants - Himalayan Yew, Podophyllum emodii and Saussurea lappa - in Pakistan had been declared "endangered species" and their names had been included in the IUCN's Red Data Book.
"Pakistan needs an integrated conservation policy to protect its flora and fauna," the WWF coordinator said. Director of R&D, Forest Department, Nazir Mohammad said that some precious plants grown on the farmland and mountainous regions of the province had either vanished or were under the threat of being vanished.
He said that indigenous plants like sum, which was in abundance in Hazara region, was now nearly extinct, and only a few trees of the species might be available in the area.
The WWF has launched Chalghoza pine conservation project in the Suleman Ghar in 1992 to protect the species which was under threat. The conservators identified five species of Quercus, a slow growing semi-evergreen tree, found in Himalayas mountains and areas along the Afghan border, were fighting for their survival.
The Quercus forests have been subjected to ruthless deforestation and grazing. They said that in late 1980s, the Forest Department germinated seeds of the plant in Tor Ghar (Black Mountain) area on experimental basis, but the output was nil because of lack of conservation.
According to the WWF 10 medicinal plants in the upper parts of the NWFP were exposed to genetic erosion, and many of them were on the verge of extinction. The WWF coordinator said despite the fact that some plants in the region had been declared threatened species around the globe and their trade prohibited, but their smuggling was going on.
Another medicinal plant, Litsea monopetala, which has a great economic value, has nearly vanished and can only be traced in protected areas or inaccessible rocks.
The WWF official said that the main reason for the depletion was over exploitation and according to a market survey the national demand for Lista bark was about 1,500 tons, 95 per cent of which was imported from India and Sri Lanka.