Islamabad:
Pakistan inherited the legacy of the institutional and legal framework of British forestry. Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (KP) holds 40% of the country’s forest share, making the richest province in this respect.
Within KP, 14.1% of the total area is covered with forests. The north, northwest and eastern parts of KP are steep and mountainous, making them particularly vulnerable to corrosion and landslides.
However, these forests provide fresh waters in large rivers running north to the south of the country. They also offer biodiversity habitat, promote tourism, maintaining natural beauty and stabilizing climate impacts on humans and other species.
Forests act as Pakistan’s lungs by absorbing carbon dioxide and providing oxygen through carbon isolation. They balance the environment both in time and in space. In addition to these services, they provide food, shelters, fruits and means of living. Forestry plays many roles in the stabilization of nature, but flood control and erosion is one of the most vital importance.
Their forests and ecosystems stabilize the soil and protect it from erosion. The KP Forestry Department, working with local communities, forest landowners and other interested parties, is planting twice a year during the spring and monsoon seasons.
Important programs include the Tarbela catastrophe plantation, social and agricultural forestry, integrated Kalam forestry and billion and ten billion trees. Recently, green Pakistan also started.
Hundreds of thousands of acres have been planted and protected by natural regeneration. Some of these projects received technical and financial support from the World Bank, WFP, GIZ, KFW, USAID, FAO, Dutch services and UN organizations, while others were supported locally.
The billion trees program was funded entirely by KP, while ten billion and green Pakistan initiatives were funded jointly by the provinces and the Federation.
Pakistan has gained significant recognition for these pioneering projects, especially billions and ten billion of trees. They helped the country achieve Bonn’s challenge. The rehabilitation of 150 million areas of degraded and weakened land by 2020 and targeting 350 million hectares by 2030.
Despite these achievements, recent floods in KP have been criticizing, with some deforestation for destruction. Most critics, however, are either non -professionals or use the argument for points score.
The monsoon rains have been part of the history of the region for centuries and the northeast parts of the KP have regularly take heavy showers. Flood disasters are not unique to Pakistan, India, China and other regional countries also face similar challenges.
Forests reduce the intensity of rainfall by monitoring drops, but steep ground, surface runoff and soil saturation often lead to flash floods. Trees are living entities with life cycles and their timber supports many needs for economically sustainable age.
Exploitation beyond the transfer of skills creates risks, but the forest section already regulates the use in accordance with forestry laws. It is important that Pakistan also achieved its first carbon credits in the field of forests for Magrovians in Sindh.
If only the degradation was responsible for the floods, then how do we explain the Karachi crisis? With less than two days of rain, life in the city paralyzes, schools close, offices closed and people face serious losses. The karachi is flat and just over the sea level, but the disaster is huge.
On the contrary, KP has been raining for almost two weeks. This contrast highlights the real culprits: unplanned infrastructure and obstruction of natural floating roads.
The category of forests or climate change only overpresses the issue. Climate change is indeed a pressing factor, but is often discussed superficially.
A glance at the glacier era reveals that CO2 once fell below 190 ppm, with the lower levels of 182 ppm. Under 150 ppm, most land plants could not survive. This shows that while global warming beyond the tolerable boundaries is dangerous, a degree of heating is essential for life on Earth. Human responsibility for promoting heating beyond safe limits cannot be ignored.
Most natural forests in KP belong to the local communities but manage the Department of Forests. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) reports that only 7% of the forests belong to the government, while 93% belong to humans and communities.
The legal forest categories in the KP include cautious forests that belong to the government and are protected or guzara forests, which belong to the locals but manage the department. There are also community and private forests.
In the early 1970s, the tree plantations that started the KP Forest section and the maintenance of the soil in private grazing areas in Tarbela Watershed. Agreements with land owners allowed tree planting and soil preservation to reduce erosion and prolong the life of the Tarbela tank.
The category of the forest section is therefore unjustified, as most forests belong to communities. However, by law, the Department must manage them to protect ecosystems. Property rights, community property and open access make management extremely provocative.
Another obstacle is the huge scale of forest areas, which are open and without limits, as opposed to urban banks that are strongly guarded but still robbed. Waiting for forest staff to control huge, open land without strong governance structures is unrealistic.
Thus, the issue goes deeper than the forest staff or tree cover. These are poverty, community rights and governance. Policy formulators must recognize these territory realities.
Strengthening forest protection requires the support of local communities, a reduction in poverty dependence on forests and the improvement of management practices. Only then can KP forests be protected, while at the same time minimizing flood risks.
The author holds a doctorate in forestry and is an expert on climate change, forestry and environment
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