Title Pakistan Forest Digest Issue 01- A4 - Pakistan Research Group

SDPISustainable Development Policy Institutenames and have submitted applications forlease. The forest officials have identifiedlands on these applications. These landsare supposedly in the names of poorpeople.The Samas of Sekhat who are cultivatingcrops on the forest land have also given applicationsto the forest minister for leasing out land in KhebraniForest in the names of widows and poor people.Wild life of Riverine area including Hog deer,vulture, peacock, and other precious animals andbirds has been badly hit. Riverine area of Indusrecharges the sweet water stores all over Sindh. Afterinstallation of thousands of tube wells in Riverinearea for agriculture purpose especially when Indus isgetting less water the natural network system is notrecharging in required quantity.The present government immediately imposed banon lease on forest lands. But it did not follow up itsdecision with environment-friendly and pro-poorforest policy.The newspaper advertisements in April 2010 by theSindh forests minister giving deadline for voluntarilyvacating the forests lands did not bring any results.Big landlords have started collecting CNICs from thewidows and helpless people to get lease in theirTo ensure positive outcome, policy should beprepared in consultation with all the stakeholdersincluding civil society and experts from environment,forestry, agriculture, irrigation, fisheries, economicsetc. An autonomous board with representation of allstakeholders should review and discuss the proposedpolicy document for finalisation, approval andimplementation.Green courts or environmental tribunals should be setup at district level to take up the cases regardingcutting of trees or deliberate fire in the forests.Vigilance committees should be set up at districtlevel headed by the session judge of the district tomonitor the implementation of the leased out landsand provide support to the forest protectioncommittees.All the remaining forest cover area should bedeclared as protected areas and should be recordedthrough GIS mapping system. The preservation offorest should be ensured by continuous monitoring.‘Pakistan has highest annual deforestation rate in Asia’Dawn Islamabad, June 25, 2010By BhagwandasKarachi, June 24: While forestscurrently cover only 2.5 per centof the country’s land, Pakistan hasthe highest annual deforestationrate in Asia, according to the latestfindings of the World Wide Fundfor Nature.The WWF report, which is beinglaunched on Friday, warns that ifthe current deforestation rate of2.1 per cent and trend of landconversion from forest to otheruses is not checked, the countrywill not be able to meet itsinternational commitments underthe Millennium DevelopmentGoals to increase its forest coverfrom 2.5 per cent to six per cent by2015.The report says that more than61,000 hectares (approx. over151,500 acres) of forest land havebeen converted to non-forest use inthe country since its inception.The urgent measuresrecommended to the relevantauthorities to curb the negativetrend are immediate placement ofa ban on forest land conversions,commercial harvesting andallotments; spread of awarenessamong lawmakers for properlegislation to restrict landconversions; and recovery offorest land from encroachers andits subsequent reforestation.In extremely important caseswhere conversion of forest landsbecomes unavoidable, necessaryprovisions in the law must bemade for compensatory forestationon twice the land being converted /allotted, the report recommends.Pakistan Forest Digest Vol. 1, No. 1, April – June, 2010