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

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SDPISustainable Development Policy InstituteChapter 04Forest Protection &AwarenessLetter to EditorForest protection programmeDawn Islamabad, April 01, 2010This is apropos of a news report(March 17) that the minister forenvironment and forestry haslaunched a programme incollaboration with WWF-Pakistanto check deforestation.The programme is a step in theright direction to stall the rapidelimination of forests we haveexperienced during last 50 or soyears for want of a suchlegislation.This continued obliteration offorests has reduced the forestcover substantially, representing2.5 per cent of the land area ofPakistan under forests according tothe latest UN statistics.This puts us in the category ofcountries with a forest cover ofless than 10 per cent. This is analarming situation and needs to bestalled forthwith, warrantingefforts aimed at improving thisforest cover.If we sum up the government’spublicized planting targets and thesurvival of their transplants duringthe last 60 years, the forest coverarea would have exceeded 10 percent of the total geographical areaof Pakistan.Surprisingly, no one ever botheredto check the veracity of theseclaims, so much so that now wehave a forest cover less than whatwe had in 1947, while hill forestare almost finished.Forest on either side of the Indushave disappeared, riverine foreststoo are under threat as the policeare burning them on the pretext offlushing out robbers.Our total geographical cover offorest is much less than theinternational standard. Efforts areunder way to increase the forestcover from the present claim of 5per cent to 6 per cent by 2015.For this, emphasis should laid onreducing the alarming rate ofmortality of tree saplings by takingpost-planting care and routinemaintenance.Zafar SheikhVia emailStudents help in sprucing up parkThe News Rawalpindi/Islamabad, April 17, 2010Rasheed KhalidIslalmabad: - Students of normaland special education schools wereawarded certificates forparticipating in an exercise toimprove the park adjacent to theNational Library and ResourceCentre.Despite their small age, includingthose with relatively limitedability, keenly worked in thegarden for three days to develop alawn into a small garden.The ceremony was organized bythe Sustainable DevelopmentPolicy Institute in collaborationPakistan Forest Digest Vol. 1, No. 1, April – June, 2010
SDPISustainable Development Policy Institutewith the US Embassy at the HelenKeller Community FriendshipCentre here on Friday.Speaking on the occasion, JuliaFend Rick, assistant culturalattaché at the US embassy, said theEarth Day started when the dirtyRiver Cuyahoga in Ohio caughtfire due to oily pollutants on June22, 1969, and Senator GaylordNelson next year called all andsundry to observe Earth Day andalso participate in cleaning theriver. Since then, April 22 iscelebrated as Earth Day in theworld. She said that environmentmovement is a story of citizenscoming together and demandingtheir respective governments toprovide health food, water andclean environment and punish thepolluters.She said it is the responsibility ofall of us to work for improving theenvironment. She appreciated thatby implanting flowers and trees,the students converted the areainto beautiful place. She thankedvolunteers from schools touniversities for supporting thisinnovation. She asked the studentsto repeat the exercise at someother place on the next Earth Day.Dr Arshad Ovais Qazi, director ofthe Directorate-General of SpecialEducation, apprised the audienceabout his centre established in1995. He specificallymentioned books,computer lab andelectronic journals. Hesaid that the centre isfully functional for thespecial children,visually impaired in particular. Helauded the services of the USembassy in this respect, whichincluded books and furniture.A slide show depicting thechildren working in the park wasalso screened on the occasion.Shakil Ramay, director of theSDPI’s Pakistan Youth ClimateNetwork, thanked the participants.Need to revamp forest resourcesThe Nation Islamabad, Money plus, April 26, 2010By Babar HussainForests are the blood of the ecosystem. The importanceof forest in the modern day world can not beunderestimated. The art and science of growing theforests is called forestry. Forestry plays a pivotal rolein the economy of Pakistan. It is also essential toimprove the quality of life of citizens throughsustainable development maintaining sustained supplyof wood and wood products.Pakistan is a land of great diversity, which has yieldeda variety of vegetation; however, only 5.3 percent ofthe total land area is under forest ranking it under LowForest Covered Countries.In Pakistan forests include State-owned forests,communal forests and privately owned forest. It isincredibly difficult to sum up the importance of forestsin few words. Forest products are used in our dailylives. All these and many more activities directly orindirectly involve forest. Some are easy to figure outsuch as fruits, paper and wood from trees, and someby-products that go into the manufacture of othereveryday items like medicines, detergents, etc.Forests also provide habitat for biodiversity andlivelihood for humans.They offer watershed protection, timber and nontimberproducts, and various recreational options. Theyprevent soil erosion, help in maintaining the watercycle, check global warming by using carbon dioxidein photosynthesis.Keeping in view the importance of forests, governmentdeclared the year 2009 as “national year ofEnvironment” to bring a visible improvement in thequality of air, water, land, and ecosystem throughmitigating the effects of environmental degradationvisible on biological diversity, agriculture productivity,water availability, food security and human health. Inthis regard, a series of activities have been planned forengaging all stakeholders for their participation in theimprovement of the Environment. But Governmentfailed to meet the desired results due to certain reasons.During the year 2008-2009 forests have contributed 83thousand cubic meters of timber and 205 thousandcubic meters of firewood as compared to 94 thousandcubic meters timber and 267 thousand cubic metersfirewood in 2007+08. Different types of forest grownare: Tropical rainforests, Sub-tropical forests;Mediterranean forests, temperate forests, Coniferousforests and Montane forests.The major threat to forest in Pakistan and in World isgenerally deforestation. Deforestation is the processwhereby natural forests are cleared through loggingand/or burning, either to use the timber or to replacethe area for alternative uses. From temperate forests totropical rainforests, deforestation continues to be anurgent environmental issue that jeopardizes people’slivelihoods, threatens animals, and intensifies globalwarming. It is very alarming that about 10-12 millionPakistan Forest Digest Vol. 1, No. 1, April – June, 2010
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Title Pakistan Forest Digest Issue 01- A4 - Pakistan Research Group

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