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Deforestation rate alarming: Report

Islamabad, Pakistan - The woody bio mass of Pakistan is now severely threatened by the growing consumption of fuel wood and timber.

It is feared that this natural resource would be totally consumed within the next 15 years, says a government report on deforestation.

The principal cause of deforestation in Pakistan is the consumption of fuel wood and timber (primarily for house hold firewood) and it exceeds production in all the four provinces except in the relatively sparsely populated Northern Areas.

This consumption is expected to increase in line with the growth of population projected at about 3 per cent a year.

Pakistan is having the world's second highest rate of deforestation, leading to the wholesale disappearance of trees, shrubs and ground flora together with the vertebrate and invertebrate fauna they normally support.

The loss of forest habitat has had a severe impact on Pakistan's biodiversity and has serious implications for the nation's other natural and agro-ecosystems, according to the biodiversity action plan for Pakistan.

Pakistan's deforestation rate is alarmingly high, threatening the lives of many Pakistanis who are dependent upon them for their livelihood.

The deforestation has been attributed to rapid population growth, illegal logging, unsustainable use of natural resources and the minimal participation in reforestation programmes.

Deforestation is also a combination of governmental mismanagement, corruption and economic development, says a related report.

Unfortunately, according to the action plan, the moratorium on timber harvesting in Pakistan following the 1992 floods has not been very effective. Further, the moratorium has reportedly resulted in increased timber smuggling from Afghanistan.

As most of this wood is extracted by the clear filling of forests in Kunar province, and as these forests fall within the watershed of the Kabul river, the adverse impacts of deforestation in Afghanistan will be felt down stream in Pakistan.

The biodiversity action plan for Pakistan, made up of 13 components which correspond to specific articles of the UN Convention on Biodiversity, further states the principal direct cause of degradation of Pakistan's rangelands and forests is the rapidly increasing domestic livestock population.

Between 1945 and 1986, the number of cattle almost doubled, while the number of buffaloes, sheep and goats more than tripled. The overall livestock numbers continue to increase at a rate of two per cent per year.

While much of this increase has been fed by the production of fodder within irrigated areas, persistent over grazing has reduced forage production in Pakistan's rangelands to one-third the potential (a loss of almost 50 million tonnes per year), and in some areas to as low as 15 per cent of potential forage production.

The problem is particularly acute in Balochistan.