Lecture 25 NATURAL RESOURCE PLANNING AND MANAGEMENT

1. Lecture 25 NATURAL RESOURCE PLANNING AND MANAGEMENT Dr. Aneel SALMAN Department of Management Sciences COMSATS Institute of Information Technology, Islamabad

2. Recap Lecture 24 • Ecofeminism • Gender and Natural Resource Management

3. WHAT IS FOREST? • The forest is a complex ecosystem consisting mainly of trees that buffer the earth and support a myriad of life forms. • The forestry sector of Pakistan is a main source of lumber, paper, fuel wood, latex, medicine as well as food. It provides ecotourism and wildlife conservation purposes. • Less than 4% of land in Pakistan is covered with forests.

4. TYPES OF FOREST - MANAGEMENT • Productive Forests In these forests the tree density is high and the forest canopy is closed. Such forests have great commercial value and they are mainly used for extraction of timber and other products . • Protective Forests These include amenity planting along roads, in parks and along railway lines. The protection forests have little commercial value because they do not supply valuable species of wood. Their main function is to protect the soil and prevent it from eroding or blowing away. They keep the environment pleasant by lowering the temperature and providing shade

5. Current Scenario • About 4.2 million ha of Pakistan is under forests and planted trees, which is equivalent to 4.8 percent of the total land area. Eighty-five percent of this is public forest under the legal categories of state reserve and state protected forests, which has implications for community rights and user participation • Over 40 percent of these forests are coniferous and scrub forests on the northern hills and mountains. The balance is made up of riverine forests and irrigated plantations along the Indus River and its tributaries on the plains, mangrove forests on the Indus Delta, and trees planted on farmland. The total area under the control of provincial forest departments in Pakistan is 10.06 million ha, of which 6.1 million ha is rangeland

6. With the population growing at 2.6 percent annually, the forest area per capita is declining. • The forestry sector contributes only 0.3 percent to the GNP. • Provincial forest departments (PFDs) are responsible for planning, execution and implementation of forest, watershed and range improvement programs. • However, policy formulation is the responsibility of the federal government.

7. FOREST TYPES IN PAKISTAN • Natural forests • Mountain and foothill natural forests • Coniferous forests • Sub-alpine and Himalayan temperate forests • Sub-tropical chir pine forest • Dry subtropical broad-leaved forest • Dry temperate coniferous forest • Riverine forests • Mangrove forests • Man-made forests

8. Total forest area coverage 

9. Factors responsible for the Growth of Forests in Pakistan • Land • Soil • Climate • Altitude

10. IMPORTANCE OF FORESTS • Forest provides multiple benefits to environment, people, and animals. The list of benefits is as follows: • Forest cool air temperature by release of water vapor into the air • At day time trees generate oxygen and store carbon dioxide, which helps to clean air. • Forest attracts wild life and offer food and protection to them. • Forests offer privacy, reduce light reflection , offer a sound barrier and help guide wind direction and speed. • Trees offer artistic functions such as creating a background, framing a view, complementing architecture, and so on. • Well managed forests supply higher quality water with less impurity than water from other resources.

11. IMPORTANCE OF FORESTS • Some forests raise total water stream, but this is not true for all forests • Forests help in controlling the level floods. • Forest provides different kind of wood which are used for different purposes like making of furniture , paper, and pencils and so on. • Forest help in giving the direction of wind and its speed. • Forest helps in keeping environment healthy and beautiful. • Forests also minimize noise pollution. • Forest helps the scientist to invent new medicine as forest has different kind or plants and herb.

12. IMPORTANCE OF FOREST • Nature maintains a balance between carbon dioxide & oxygen. • Forests trees helps in bringing sufficient rainfall on earth. • Forests are also helps in conservation of soil. • Forests provide habitat to wildlife and help in their preservation. • It provide food, medicinal herbs as well as other satisfactory requirement to fulfill our need.

13. USES OF FORESTS • The forests of Pakistan are a main source of lumber, paper, fuel wood, latex, medicine as well as human and animal food. • Other minor products include resin (a fluid in tissue of Chir pine plant that become solid on exposure to the air) and 'mazri' (used for making baskets). • The forests also provide of ecotourism and wildlife conservation purposes. • Forests have also been planted in some areas like Thal Desert to avoid soil erosion and further desertification. Riparian zone along the river Indus have been managed to avoid excess flooding .

14. Deforestation • Deforestation is the removal of a forest or stand of trees where the land is thereafter converted to a non-forest use. • Examples of deforestation include conversion of forestland to farms, ranches, or urban use.

15. Causes / Reasons of Deforestation • Large forest tracks have to be removed to grow crops. • In order to construct dams and barrages, millions of hectares of land were cleared to provide irrigational facilities for the agricultural land to meet the food requirement of the growing population. • As urbanization increases, deforestation is caused to urbanize the area. It is done to provide living facilities to the migrating population from rural to urban areas. Growth of cities converts forest areas into residential colonies. • The forest areas have to be cut down to make roads for providing smooth and better transport facilities for moving industrial and agricultural products to the market.

16. Causes / Reasons of Deforestation • Wood is consumed in large quantities in the industries and is also used for constructional purposes. Therefore, forests are heavenly cut down to meet the requirements of industries. • The rural population entirely depends on fuel, wood for heating and cooling requirement. • The trees have to be cut down excessively to meet the demand of heating and cooling, especially so in the areas of higher altitude and in winters. • Over gazing of land by cattle goats and sheep has also converted forest area into deserts.

17. EFFECTS OF DEFORESTATION • Deforestation exposes the soil to the forces of wind and water especially on the foothills of the mountains. • The upper layer of the soil is eroded away and leaves behind infertile coarse sand. • With heavy rainfall the water gushes down the mountains carrying with it large quantities of silt and limestone. With no trees to hold the soil together and slow down the water flow. The surface run off may cause heavy floods. • Cutting of trees disturbs the natural environment. The natural habitat is destroyed which results in the extinction of a number of valuable species and the wild life also gets disturbed. • With less vegetation there is less evapo-transpiration. The climate changes, in particular there is less rainfall, which may result in lower crop yields.

18. HOW CAN WE STOP DEFORESTATION ? • Online activists: chat rooms to help cause against deforestation • Media awareness • Lobbying • Legal Action

19. SOLUTION OF DEFORESTATION • Reduce wasteful land use practices Improve already developed lands Businesses and corporations have to be more aware of the effects that deforestation causes and they have to take little initiatives to prevent it from increasing • Governments have to make citizens aware of the issue • Each person can plant trees once in a while to maintain the ecosystem Groups can be formed to decrease deforestation Plantation weeks in Pakistan

20. FOREST MANAGEMENT IN PAKISTAN: A HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE • During British colonial rule over undivided India and subsequently after Pakistan’s independence in 1947, forest rules and regulations were governed by the Forest Act 1927. • The Act extended across the country with the exception of Hazara, and Northern Balochistan, where the NWFP Hazara Forest Act 1936 and Balochistan Forest Regulation 1890 applied respectively. • Forestry has remained a provincial responsibility throughout Pakistan’s history, with the provincial government being solely in charge of forest management and the Provincial Assembly having sole powers to amend forestry laws. • The role of the central government is limited, yet critical for providing overall policy vision to the forest sector across provinces.

21. The colonial forestry laws were designed to maintain centralized control over forest resources. • They reflected the perception of British authorities that local communities posed the main threat to the sustainability of forest resources. • Consequently, the laws were rigid, based on tight command and control stipulations. • Effective control was ensured through strict punishments, which included heavy fines and penalties for transgressors.

22. The forest Acts provided huge discretionary enforcement powers to authorized personnel, specifically the Forest Officer in the 1927 Act and the Deputy Commissioner in the 1936 Act. • The focus on command and control procedures meant that incentive-based structures were largely ignored. • In fact, none of the regulations required any substantial stakeholder participation or community involvement in either designing or implementing the regulations. • There was no mention of social forestry or private sector initiatives either.

23. While the forestry Acts constituted statutory law governing forest resources, Pakistan (even British India) has always had two de jure institutions managing rights in parallel: statutory law and customary law called riwaj. • While seemingly complementary to each other, they actually contain inherent contradictions which muddle the property and resource rights regimes.

24. The co-existence of these two institutions implied that while statutory law clearly stipulated forest governance rules, each of the different ethnic groups who inhabit the forested areas of NWFP had their own set of institutions governing natural resource use. • Unlike statutory law, the institutions embedded in customary law are adaptive, albeit slowly, to changing biophysical and socio-economic circumstances. Yet, customary law is community-centered in its essence and, despite its gradual evolution, has continued to uphold ownership rights of local communities.

25. The preparation of forest policies in Pakistan began right after the nation’s creation. • The first Forest Policy Resolution was declared in 1955 and then revised and updated in 1962, 1975, 1980, and as late as 1988 as part of the National Agricultural Policy.

26. Forestry Policy Resolution of 1955 • Adopted by the Constituent Assembly after eight years of Pakistan gaining independence, the first-ever forest policy made forestry programmes subservient to national development plans. • Among other things, it emphasized the need to provide technical and financial assistance to private owners of forestlands and stipulated that 10 percent of the canal irrigated lands on the plains be designated as forest plantations. • Most significant was the exclusion of any mention of coastal or mangrove forests.

27. 1962 Policy Directive on Forestry,Watershed Management, RangeManagement and Soil Conservation • The 1962 forest policy had different objectives of specialization, such as forestry, farm forestry, and watershed management. Compared to the 1955 policy, this one looked for ways and means to manage each forest as a commercial enterprise and to increase utilization efficiency and reduce rotation age, including the stipulation that each landowner should grow a specific number of trees. The policy aimed to reduce the rights of local communities and called for the creation of a central forestry board, as well as the physical fencing-off of forests. Coastal forests and range management were mentioned in the policy objectives for the first time.

28. 1975 Decision of the Council of Common Interest • This policy continued in almost the same mode of progressive reduction of local participation as the previous one. • It mentions as one of its objectives to “extinguish the rights of local people” and to establish new, specialized forestry aspects like silkworm rearing. It also called for environmental planting on slopes over 50 percent.

29. 1980 Relevant Provision of NationalAgricultural Policy • The 1980 policy mentioned a focus on fast-growing tree species as a new objective or element and the production of industrial wood as part of the government’s plan.

30. 1988 Recommendations of the National Commission on Agriculture • This policy came into being as a result of a commission constituted by the government to improve agriculture; an earlier agriculture commission was formed in 1959. • The 1988 commission called for higher-level positions for forestry and watershed management personnel and in its policy called for the creation of a long-range policy for the management of forestlands in Pakistan and the establishment of a watersheds and arid lands development authority under the Ministry of Food and Agriculture.

31. Forestry Sector Master Plan (1992) • The twenty-five year Forestry Sector Master Plan (“FSMP”) was prepared in 1992. • It is an overarching document that provides the general vision for the forestry sector and identifies priorities over the plan’s period in order to streamline support for the sector in the future. • The broad goals identified in the plan are to protect, manage and rehabilitate forests, increase fuel wood production in upland watersheds and lowland farms, as well as improve land use and productivity in order to address rising poverty. • The plan, by its very nature, aims to provide specific solutions to specific problems in the sector, and provides for a significant expansion of governmental capacity to manage forests.

32. National Conservation Strategy (1992) • The National Conservation Strategy (“NCS”) seeks to approach the entire set of economic concerns through the sustainable development paradigm. • The document is not limited to forestry. In fact, it is considered the landmark document on incorporating environmental concerns into all national policies. • Recommendations of the NCS remain extremely relevant for government policy-making today.

33. 1993 Policy Banning the CommercialFelling of Trees • This policy came in the form of an executive order by the caretaker government in 1993. • Although it can be said that all Pakistan’s forest policies came into being without following proper processes (and the 1993 policy is not an exception), this policy, which consisted of a single piece of paper, may have been the most far reaching. • Initially it ordered a complete ban on commercial forest exploitation for two years. The ban was successively extended by following governments and was still in force until 2001. Although the policy had a neutral impact on communities, owners of private forests in North West Frontier Province were said to have been unhappy with it.

34. National Forest Policy (2002) • The National Forest Policy outlines the broad set of objectives, casting the net wider than forest preservation. • It highlights poverty alleviation as a major objective and details an action plan for sustainable management of all types of forests. • Its goal is to foster the sustainable development of Pakistan’s renewable natural resources, the maintenance and rehabilitation of its environment, and the enhancement of sustainable livelihoods of its rural population, especially women, children, and other minority groups.

35. 2002 Forest Policy Objectives • Reduce negative socio-economic impacts. • Reduce political interference in forestry and wildlife departments. • Renovate and re-invigorate the institutions involved in the management of renewable natural resources. • Support local governments in the sustainable development of their renewable natural resources. • Institute policies to protect fragile ecosystems. • Improve and sustainably manage riverine forests and irrigated plantations. • Achieve the preservation of old-growth and other unique forests.

36. Thank you