Deforestation exposes mountain communities to landslides, flash floods

ISLAMABAD: International Day of Forests would be observed on March 21 across the globe including Pakistan with an aim to create awareness about the importance of forests and trees.

Depleting forest cover has exposed the mountain communities, particularly, people living in Azad Jammu and Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan to landslides and flash floods.

Unabated logging has denuded the once green mountains and the coming generations will have to pay the price of deforestation, experts warned, calling for steps to save the forests.

The International Day of Forests was established on March 21 by a resolution of the UN General Assembly in 2012.

Since then, each year, various events celebrate and raise awareness of the importance of all types of forests, and trees outside forests, for the benefit of current and future generations.

According to conservationists 80% of all terrestrial biodiversity lives in forests and each year many species go extinct as a result of them being destroyed.

Of course, forests also play a critical role in climate change.  Deforestation results in 12-18 per cent of the world’s carbon emissions and accelerated global warming. Forests also provide food, fibre, water and even medicines for approximately 1.6 billion of the world’s population, especially the poorest people.

This global celebration of forests provides a platform to raise awareness of the importance of all types of forests and of trees outside forests.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 19^th, 2017.