Swat Valley suffers large-scale deforestation

Illegal cutting of trees has raised temperatures, destroyed natural landscape

Swat, also known colloquially as the "Switzerland of Pakistan", was once a popular vacation spot among both local tourists, who would rush to the valley as soon as temperatures started soaring in their native areas.

However, thanks to deforestation, the hilly area is now no longer inhabitable for even the locals let alone the tourists during the summer season.Maria Tufail, a local from Mingora, Swat, shared her perspective on the altered weather pattern of her hometown over the years due to deforestation. "When I was a child, summers were still cool. However, in just five years, temperatures in Mingora and Fizagat have reached between 40 to 45 degrees Celsius.

Previously, only fans were sufficient to keep us comfortable during the summer heat, but today rampant deforestation and the proliferation of concrete structures means that residents can no longer endure the summers without air conditioning," said Tufail."Almost 24 major sites of large-scale deforestation have been identified in the region.

Diyar trees are cut in areas such as Bahrain, Madyan, Kalam, Matta, Malam Jabba, Gabin Jabba, and Mahodand, before being processed into sleepers for smuggling into Punjab. Deforestation in Swat often occurs under the guise of legal frameworks, specifically the Woodlots law, which permits the harvesting of trees under certain conditions, such as if the tree is 25 years old, reaches a height of 3,000 meters or has a trunk diameter of 25 inches.

However, only a few permits are obtained while up to 15 to 20 trucks of timber are dispatched to Punjab daily, each carrying about a hundred sleepers," said Azharud Din, a climate change activist in Swat.

According to information obtained by The Express Tribune, the illegal cutting of valuable Diyar trees was ongoing at an alarming rate in the Swat valley. Diyar wood, which is sold locally for Rs8,000 to Rs10,000 per foot, is smuggled into Punjab, where it fetches Rs20,000 to Rs22,000 per foot.

Hence, the smuggling mafia is primarily responsible for this deforestation, often operating with the complicity of forest department officials, who helped disguise this illegal activity as legal timber harvesting.

The findings were confirmed by a grade 18 officer from the Climate Change, Forestry, Environment and Wildlife Department, who whilst speaking on the condition of anonymity seconded the revelations that Diyar and Cher trees were being smuggled in Malakand, while Lakir wood was also being trafficked in the southern districts like Lakki Marwat, Bannu, and Dera Ismail Khan.

"The existing permits allow for the cutting of common and older timber however, these same permits are being misused to smuggle valuable Diyar timber," claimed the official.Akbar Khan, an environmental activist and Chairman of the Environmental Protection Society, noted that deforestation was now as big an issue as terrorism in Swat.

"Satellite images indicate that protected forests in areas like Kalam, Mahodand Lake, and Ghabral have been severely depleted, with hundreds of trees felled. This deforestation, coupled with a lack of new tree planting, has increased the frequency of landslides and led to a declining water table in Swat.

Deforestation is exacerbating the impact of climate change," opined Khan, who further quoted a report by the Global Forest Watch which indicated that the region's forest area had declined by 11 per cent between 2001 and 2023.

Commenting on the matter, Tariq Afghan, a senior advocate for environmental protection at the Peshawar High Court confirmed that illegal wood smuggling continued in the province. "The provincial government's amendment to the Woodlots Rules, 2017 contradicts environmental laws and facilitates tree cutting. Unless laws are revised and penalties are increased, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa will be left with only barren mountains in no time," warned Afghan.