Environmental concerns: First rangeland policy drafted

PESHAWAR:

The Pakistan Forest Institute (PFI) on Monday drafted its first rangeland policy for the province.

At a one-day workshop held at the PFI in collaboration with the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development, the draft was deliberated over by senior officials of agriculture and livestock departments.

Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) representative Dr Faizullah Bari informed participants of the meeting that 1.978 hectares or 26.5% of the land in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa is rangeland.

He added that physical limitations, low and erratic precipitation, rough topography, poor drainage and extreme temperatures render the area unsuitable for cultivation.

However, the land can be used for grazing of livestock and wild animals owing to its abundant grasslands and other forage plants. According to Bari, 60% of livestock in the province feeds on grasslands in these areas.

He said that after the devolution of the environment ministry to provinces under the 18th Amendment, a need was felt to conserve, sustain and develop valuable natural resources of rangelands in K-P.

The British government in India adopted the first forest policy, which called for protection and management of state forests. However, the policy did not offer any solutions for the degradation of range resources.

Participants said there was no mention of rangelands in the forest policy adopted by the government of Pakistan in 1955 either. While the Food and Agriculture Commission gave recommendations for conserving rangelands in Punjab, Sindh and Balochistan, no policy directions were chalked out for K-P.

Environment Secretary Syed Badshah Bukhari said the K-P Forest Policy, 1999 called for integrated resource management, which implied that forests and rangelands be managed in a coordinated manner to protect fragmented natural resources.

He, however, lamented that while the policy briefly mentioned the vast rangelands, no proper guidelines were stated for their management.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 1^st, 2013.