Saving the forests: ‘Engaging communities and enhancing capacity are key’

Secretary briefs Senate standing committee of efforts, challenges

ISLAMABAD: Strengthening the capacity of provincial officials, tapping the private sector, engaging communities in protection efforts, and brining new areas under cover can help reinvigorate the country’s ailing forests.

Ministry of Climate Change (MOCC) Secretary Arif Ahmed Khan made these recommendations on Friday during an address to the Senate Standing Committee on Climate Change.

The meeting was called to brief members on the proposed steps to be taken by the government to protect natural resources, particularly forests.

Khan said political leaders needed to exhibit will and ownership towards the environment, and play their part in responding to climate change risks faced by the country.

He said ownership of environmental resources by political leaders is vital in tackling its degradation, adding that this can be achieved through sensitisation of political leaders at all levels.

The Pakistan Environmental Protection Amendment Bill 2015, introduced by Senator Mushahid Hussain Syed, also came under consideration during the meeting. The Senate committee provided an additional timeframe of two-weeks for the proposed amendment.

The secretary also told the meeting that over 408.5 million trees had been planted during last five years in the country by the ministry in collaboration with provincial governments, non-governmental organisations and the corporate sector. Only around 50 per cent of these trees have survived due to natural causes and human interference, he added.

He identified forest fires, clearance of forests for agriculture and other land uses, illegal tree cutting, lack of alternative fuel, land erosion and poor implementation of forest protection laws as key drivers of deforestation in the country.

“Forests not only play their part in water and soil conservation but also help improve climate, check land degradation and mitigate flood impacts,” Khan explained.

At present, only five per cent of the total land in the country is under forests. Pakistan is among 55 countries categorised as having low forest cover, he added.

The secretary said that to reinvigorate the country’s ailing forest sector, various policy measures have been taken which include preparation of a draft National Forest Policy (NFP) 2015, and seasonal tree-planting campaigns across the country.

Khan also told the senate body that the country was ready to highlight the vulnerabilities caused by changes in global climate change at the upcoming UN-led climate change conference in December.

“Pakistan will require financial and technological assistance from developed countries for capacity building,” Khan told the committee.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 8^th, 2015.