Management of Forests

The world forest is derived from the Latin word foris meaning outside, the
reference being to a village boundary, or fence and it must have included all
uncultivated and uninhabited land. Today, a forest is any land managed for
the diverse purpose of forestry, whether covered with trees, shrubs,
climbers, etc., or not. The Indian word, jungle, has been adopted in the
English language to describe a collection of trees, shrubs, climbers, etc., that
are not grown in a regular manner, as contrasted with a forest, which is any
vegetation under systematic management.

Technically, a forest is defined below.

a) Generally, a forest is an area set aside for the production of timber and
other forest produce, or maintained under woody vegetation for certain
indirect benefits which it provides, e.g., climatic or protective.

b) From an ecological point of view, a forest is a plant community

predominantly of trees and other woody vegetation, usually with a closed
canopy.

c) From a legal point of view, it is an area of land proclaimed to be a forest

under a forest law. Forestry is the theory and practice of all that constitutes
the creation, conservation, and scientific management of forests, and the
utilization of their resources to provide for the continued production of the
required goods and services. Forests are a very striking feature of the land
surface. They vary greatly in composition and density, and stand in marked
contrast with meadows and pastures. The scenic effect of forests changes
with the seasons like the patterns in a kaleidoscope.

Certain forests are evergreen, like the Deodar forests of Kashmir, while
others are deciduous, becoming leafless either before the advent of winter
when vegetative activity almost ceases, such as the oak forests of the
Himalayas, or else just before the onset of intense dry summer, to reduce
transpiration to the minimum, like the Teak forests of Central India. The
falling leaves in some species become bright orange or golden yellow. In
others, the young foliage is pink. Such autumnal and verbal tinges are in
vivid contrast with the general green or straw-coloured background, and are
extremely pleasing. Unlike animals, plants do not have the power of
locomotion. They also cannot construct shelters or generate heat to
withstand the adverse effects of the environment of which they are captives.
Therefore, to survive they wear the evidence of this fact in the form of
structural adaptations, such as leaflessness in summer to minimize
transpiration, thorns to ward off browsers, poisonous sap, etc.

The forests of a country are a natural asset of immense value. Unlike its
minerals resources, including fossil fuels, which in course of time either get
exhausted or their utilization will become uneconomic due to increased costs
for obtaining and processing them, the forests, if of adequate extent, ideally
dispersed, scientifically managed and judiciously utilized can be kept
perpetually productive and useful, conferring many benefits, direct and
indirect, on the people. Thus, forests are a renewable resource. Directly,
forests meet the needs of small timber, fuel, bamboos and a variety of other
products, including fodders which are indispensable requirements of the
people living in close proximity of the forests.

They also provide the facility of grazing for their livestock, and yield a variety
of products of commercial and industrial value such as structural timber,
charcoal, and raw materials for making paper, newsprint, rayon, panel
products, bidi leaves, gums, resin, dyes, tans, and a number of other
economic products including medicinal drugs. Forests also provide
employment to a large population engaged in their protection, tending,
harvesting and regeneration as also in ancillary occupations processing
forest raw material and marketing them. These are productive functions of
the forests.

Forest Ecosystems

The official estimate of forest cover in Pakistan is 5.4%, while forest cover
according to assessment by the FAO varies between 2.2% and 2.4%. Other
wooded areas occupy another 1.8%. These figures are based on various
techniques and classifications used for forestry resource inventory. The
forest cover in Pakistan is assessed employing different evaluation criteria
and techniques by different agencies. Setting aside the methodologies
employed while reporting, the land under forest is relatively small, and the
cover is shrinking due to both deforestation and degradation mainly due to
poverty, population pressures and lack of fiscal space for strong policy
initiatives in protecting the forests.

The forests of Pakistan are grouped into five physiognomic classes, conifers,
scrub, riverine, mangroves, and plantations. Natural forests comprise a
number of diverse ecosystems, including the Western Himalayan Temperate
Forests, one of the global 200 priority ecosystems. In addition, Balochistan
hosts the world’s second largest compact forest of Juniper (UNESCO 2013;
Man and Biosphere Reserve), and is considered a living fossil. While almost
all forest ecosystems in Pakistan are threatened, edible pine nut (Pinus
gerardiana) forests, found primarily in community-controlled areas, are
under serious threat of disappearance due to logging by local people as a
means of supporting their livelihoods. A wide variety of medicinal plants
grow in abundance in the temperate forests of the western Himalayan and
Hindukush mountain ranges producing huge amount, for example, 500 tons
of medicinal plants are produced in Hazara and Malakand alone. Likewise, 16
tons in the Murree Hills, 38 tons in Azad Kashmir, and about 24 tons in Gilgit-
Baltistan are extracted for domestic use and export.

Considerable efforts are made for the revival of forestry practices, aiming to
expand the forest cover through mega tree plantation programmes and
strengthening the regulatory & forest protection policy. The Green Pakistan
Programme (2017) of the Federal Government, Green Growth Initiative
(2014) of the Government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, a project on Sustainable
Forest Management supported by GEF and Readiness Preparation Proposal
RPP funded by FCPF Forest Carbon Partnership facility by WB are some
examples. Recent policy developments have led the formulation of new
national and provincial REDD+ management arrangements, the most
significant is the National Steering Committee (NSC) on REDD+. In addition,
Pakistan has committed to participate in the Bonn Challenge, a global effort
to improve and restore forest cover. In the consultation meetings while
drafting NBSAP, experts and regional users suggested: provision of enabling
environment to integrate biodiversity concerns in the forestry sector,
signifying ecosystem approach, protecting and restoring forest biodiversity
and making plantations biodiversity friendly by increasing indigenous floral
diversity. It also aims at enhancing social values, knowledge base and
adoption of technologies related with forest biodiversity.

Sustainable Development

i) Management of State Forests No forest should be permitted to be

worked without the government having approved the management plan,
which should be in a prescribed format and in keeping with the national
forest policy. In order to meet the growing needs for essential goods and
services which the forests provides, it is necessary to enhance the forest
cover and productivity of the forests through the application of scientific and
technical inputs. Production forestry programmes while aiming at enhancing
the forest cover in the country and meeting national needs should also be
oriented to narrowing, by the turn of the century, the increasing gap
between demand and supply of fuel wood. No such programme, however,
should entail clear felling of adequately stocked natural forests. Pakistan has
also developed a new comprehensive National Forest Policy 2016 that
focuses on the expansion of forests, natural habitats and green areas for
restoration of ecological functions to maximize economic benefits. The four
provinces, Azad Jammu and Kashmir, Gilgit Baltistan (GB), Federally
Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) and Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) have
enacted provincial laws for the management of the environment, forests,
wildlife, and fisheries. The Pakistan Trade Control of Wild Fauna and Flora
Act, 2012 (CITES Act) also extends across the whole country. In addition
Access and Benefit Sharing Act has been drafted to facilitate access to
genetic resources and their derivatives for environmentally-sound uses.

Rights and concessions: the rights and concessions, including grazing, should
always remain related to the carrying capacity of forests. The capacity itself
should be optimized by increased investment, silvicultural research and
development of the area. Stall feeding of cattle should be encouraged. The
requirements of the community which cannot meet by the rights and
concessions so determined should be met by development of social forestry
outside the reserved forests.

The holders of customary rights and concessions forest areas should be

motivated to identify themselves with the protection and development of
forests from which they derive benefits. The rights and concessions from
forests should primarily be for the bonafide use of the communities living
within, and around forest areas specially the tribal communities.

Division of forest lands for non-forest purposes: forest land or land

with tree cover should not be treated merely as a resource readily available
to be utilized for various projects and programmes, rather, as a national
asset which requires proper safeguards for providing sustained benefits to
the entire community.

Wildlife conservation: forest management should take special care of the

needs of wildlife conservation, and forest management plans should include
prescriptions for this purpose. It is specially essential to provide ‘corridors’
linking the protected areas in order to maintain genetic continuity between
artificially repeated sub sections of migrant wildlife.
Tribal people and forests: there exists a symbiotic relationship between
the tribal people and the forests, which means that both depend on each
other for their survival and existence. Therefore, the primary task of all
agencies responsible for forest management, including the forces
development corporations should be to associate the tribal people closely in
the protection, regeneration and development of forests as well as to provide
gainful employment to the people living in and around the forests.

Shifting cultivation: Shifting cultivation is affecting the environment and

productivity of the land adversely. Alternative avenues of income,
harmonized with the right land use practices, should be devised to
discourage shifting cultivation.

Forest based industries: as far as possible a forest based industry should

raise the raw material needed for meeting its raw material requirements.
Forest based industries must, not only provide employment to the local
people on priority, but involve them fully in raising trees and raw material.

Forest extension: forest conservation programmes cannot succeed without

the willing support and cooperation of the people, a direct interest in forests,
their development and conservation, and awareness of the value of trees,
wildlife, and nature in general.

Forestry education: forestry should be recognized both as a scientific

discipline as well as a profession. Agriculture universities and institutions
dedicated to the development of forestry education should formulate
curricula and courses for imparting academic and professional excellence,
keeping in view the manpower needs of the country.

Forestry research: with the increasing recognition of the importance of

forests for environmental health, energy, and employment, emphasis must
be laid on scientific forestry research necessitating adequate strengthening
of the research base, as well as new priorities for action.