About the Project
Pakistan has about 4.2 million hectors of
land covered by forest, which is equivalent to 4.8 per cent of
the total land area of the country. Whereas global average of
forest cover for countries in the developed world comes around
to 27 per cent and 26 per cent for the developing countries.
Pakistan is termed as a country with low forest cover and
suffers from a severe forest scarcity. Pakistan’s forests are
also depleting at a very fast rate, for example between 1990 and
2005 it lost 24.7 per cent of its forest cover. The reasons
behind this rapid deforestation can be many, ranging from
political (instability, wars, corruption, inappropriate laws and
structures, price movements etc.), economic (land use and
financial polices, economic growth, globalization,
infrastructure development etc.), population pressures (density,
growth, migration, refugees etc), natural (erosion, droughts
fires, landslides, earthquakes floods etc.) to traditional
factors (grazing, fuel woods, deliberate fires, tragedy of
commons etc.).To address deforestation and other issues around
forestry, Pakistan in the last 62 years made various forest
policies (Forest policy of 1956 and 1962, National Agriculture
Policy 1980, N.W.F.P. Forest policy 2001, National Forest Policy
1992 and 2001 (it is still a working document)). Research has
shown that implementation of forestry laws remains a serious
issue of concern in Pakistan. Many believe that forestry sector
in Pakistan is competing with, as well as supplementing, various
other sectors of economy like agriculture, water, energy, trade
and industry for effective implementation of forestry laws and
frameworks. Implications of these sectors must be kept in mind.
Apart from addressing implications of other related sectors, for
effective implementation of forestry laws, they should also be
in-line with international commitments (CBD, CCD, CITES
FCCC etc).
The main objective of the project is to improve implementation
of laws, rules and regulations of forestry and interrelated
sectors (mainly water ) in Pakistan, by utilising advocacy and
lobbying tools (research, coordination and networking
initiatives).
LEAD-Pakistan with the assistance of Food and Agriculture
Organization’s (FAO) National Forest Program (NFP) is
implementing this project. |
