Karachi mangrove losses galore: experts
KARACHI: Environmentalists, revisiting the status of forests in Sindh, have come to realise that Karachi has suffered a colossal loss of mangroves forest as compared to other districts of the...
June 08, 2012
Like riverine, mangroves forest has commercial value but they are being depleted in the name of growing urbanisation.
A position paper, ‘Vanishing Riverine Forests of Sindh’, designed by Friends of Indus Forum, a non-governmental platform of specialised individuals, shows that after agriculture, forestry is the other major land use in the centrally located plains in the province.
The paper launching ceremony attracted stakeholders, government officials, environmentalists, researchers, academia and civil society representatives, who discussed different aspects of conserving natural wealth.
Riaz Wagan, deputy conservator Sindh Forest department, realising that officials were under pressure because of unnecessary interference, said that “forest guards” alone could not defend the precious woodland. Hence, he appealed to all stakeholders, including community, civil society and government departments, to play their role for the cause.
Replying to a query, he said that, in year 2005—06, forest department officials provided a comprehensive list to the National Accountability Bureau (NAB), in which they showed 53,000 hectares of forest land was possessed illegally by certain politically influential persons in different districts. At that time, encroachment on forest land was a ‘hot topic’ to be discussed everywhere. But presently, not only forest officials but also civil society and community people did not dare visit these lands, he lamented.
It was observed that the relevant government departments like revenue, agriculture, irrigation, wildlife, livestock, environment and others were responsible for the depletion, because they were reluctant in playing their roles.
Speakers, at the forum, said receding River Indus water was the main cause of depleting riverine forest. Ghulam Qadir Shah of the International Union of Conservation of Nature (IUCN) said that all stakeholders should consider that the forests had commercial value. At a time, when the entire world was looking for ‘carbon trading’ Pakistan government was looking differently to deal with the matter of saving natural resources, he lamented.
Mahmood Nawaz Shah of growers’ body Sindh Abadgar Board said that, presently, there was hardly 2.5 percent forest land out of total 600,000 hectares marked earlier. Tracing the history of awarding forest land on lease to landlords, he said it was started 25 years back.
Forest department itself is powerful to protect the land, taking efforts to cover the area in case it has been depleted. Shah also suggested that the practice of leasing forest land to private persons should be abolished, saying it was the only way out to protect natural resources.
Nasir Panhwar of WWF-Pakistan, who is also the General Secretary of the forum, said the objective of designing the position paper was to sensitise the government, environmentalists and civil society about the current status of the forests in Sindh and exchange ideas to protect it jointly.
The forum urged the need to formulate a dynamic policy for the preservation and management of the riverine forests, which is the mainstay of forestry in Sindh. Various studies reveal that reduced floods, land encroachments and mismanagement of areas receiving inundation coupled with other natural factors are the main causes of degradation of the riverine ecosystem.
The position paper defines that the present management strategies and policies need to be modified to expand management responsibilities of forestry personnel to include human ecology and conservation. The problem needs to be tackled at multiple levels, like community, government and policies.
The experts suggested conducting a detailed and multi-sectoral survey of the area to assess various problems. The result of the survey should be used to establish priority actions to rehabilitate the forest. Alternative income generation opportunities and microcredit facilities need to be provided to forest communities, who have lost their livelihood resources because of forest depletion.
They emphasised the need to develop a seed bank where large quantity of quality seeds are stored for planting, sowing and supplying to farmers. Forest land should not be transferred for non-forest use.
