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Pakistan
Forestry
Forests cover about 3 million hectares, less than 4 percent of
the country. Many forests are in the Northern Areas and Azad Kashmir,
where coniferous trees predominate, but the management and exploitation
of these forests is hampered by the remoteness of the land. Elsewhere,
most of the native forest was destroyed before independence by
population pressure, overcultivation, and overgrazing. The lack
of tree cover contributes to many of the problems the agricultural
sector has experienced since independence, including soil erosion,
the silting of streams, flooding, and a shortage of timber and
firewood.
In the mid-1990s, government efforts to increase the extent of
forests have had little success, but tree-planting programs continue.
Many of the nation's forests, including some irrigated tree plantations
in the Indus River basin, are under government control. These
forests produced 321,000 cubic meters of timber and 534,000 cubic
meters of firewood in FY 1993, but production was far short of
demand. Imports filled part of the requirement for timber, while
cutting trees and shrubs on private land met part of the need
for firewood. In October 1993, however, the government imposed
a two-year nationwide ban on the private felling of trees. This
action was taken because of concerns that Pakistan was fast losing
the little tree cover that existed (see Pollution and Environmental
Issues , ch. 2).
Data as of April 1994
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