Summary KPK leading country in forest conservation
Dunya News Report (Madiha Fareed, Reporting by Sajid Baloch)
D.I.KHAN- Khyber Pakhtunkhawa Forests department recovered 6688 kanals of forest land with the help of local police in a three-day long operation. Secretary Forests and Environment KPK Syed Nazar Hussian Shah himself was looking over the demarcation process.
The land was leased to Muslim Commercial Bank (MCB) by the then government in 1996 for 30 years for vegetation purposes but MCB managed to plant only 1600 kanals, the remaining land was illegally occupied by different parties. According to the lease agreement, the bank was bound to return the land to the government in a better condition than before which it failed to do. The lease was cancelled by the current government and following the complete legal procedure, demarcation process was initiated.
Mr. Shah informed Dunya News that in next phase, forest department plans to reclaim its thousands acres of illegally possessed land in Mankhiyaal, adjacent to Islamabad, and plant trees on it.
Forest Department of KPK has started recovering and reclaiming it’s forgotten and illegally occupied lands to effectively carry out the billion tree campaign. Secretary Forests told Dunya News that it has so far recovered almost 2000 acres of land belonging to forest department in different areas of Galliyat, Mansehra, Kohat and Nowshehra, In Galliyat alone, forest department has recovered land worth Rs. 2 billion from illegal possession. Last month, 9 kanal commercial land was evacuated in Shinkyari near Mansehra (current cost of which is an estimated at Rs. 20 million per kanal). Mr. Shah told Dunya News that the services of “Survey of Pakistan’ have been hired to further identify the illegally occupied land of forest department.
Imran Khan’s Billion Tree Tsunami campaign, what he calls his “passion project”, has sparked a rather unusual debate in the country. The nation known to the rest of the world as “hub of terrorism”, its romance with military dictators and odd political choices is all of a sudden buzzing with the sounds of green economy and tackling the effects of global warming. The conversation has certainly changed.
After general elections 2013, Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) was able to form government in the terrorism-hit Khyber Pakhtunkhawa, and soon after Imran Khan announced that a billion trees will be planted in KPK. The project was initially made fun of but now it has managed to silence its critics and has forced international organizations to take notice by claiming appreciation of organizations like World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
WWF accredited Billion Tree project as one of the most successful afforestation campaigns in the world for having a success rate of 85 percent, which is remarkable as compared to the international success rate of 50 percent.
Also, a top official of International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) announced that KPK province has been included in Asia Protected Area Partnership (APAP). KPK is the first province in Asia to receive this honor.
KPK was honored as one of the global “forest restoration leaders” at the Climate COP21 summit held in Paris for voluntarily carrying out large afforestation and forest preservation projects to tackle global climate change.
In pursuance of billion tree tsunami campaign, 110 million trees have been planted so far and by 2018, the KPK government plans to plant 1.2 billion trees. One million trees are being planted every day to achieve the target, informed Secretary Forests. Forests Guards, locally known as “Nigehbaan” are being hired to ensure that the saplings are protected and grown into mature plants.
According to the government officials, an estimated Rs. 20 billion wood was being stolen annually in the previous regimes, but the current government has taken firm steps against the timber mafia operating in the province.
Khyber Pakhtunkhawa already has 17 percent of the land covered in forests compared to the 5 percent of the national average. PTI Chief Imran Khan has been keen on utilizing province’s natural resources to generate revenue by promoting the concept of Green Economy. KPK government is seeking to promote tourism in the province and for that purpose it is setting up several national parks, the work on six national parks in progress and three more are under consideration.
United Nations has declared climate change as one of the top three threats that this planet faces; it is a reality that no one can shy away from anymore. The international criteria requires that 33 percent of a country’s total area should be covered by forests for sustainable environment. Pakistan is among top ten countries that are heavily affected by climate change and global warming. It is a very encouraging that a lesser known province of a third world nation is taking solid steps to tackle a challenge that the whole planet faces. Imran Khan has managed to change the conversation.
