Forests of Pakistan

Table of Contents
• Forests
• Importance of Forests
• Types of Forests (in Pakistan)
• Deforestation in Pakistan ( Causes, Effects and solution)
• Sustainable Forestry
 Forests
• Forests are extensive, continuous areas of land
dominated by trees. The desired level of forests is
20-30 percent of the total area of a country. In
Pakistan only about 4.8 % of the total area is
forested. There are two types of forests in Pakistan.
• Productive Forests
• Protection Forests
• Productive Forests: These are mainly natural
forests and have high tree densities. Such forests
have great commercial value and are mainly used
for extraction of timber and other products.
• Protection Forests: These forests are mainly
planted by people. They include planting along
roads, in parks and along railway lines. Protection
forests have little commercial values as they do not
provide valuable species of wood. There main
function is to prevent soil erosion.
 Importance of Forests
• From an ecological point of view, forests help to maintain a balance in the environment by
checking pollution and protecting soil from erosion.
• By preventing soil erosion, the trees on slopes of hills also regulate the supply of water to the
reservoirs thereby reducing floods.
• Decomposition of leaves helps in humus formation, which maintains the fertility of the soil.
This ensures food supply to millions of people.
• From a commercial and industrial point of view, forests provide raw materials to various
industries. They also promote tourism and provide employment in the forest department.
• Forests help in preventing global warming. Increased amount of carbon dioxide (greenhouse
gas) in the atmosphere results in greenhouse effect and thus causes global warming.
• Forests help in preventing global warming. Increased amount of carbon dioxide in the
atmosphere results in greenhouse effect and thus causes global warming.
 Types of Forests
Alpine Forests: These forest are called alpine because they grow in conditions similar to those in the Alps, a
mountain range in Europe.
• Alpine forests are found on the mountains of Gilgit-Baltistan. In the region of high mountains there is snow,
so little or no vegetation is found here.
• Due to the very cold climate above a height of 4000 metres, trees do not grow properly. Some dwarfed trees
of silver fir, juniper, and birch grow here. Alpine forests are found in a limited area in Chitral, Dir, Swat, and
Gilgit.
• They normally have upward branches to attain more sunlight.
• They are used as fuel wood only.
• Tropical Thorn Forests: The tropical thorn forests are dominated by xerophytic scrubs. They are most
widespread in the Punjab plains but also occupy small areas in southern Sindh and western Balochistan. They
are mainly used for grazing purposes, watershed protection and fuelwood. The usual height is 6-9 m.
• This is the natural vegetation over the whole of the Indus Plains except for the driest parts. It merges into the
subtropical dry evergreen type of the lower hills to the north and West generally.
• They have deep roots to search for water.
Alpine Forest
Tropical Thorn Forest (Thar Desert)
Coniferous Forests: The coniferous forests occur from 1,000 to 4,000 m in altitude. Chitral, Swat,
Upper and Lower Dir, Malakand, Mansehra and Abbottabad, districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Azad
Kashmir, Rawalpindi and districts of the Punjab are the main areas covered with coniferous forests.
• Coniferous forests are evergreen which survive in low temperature. They are important source of timber
for making furniture and boxes.
• They are conical in shape and have sloping branches which prevent snow accumulation.
• These type of forests are good breeding and conserving centres for birds and wildlife.
• Coniferous forests add to the scenic beauty of the area, attract tourists and promote tourism industry.
Sub-Tropical Scrub Forest: Commonly these are known as scrub forests. These forest consist of
branchy trees forming a canopy if complete closure or scattered trees with a shrub growth.
• These trees and shrubs are mostly thorny and evergreen, but some ,like olive and pomegranate are not
thorny.
• These scrub forest occurs at height of 1500-5000 feet. These forests found in Gujrat, Margalla Hills,
Attock and Malakand. Actually broadly speaking, these forests occur throughout the country at suitable
elevation merging downwards with the sub-tropical pine forest.
• They are used for grazing purposes and for supplying firewood.
View of 'Fairy Meadow' at Nanga Parbat showing coniferous
forest
Sub-Tropical Scrub Forest
Mangrove Forests: Mangroves are slat tolerant bush type trees which grow in inter-tidal zones of
tropical and subtropical areas, river deltas and along the coasts.
• Mangroves forests of Pakistan in Indus delta and along Arabian Sea coastal areas, as per estimates,
are some 129,000 hectors in the Indus delta and over 3,000 hectors in Gwadar bay areas.
• They are natural habitat to a large number of insects, micro organisms, birds, different mammals as
well as snakes. Mangrove areas act as physical breeding grounds and nurseries for fish, shrimp and
crabs. During winters, many guest birds from north also come to breed here.
• The mangrove forests protect the coasts from dangerous cyclones and hurricanes. Mangroves slow
the water’s flow, helping to protect the coastline and preventing erosion.
• They have broad leaves and leathery texture to minimize transpiration. In better water areas the trees
rise to 6-8 metres but their general height is 3 metres.
• Mangroves are suppliers of firewood and timber for local communities.
Riverain Forest: The riverine forests occur in the province of Sindh along both banks of the Indus
River. They rely on inundation by the River for irrigation and therefore their existence is heavily
dependent on the intensity, duration and frequency of river water flow.
• They provide Shishum and Babul, two valuable species which are used for making furniture.
Mangrove Forest (Sindh)
Riverain Forest
Irrigated Forests: These are man
made forests. They include
plantation along roads, in parks and
along railway lines.
• Their main function is to protect the
soil and to prevent it from eroding.
They keep the environment pleasant
by lowering the temperature and
providing shade.
• They are important source of timber
and firewood. Eucalyptus is mainly
preferred as they reduce
waterlogging and salinity.
• They also add to the scenic beauty
of the area and promote tourism.
Leaves of trees provide food for
animals.
• Forests absorb carbon dioxide and
release oxygen into air
 Deforestation
Clearing of forest land is called deforestation. Pakistan is not self-sufficient in wood based products and
spends billions of rupees on import of wood and wood based products. Pakistan’s forest resources are
shrinking at a rate of one percent which will have dreadful effects on the people of Pakistan. Following
are some of the main causes of this large scale deforestation in Pakistan.
• Clearing of land: Due to the construction of dams and barrages to supply water to crops on millions
of hectors, most of the forest land is cleared. These construction of barrages also serve as a cause of
deforestation.
• Urbanization: Sprawling growth of cities has converted forests into cities thus losing the forest or
decrease in forest area.
• Building of Roads: Building of roads in order to have access to the far flung areas has also caused
deforestation especially in areas of Kohistan and Northern areas.
• Industrialization: The increase in demand of industries has also caused deforestation as most of the
industries require wood as their fuel. Wood industries such as hard wood and safety match box,
Plywood etc have also played their part in deforestation.
• Overgrazing: Overgrazing of land by cattle, sheep and goats have converted subtropical,
and tropical thorn forest areas into deserts.
Clearing of Land Overgrazing

Building of Roads Industrialization

 Effects of Deforestation
Reckless cutting of trees for firewood or any
other commercial purposes can result in
deforestation. The effects of this are
extremely harmful and can result in
destruction of environment and loss of food
and resources.
• Deforestation exposes the soil to the forces
of wind and water which results in soil
erosion.
• With less vegetation the climate changes,
resulting in less rainfall which may lead to
lower crop yields.
• Many wonderful species of plants and
animals have been lost, and many others
remain endangered. More than 80% of the
world's species remain in the Tropical
Rainforest.
• It is estimated that about 50 to 100 species
of animals are being lost each day as a
result of destruction of their habitats.
 Solution to the problem caused by Deforestation
The following measures could be helpful to
solve the problems caused by deforestation.
• Supplying irrigation facilities to the
deforested areas. Commercial species of
trees, which grow rapidly, should be
planted.
• By reserving land for fuel wood
plantation only, so the valuable species
of trees could be saved.
• Creating awareness among the people by
NGO’s about the hazards of
deforestation.
• By improving the techniques of raising
nurseries and planting trees, so the
deforested areas could be regenerated in a
short period.
 Sustainable Forestry
• Sustainable forestry means that we should manage the forest resources in such a way as to
ensure that we will be able to obtain the things that we want from the forests on a regular basis
while conserving the natural environment.
• It implies continuous production of things; such as wood, water, wildlife habitat, recreational
opportunities and so on.