A project backed by the UN Development Programme (UNDP) in Pakistan, covering around 145,300 hectares, is protecting vulnerable trees and important forest types in Punjab, and forests near riverbanks in Sindh.
It’s estimated than less than 5 per cent of Pakistan’s total land area is under forest cover and almost 1.5% of the forests of Pakistan are lost every year.
These vulnerable areas present a risk due to their excellent fertility and gentle topography, which attracts the farmers who wants to expand their territory. The project launched an activity of mapping and demarcating these forest lands, both to preserve the forests themselves, as well as to conserve their ecosystem services.
When forests are cut selectively, they can be brought back with modest efforts and relatively simple techniques that allow to keep the biodiversity and mitigate the climate change. On the contrary, if the cutting is more intensive, reforestation requires huge efforts at several levels (social, political and legal).