Forest department has its priorities straight

Around 38,000 acres in Punjab have been cultivated during the last three years in order to maintain forests, Punjab Chief Conservator of Forests (Planning and Evaluation) Mahbubur Rehman said while talking to Pakistan Today. Around 10,000 acres were to be used for plantation and under development and this was to be done during next year, he said. Rehman said that in Punjab several areas were being preserved, cultivated and maintained as forests. These areas included coniferous forests, which consisted of around 1,71,000 acres, scrub area consisting of 6,35,497 acres, manmade forests 3,70,657 acres, riverain forests 1,44,343 acres and range land forests 3,18,000 acres. Meanwhile, canal side forests cover around 32,640 kilometers, roadside forests 11,680 km, railroad forests 2,987 km, all of which are in the form of lined trees, and make up for 47,307 km in total.
“Cultivating and increasing forest area is not easy,” said Rehman, speaking to Pakistan Today. “For every one percent increase in forest area, at least 500,000 acres of land is needed and for this a capital of about Rs 10 billion is needed–funds which are not easily procured by the department,” he says. He said every mature tree in one year produces about 4.6 tonnes of oxygen, 6.3 tonnes of carbon dioxide, 30,000 litres of water which it retains in its roots, 55 kg of leaf shedding which increases fertility. “This year being the year of forests we have tried to preserve the forestation area in the whole of Punjab. Murree forest has been declared as an environmentally sensitive area. We have demarcated the forest and in this process have retrieved about 1,230 acres back, to make it a total of 36,000 acres of forest land,” he says.
Besides this, he said, the Punjab Forest Department has planted 170,000 ornamental plants in about 15 model nurseries along main roads connecting different cities. There is a GIS system which is to be brought to measure tree density and through the GIS system the inspectors can then see whether there are any empty spaces or tree crowding anywhere.
A GIS laboratory has already been established at the Forest Department’s Ravi Road office. “We have managed to amend the Forest Act, which initially gave six month imprisonment with Rs500 fine for cutting a tree, now we have increased it to 2 years jail and Rs 100,000 fine,” he said. “FIR for cutting down a tree must be filed instantly. Meanwhile Punjab land is not transferable to anyone.”
Rehman also said that the department is now collaborating with industrialists in order to establish a public-private partnership for the preservation of trees. “We have been working a lot on Spring and Monsoon campaigns also with a 99 per cent success rate,” he said.