Only 5 per cent of Pakistan's area is under forests, mostly in NWFP and adjacent Northern Areas. Forests are spread over 17 per cent of the land in NWFP at present. But experts believe forest acreage is shrinking at an alarming pace.
"Flashfloods," Dr Sardar Muhammad Rafiq, Director Pakistan Forest Education Division NWFP, observes, "are direct results of tampering with nature in a cruel way. Forests control floods to a great extent. There is a limit to everything. The earth too has its limits. When the soil is exposed to torrential rains against the natural process it would ultimately bring floods and cause landslides." When forests are cut, the exposed part of land fails to sustain the pressure of heavy downpours, especially during monsoon season.
There are a host of factors responsible the deforestation in the province, which include ruthless cutting of trees, allowing uncontrolled grazing, leveling of sloppy areas for agriculture purpose, forest fires, construction of buildings, non-availability of natural gas, free hand given to the timber mafia and non-participatory approach of the community.
"Even forests are victims of our political culture," says Dr Rafiq adding that in some areas "politics and forests are interdependent."
The most recent tragedy brought about by floods was the Dadar Disaster in 2001, in which 117 lives were lost and it was termed as a human created calamity. The year 1996 had witnessed a similar catastrophe when 27 individuals were buried alive under the debris of their mud houses at village Timbri near Jabori in District Mansehra. The 1992 floods wreaked havoc in both Abbottabad and Mansehra districts. Villages Batangi and Keri Raiki in District Abbottabad, saw massive landslides which buried many people alive in their homes. Nine members of a single family were killed when their house was washed away by the raging floods, while in village Keri Raiki the disaster took four lives.
To add insult to injury, as many as 40 affected families of the Dadar Disaster have not received a single penny in compensation until today. Even though Rs 10 million were allocated to be distributed for rehabilitation, the plan was later dropped by the NWFP government.
Sardar Taimur Hyat Khan, an environmentalist, says deforestation has severely curtailed the subsequent recharging of aquifers. Transpiration of surface and groundwater as a temperature-controlling factor on the part of the trees serve as a vital link in the hydrological cycle and result in rainfall which is evenly spread. "When this cycle is disrupted, high and low pressure atmospheric zones collide after buildup and result in massive cloud bursts which present the full force of nature against the weakened structure of the soil and reduced canopy cover of soil affected by deforestation," he says.
Khan says severe erosion in the streambeds and natural drainage courses has restricted natural recharging of the aquifers and dried up many perennial springs of fresh mineral water.
Surveys and research work done by Environmental Protection Agency Swat at various sites and valleys show that savage deforestation of Elum Mountain is going on at an alarming speed. This is the biggest mountain separating Swat from Buner. Its highest peak is Jogiano Sar (Ram Takht) which is 9400 feet high. It is said Hindu god Ram spent part of his forest life on top of Elum. The peak along with all the adjoining mountains were once covered with thick pine forest. Hindus and Sikhs of the area still visit the palace every year. The forest abounded in wild animals and birds. Different types of goats, tigers, bears and pheasants were a common sight in Elum. All these are things of the past now.
"The situation cannot be controlled effectively without involving the community. If there are forests, there will be snow on the mountains to meet the growing demand of our irrigation water in summers and rains would not turn into flashfloods with so much intensity," says Sanaullah Khan, District Forest Officer, who works with the Kalam Integrated Development Project (KIDP). The KIDP project, started in 1982 with the financial and technical support of the Swiss government, is considered to be a success story, which Khan says have saved forests in the valley to a great extent.
"We need to give alternative source of livelihood to the people living in these regions by introducing fruit orchards and off season vegetables to reduce the burden on the vanishing forests," Sanaullah Khan says.
A district forest officer who is on deputation with another project in Dir-Kohistan, says scientific harvesting of mature trees, controlling the mushroom growth of hotels and regulating tourism, marking of trees on regular basis and involving the community by offering them proper royalty, could bring some improvement in the situation. "Bulk of the country's forests are situated in our province, but NWFP had no forest policy of its own till 1999," he recalls to give an idea of the slow pace at which things are done here.
