Publication: Forests for Green Pakistan: Forest Policy Note
Date
2018-06
ISSN
Published
2018-06
Author(s)
World Bank
Abstract
The forest cover in Pakistan is low. The
latest forest assessment from 2011 estimates 4.47 million ha
of total forest area in the country, or 5.1 percent of the
total land area (Bukhari, Laeeq, and Ali 2012). Distribution
of forests varies by province and other administrative area;
it is highest in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (32.7 percent), followed
by Sindh (14.8 percent), Punjab (12.4 percent), Federally
Administered Tribal Areas (11.9 percent), Balochistan (11.1
percent), Azad Jammu and Kashmir (9.6 percent), and
Gilgit-Baltistan (7 percent). The World Bank supported
Pakistan's forestry sector until 2000, and then
remained disengaged until 2015. Few other donors, primarily
the United Nations Development Program, the Food and
Agriculture Organization, and international non-governmental
organizations such as World Wildlife Fund, International
Union for Conservation of Nature, and International Centre
for Integrated Mountain Development, maintained support on a
small scale. Since 2015, the World Bank has been supporting
Pakistan with $7.4 million to help the country prepare for
reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation
through technical studies, consultations, and
capacity-building activities. Long-term forest investments
are required to harness the huge potential of forest
contributions to resilient ecosystems, rural livelihoods,
the national economy, and the global environment. In recent
years the government has augmented its attention to forests,
as demonstrated by the nationally determined contribution,
the Green Pakistan Program, and the Billion Tree Tsunami
Afforestation Program. Future support is needed to enhance
and scale up these new and important initiatives in order to
strengthen landscape management, reduce poverty and improve
livelihoods, and foster private sector development.
Citation
“World Bank. 2018. Forests for Green Pakistan: Forest Policy Note. © World Bank, Washington, DC. http://hdl.handle.net/10986/30936 License: CC BY 3.0 IGO.”