Life on Land (SDG 15) - Case of Pakistan

Professor Dr. Qais Aslam ([email protected])

UN Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 15 states, “Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss” The UN Department of Social and Economic Affair document on Sustainable Development shows that in the world 10 million hectors of forests are destroyed every year, and states that almost 90% of the destruction of forests are due to agriculture activity (cropland expansions and livestock grazing) around the globe. Around 40,000 species of non-human life on earth are at risk of extinction in next 10 years. (Source: https://sdgs.un.org/goals/goal15 ). The WWF's 2022 Living Planet Report has revealed that “Biodiversity around the world is crashing at a startling rate, with global wildlife populations diminishing by 69% in the last 48 years”.?

Total territory of Pakistan is almost 800 square kilometers with a population of more than 230 million and a population growth rate of 1.9% or an increase of almost 4.4 million people every year.??

Geographically, Pakistan is divided into three major geographic areas: the Northern Highlands; the Indus River Plain, with two major subdivisions corresponding roughly to the provinces of Punjab and Sindh; and the Baluchistan Plateau.? Cultivation is sparse in the northern mountains, the southern deserts, and the western plateaus. The population density is very low due to the mountainous terrain and scarcity of water. Much of the province of Baluchistan south of the Quetta region is sparse desert terrain with pockets of inhabitable towns mostly near rivers and streams. Fertile Indus plains encompass the northern regions of the Indian Subcontinent, including the eastern parts of Pakistan in the provinces of Punjab and Sindh. The Indus River basin is a large, fertile alluvial plain formed by silt from the Indus. This area has been inhabited by agricultural civilizations for at least 5,000 years. Pakistan hosts five major Deserts which were historic forests. These include Thar Desert in Sindh, Kharan desert in Baluchistan, Katpana Desert in Skardu (GB), Thal Desert (Bhakkar) and Cholistan Desert (Bahawalpur) in the Punjab. (Source: https://www.countryreports.org/country/Pakistan/geography.htm )?

Climate of Pakistan: Pakistan has four seasons: a cool, dry winter from December through February; a hot, dry spring from March through May; the summer rainy season, or southwest monsoon period, from June through September; and the retreating monsoon period of October and November. Pakistan’s climate is a continental type of climate, characterized by extreme variations in temperature, both seasonally and daily, because it is located on a great landmass north of the Tropic of Cancer (between latitudes 25° and 36° N). Very high altitudes modify the climate in the cold, snow-covered northern mountains; temperatures on the Baluchistan plateau are somewhat higher. Along the coastal strip, the climate is modified by sea breeze. In the rest of the country, temperatures reach great heights in the summer; the mean temperature during June is 38 °C (100 °F) in the plains, the highest temperatures can exceed 47 °C (117 °F). During summer, hot winds called ‘Loo’ blow across the plains during the day. Trees shed their leaves to avoid loss of moisture. Pakistan recorded one of the highest temperatures in the world, 53.7 °C (128.66 °F) on 28 May 2017, The dry, hot weather is broken occasionally by dust storms and thunderstorms that temporarily lower the temperature. (Source: https://www.countryreports.org/country/Pakistan/geography.htm )?

Forests in Pakistan: Forests are important, because they give us oxygen to breath and absorb CO2, they give us food and medicines, they protect biodiversity (other non-human life on land), and they bring in rain and also, do not allow water to evaporate easily. They also enrich the soil and protect it from erosion. Forests provide us with wood for economic usage and also promote tourism. Forests protect us from air, land, noise and water pollution. Pakistan's topography is well known for its diversity and abundance of natural sceneries. “Forests are critical to our country's economic development. “Pakistan. have a diverse range of forests, from mangroves in the south to pine forests in the north”. “Only 5.7% of the total land area of Pakistan is covered with forests, but the rate of depletion of the forest cover that’s left continues to be high. Commercial logging and overexploitation of forests by a growing population for fuel, fodder, building materials, resin and charcoal has resulted in crippling forest ecosystems”.? Forests cover only a minor portion of Pakistan's land. Forests are often known as the country's green gold”. Therefore, Pakistan should have an abundance of forest, trees and biodiversity. In Pakistan trees in the mountain areas are indiscriminately cut and sold on a large scale for fuel wood and timber consumption causing extensive deforestation. Deforestation in the watersheds is a major ecological threat to the nation. Where the tree cover is lost on slopes, top soils fertility is reduced and increases silting of water reservoir downstream choking the irrigation channels and increasing severity of floods in the country. In 2017-2018 Forest area of the country was 2.1% to the total land area of the country. In 2020 the total forest cover in Pakistan is 4.57 million hectors constituting 5.2 percent of the total land area. It is important to note that 70 per cent of the forest area in the country is arid and semi-arid and it is difficult for forests to grow there. Also Land once cleared does not respond to afforestation or reforestation positively. Another reason for the small forest area in the country is incessant cutting of trees by human socio-economic activity. PTI Government 2018-2021 claimed to have plant one billion trees through its clean and green Pakistan Initiative. (Source: https://manaky.com/almanak/forests-in-pakistan)?

Desertification in Pakistan: “The United Nations in its Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) has placed Pakistan in the list of 23 countries facing drought related emergencies in last two years (2020-2022). “Main issues related to desertification in Pakistan include: water erosion, wind erosion, depletion of soil fertility, deforestation, livestock grazing pressure, loss of biodiversity, water logging and salinity, drought and flooding and socio-economic constraints”. Climate Change has also put pressure on the flora and fauna of the country that has prolonged the droughts in many areas of Pakistan. The livelihood of millions of people, especially that are related to agriculture is linked to this change of weather conditions and especially desertification due to loss of soil, water and forests and mismanagement of provincial as well as federal governments of the country.??

Biodiversity in Pakistan: Biodiversity refers to life on earth and includes, Genetic Diversity, Species Diversity, and Ecosystem Diversity. “Pakistan has some of the w o r l d ’s rarest animals and plants. In the mountainous re g i o n s of the north, lives the endangered snow leopard, Uncia, famous for its spotted coat and survival skills. Further south, the Indus dolphin, Platanista minor, is an endemic mammal, whose survival has been threatened by the building of barrages along the Indus River. There are the Indus wetlands, critical for the waterfowl population that visit the area in winter — the Indus flyway is globally considered the fourth major bird migration route. Among plants, S a u s s u rea Lappa, locally known as Kut, is endemic to the alpine regions and is c o n s i d e red an endangered species. Another important medicinal plant is Ephedra pro c e r a, used as a cardiac stimulant and an antidote for bronchial asthma and hay fever”. “There are six endemic mammal species in Pakistan. Among them two — the little-known woolly flying squirrel, Eupetaurus cinereus, found in the northern mountains of Gilgit and Chitral, and the Indus dolphin — are endangered. Other threatened species include the Balochistan black bear, Ursus thibetanus gedrosianus, the snow leopard and four ungulates: markhor, Capra falconeri, Marco Polo sheep, Ovis ammon polii, goitred gazelle, Gazella subgutturosa, and urial, Ovis orientalis”. (Source: https://portals.iucn.org/library/sites/library/files/documents/1997-073.pdf ). “The disappearance of trees and shrub means that the associated flora and fauna, dependent on the forest, are also lost. Species that thrive in the ecological niches created by thick tree-cover – animals such as squirrels, woodpeckers and snails, and plants including numerous fern and mushroom varieties – are also likely to become extinct once those protective and nutrient rich surroundings are degraded. The impacts of deforestation can already be seen in Baluchistan’s juniper forests, and in the Indus River Basin mangrove forests”. Other threats include hunting, overgrazing, soil erosion, https://earthjournalism.net/stories/threats-to-biodiversity-in-pakistan Biodiversity such as markhors, squirrels, woodpeckers, snails, moths, ferns and mushrooms are likely to become endangered as Pakistan loses tree cover”. (Source: https://earthjournalism.net/stories/threats-to-biodiversity-in-pakistan )?

One of the issues relating to deforestation as well as desertification and loss of biodiversity is mismanagement and unsustainable use of resources in Pakistan. All are responsible, the Governments from federal, provincial and local levels lack capacity and capability to understand the volume of Challanges as well as mechanism to mitigate. The industry and the private sector, both in agriculture as well as the manufacturing sector that have unsustainable behaviors towards production and consumption and have no regards to sustainable development goals. The poor and uneducated people of Pakistan that have to survive on traditional methods that are unscientific and are dangerous to sustainable use of resources, cutting trees for firewood, or killing and netting migratory and local birds and small animals for food or sale, and farming on rangelands in order to make two ends meet. Marginalized people living on marginalized land, eroding them through unsustainable living and working methods, some things have to give and productivity and sustainability of land, water, fauna and flora of the country is giving way to loss of biodiversity, loss of forests, loss of soil to desertification and therefore impact of climate change on the livelihoods of the marginalized people and the other form of life in this country.??

If we as policy makers, policy enforcers, industry, and the people collectively do not resort to sustainable practices in our daily life, the devastation of all this loss on our future generation would be immense. Already droughts and floods have impacted the agriculture and food security of Pakistan which is adversely impacting on exchange rates and GDP growth rates. Pakistan’s water resources are diminishing, its biodiversity is diminishing, therefore we would become food deficient and water deficient nation that will by the end of the century become so hot that life would be difficult in this region. Act now on SDG’s and become a sustainable developed nation, otherwise the process would be unreversible.??