The Forgotten Issue

Green is the national color of Pakistan, but the country itself is not much green. Deforestation is one of the major environmental problems that this country is facing, but unfortunately few people in Pakistan realize the gravity of this issue. May be because they are facing many more problems, and they have little time to think about something that they deem less acute. But as a matter of fact, deforestation of this country can prove to be more fatal for the people of Pakistan than corruption or extremism.

Pakistan has only 4.8% of its land covered with forests and has the highest deforestation rate in Asia. According to a government report, there will be no forests in this country after 15 years if no steps are taken to improve the situation. And what happens after all the forests of a country are consumed? The answer is ‘desertification’. The whole country can turn into a desert like that of Arabia, and desertification means lack of arable land and thus shortage of food. Pakistan already relies mostly on its agricultural products, which are the major export of this country. So desertification will deteriorate the economy of Pakistan quite significantly. Another phenomenon related with desertification is shortage of drinking water. Due to these shortages, a desert can’t host world’s sixth largest population, so a huge number of people will either have to die or leave the country.

More than 60% population of Pakistan lives in rural areas, and the rural population mostly rely on agriculture. Deforestation is continuously causing desertification and that turns more and more arable lands barren, which means that at a very fast rate the rural population of Pakistan is losing productive lands. Deforestation also causes a drop in annual rainfall rates, thus the areas where people rely on rains to water their crops become unproductive. So this rural population will then have to populate the urban areas to earn a living, and for that the government will have to provide more accommodation and more job opportunities. Otherwise the unemployment rate of the country will rise and will cause more poverty among other problems.  

The consequences of deforestation are very horrible, but little is known about it by the people of Pakistan. That’s why few people care to take some serious steps to prevent their country from becoming a desert. It’s not impossible to reverse the situation. Countries like Vietnam and China have increased their forest cover through reforestation. In China, citizens between ages 11 and 60 have been obliged by the government in the past years to plant three to five trees per year or take part in some other forest services. The government claims that at least 1 billion trees have been planted in China every year since 1982. But in Pakistan it’s very improbable that the government would ever take any serious steps to hamper deforestation, because none of the other problems of this country have ever been solved by the government. So, the people of Pakistan themselves will have to take responsibility to join their efforts for reforestation of this country. Individual efforts might not yield any significant results, because a tree planted in front of someone’s house won’t increase the forest area, although it would help to improve the environment of the cities. To increase the forest cover of the country, swaths of land having considerable area need to be planted with as much trees as possible. This of course is a very difficult task for an individual, but if people join hands to fight against deforestation then it won’t be very difficult for them to achieve their goal. People shouldn’t wait for the government to take any initiative, because one can’t expect any such thing from the Pakistani government. This country belongs to its people, and they themselves will have to save it.