reforestation

Making a case for forest investments in Pakistan

A new report Forests for Green Pakistan highlights that while the forest cover in Pakistan is low, covering just 5.1 percent of the total land area, the contribution of forests to Pakistan's national economy and to the livelihoods of forest-dependent communities is significant.

Forests benefit the economy and forest-dependent communities in several ways. For example, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO 2009), 68 percent of the country's population depends on firewood as a major source of household energy and about 100,000 people are involved in the fuelwood trade, generating about PKR 11.3 billion ($113 million) annually. In addition, more than 500,000 workers are employed by forest industries and about 80 percent of the people living in rural areas depend on non-timber forest products to supplement their incomes. However, a lack of data on forest resources, management practices, and uses impedes the sector from articulating the importance of investing in forests among competing development priorities.

Based on collected evidence, low forest investments and unsustainable forest management practices have caused steady loss and degradation of Pakistan’s forests over recent decades. Deforestation in natural forests is taking place at the rate of 0.75 percent, or 27,000 ha per year (FAO 2009). Without concrete data to showcase the forest sector’s social, economic and ecological value, the Government of Pakistan, at both the national and provincial levels, has not prioritized the sector and only made limited investments in the sector. In fact, forests normally receive less than one percent of provincial developmental budgets.

To reverse the trend of deforestation and forest degradation, institutional arrangements and policy frameworks at both the federal and provincial levels need to be updated to promote sustainable forest management practices. The recent approval of the 2015 National Forest Policy and the launching of the ambitious Billion Tree Tsunami Afforestation Program ($150 million) in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Green Pakistan Program ($36 million) show the beginning of policy shifts that support the sector.

To transform the sector towards a sustainable future, the report calls for donor support on policy reforms, capacity building and sustainable financing. Given the institutional and regulatory complexity of forest management issues in Pakistan, initial engagements should focus on relatively simpler tasks and gradually move to more challenging tasks. In doing so, long-term forest investments will help Pakistan harness the huge potential of forest contributions to resilient ecosystems, the rural livelihood, the national economy, and the global environment.

“Forests of Pakistan are in crisis now. This report aims to elevate the issue and proposes actions to policy makers and development partners. It aligns well with the new Pakistani Government’s tree planting efforts, but calls for reform actions that can deliver and safeguard sustainable forest management practices in the long run,” explained Mr. Jiang Ru, Senior Environmental Specialist at the World Bank. “It is not an easy task and more advocacy will be needed. The World Bank will continue exploring opportunities with other development partners to advance this agenda in Pakistan.”

Preparation of this report was supported by the Program on Forests (PROFOR), a multi-donor partnership housed at the World Bank aimed at generating innovative, cutting-edge knowledge and tools to advance sustainable management of forest resources for poverty reduction, economic growth, climate mitigation and adaptation, and conservation benefits.

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Last Updated : 06-16-2024

To reforest Haiti, include Haitians in land management decisions

Haiti is a country of mountains and fields. Roughly 80 percent of the land is covered in rocky ridges, and the vast majority of rural areas are divided into small, privately-owned, cultivated plots. Haiti’s natural forests, once abundant, have gradually disappeared due to a complex mix of economic, political and demographic factors dating back 500 years. The country’s ecology is also shaped by a history of powerful storms: in October 2016, for example, Hurricane Matthew barreled across Haiti’s southern peninsula, devastating communities and the environments they depend on.

But just because Haiti’s landscape is now dominated by human activity doesn’t mean there is no room - or need - for trees. In fact, trees, shrubs, and agroforestry systems cover some 30 percent of the land and play a vital role in boosting agricultural production, improving livelihoods, and strengthening ecosystems. Increasing the number of trees could multiply these benefits – but only if lands are managed in an inclusive and sustainable way.

“Top-down landscape projects that don’t allow communities to participate in meaningful decision making have systematically failed,” said Caroline Plante, Senior Livestock Specialist at the World Bank. “This is one of the conclusions we drew from reviewing 80 years of land management efforts in Haiti. Communities all understand the importance of trees, but they become caught in a vicious cycle of increasingly degraded lands. If we want to see widespread reforestation – which is one of the goals of the World Bank’s Resilient Productive Landscapes Project - we need engagement with both local communities and experts, taking into account socio-economic factors.”

To enable this kind of deep inclusivity, the Program on Forests (PROFOR) funded the development of a Participatory Watershed Management Planning Methodology, which was carried out by the J/P Haitian Relief Organization (J/P HRO) as part of the “Haiti Takes Root” National Reforestation Initiative. The new approach was piloted in two distinct micro-watersheds: one defined by mountain springs and highland agriculture, and the other by coastal wetlands, mangroves, and fisheries.

In phase one, the methodology focused on technical aspects, including using GIS technology to map out the geographical features of the pilot sites. Then, a team of Haitian experts – representing fields as varied as agronomy, economics, sociology, anthropology, hydrology, and ecology - conducted a rapid assessment of all the factors relevant to effective watershed management.

The next step was interviewing community members and organizing workshops with residents to better understand their needs and to benefit from their in-depth knowledge of the landscape. Participants were carefully chosen to represent a variety of views, including the opinions of women. Elected officials were also invited, not simply to witness the proceedings but also to participate in the plenary sessions.

In the last phase of the process, the expert team presented their findings and proposed actions to the communities. Suggestions included shifting away from weeded annual crops that degrade fragile slopes, and incorporating trees into cultivation areas. The group also collectively identified high-value targets for improved water management.

“This tool incorporates participation at every turn,” said Dr. Glenn Smucker, lead author of the methodology report. “It has to do with the realities of peoples’ lives where they actually live. It identifies watershed management priorities that line up with peoples’ economic motivations because something worth investing in, is something worth protecting.”

“The main idea is for people to feel as though their lives have improved after a project has been carried out,” said Tracy Kroner, Executive Director at Haiti Takes Root. “This may sound obvious, but projects often leave beneficiaries or donors disappointed. By using this tool, projects can help ensure that scarce resources are allocated in a way that is effective, inclusive, and appreciated. That way, even if a project can’t address all the challenges that communities face, they understand the reasons why and have been a part of the decision-making that led to the final outcome.”

Another important aspect of the methodology is its replicability. While the tool is specifically designed for small-scale settings with workshops of no more than 50 people at a time, its straight-forward style can easily be carried out by others.

“These materials are very succinctly organized into what is almost a checklist,” said Kroner. “You can use it as a guideline and it’s very easy to adapt, so I hope other projects will pick up on it.”

In the meantime, the J/P HRO and World Bank teams are already implementing the methodology as part of the Resilient Productive Landscapes Project. A third workshop has been carried out in the pilot areas to translate the priority activities identified by the community into a concrete investment plan.

With the 2018 Atlantic hurricane season already underway and the risks from climate change increasing all the time, the need to jump-start reforestation efforts in Haiti is more important than ever. As Smucker noted, “People have told us, ‘we’ve had three years of drought, we’ve had terrible hurricanes. What is the resource that gives us the greatest resilience? It’s trees, even the fallen ones, and perennial crops like sorghum and millet.’ Restoring the production of income-generating trees and crops is central to survival, and a big part of building people’s resilience as they anticipate more storms and droughts.”

(All photos are credited to J/P HRO.)