Pakistan Faces Critical Environmental Threat as Forest Cover Falls by 18% Since 1992

Peshawar | Islamabad, August 17, 2025 – A staggering 18% decline in forest cover over the past 33 years has alarmed environmental experts, who warn that the loss endangers Pakistan’s environment, economy, and national security. The deterioration of forests and rangelands, coupled with rising climate risks, is heightening the threat of devastating floods, cloudbursts, and landslides.

The Decline: Scale and Scope

According to authoritative data, Pakistan’s forest area has dropped from 3.78 million hectares in 1992 to just 3.09 million hectares by 2025—an 18% reduction. Meanwhile, rangelands are producing only 20–30% of their potential biomass, significantly reducing land productivity and ecological balance. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa bears the brunt of these losses, but other regions are also facing escalating threats.

In Chitral alone, more than 3,700 hectares of forest vanished between 1992 and 2009; further losses projected could reach 23% by 2030. Illegal timber extraction, such as the massive 1.6 million cubic feet theft in Arandu Gol, points to the need for urgent governance reforms.

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Ripple Effects: Nature, Infrastructure, and Livelihoods

Deforestation has transformed watershed areas into ‘flood factories.’ Storms in 1992, 2010, and most recently in 2025, illustrate how degraded ecosystems produce more destructive floods and flash events due to lower water absorption and stability.

• In Kalam, Swat, decades of logging undermined the Swat River catchment, worsening 1992 and 2010 floods.
• Buner, Battagram, Bajaur, Mansehra, and Gilgit-Baltistan, all suffered compounded damage from cloudbursts and landslides—made worse by lost upstream forest cover. In Gilgit-Baltistan, forest cover has plummeted to under 4%, heightening fire and glacial lake outburst risks.

Forests are more than carbon stores—they protect infrastructure, ease soil erosion, regulate water cycles, stabilize slopes, and sustain agriculture, fuel, fodder, tourism, and biodiversity. Their disappearance jeopardizes daily livelihoods and national resilience. Importantly, forests also cool rising temperatures and support groundwater recharge.

Pakistan faces several root causes of deforestation:

• Policy and corruption: Timber mafias operate with impunity. Ineffective law enforcement, weak governance, and political interference have allowed illegal logging to continue unchecked.
• Unsustainable resource demand: Demand for wood for fuel, construction, and agriculture outpaces sustainable production—creating a 34 million m³ wood deficit in 2010.
• Urban expansion and energy shortages: Rapid city growth and insufficient energy alternatives drive unsustainable tree cutting.
• Fragile institutional framework: Public forest departments cannot meet families’ energy needs, while private land accounts for over 90% of wood supply.

Turning the Tide: Solutions & Positive Pathways

Despite the grim statistics, Pakistan has demonstrated capacity for recovery through focused initiatives and international collaboration:

• Afforestation success stories:
  • The Billion Tree Tsunami in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa restored 350,000 hectares of degraded land, exceeding global Bonn Challenge goals.
  • The follow-up 10 Billion Tree Tsunami campaign scaled the initiative nationwide, planting over a billion saplings and receiving global commendation from UNEP and IUCN.
• Community-led restoration: Local efforts to reclaim rangelands and revive riverine ecosystems like the Kacho forests in Sindh can restore biodiversity and livelihoods.
• Strong policy instruments: Experts urge declaring forest loss a national emergency. Strategies include watershed management, grazing regulation, wildfire response units, satellite-based monitoring, alternative fuel promotion, and anti-timber mafia enforcement.
• Day of Action: Pakistan’s National Tree Plantation Day (August 18) is an institutional mechanism to mobilize citizens in large-scale planting and raise environmental awareness.

Environmental, Economic, and Strategic Imperatives

Protecting forests is no longer just an environmental concern—it’s a defense against future disasters. As flood intensity and frequency increase due to climate change, degraded forests translate directly into human, agricultural, and infrastructure losses. Rehabilitating forest cover would:

• Reduce disaster risk by stabilizing watersheds.
• Enhance agricultural yield through soil health restoration.
• Support livelihoods via sustainable resource use.
• Create green jobs in rural communities.
• Help Pakistan meet climate commitments and improve global environmental standing.

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Summary Table: Key Facts & Pathways

Call to Action

This environmental crisis presents a turning point for Pakistan. Through collective will, government leadership, community engagement, and international cooperation, the country can transform its green decline into a revival—restoring forests not just as ecosystems, but as the foundation for national stability, prosperity, and resilience.