Pakistan direly needs to take smart and prompt initiatives to stop the escalating desertification and deforestation.

Talking to WealthPK, Aijaz Nizamani, former conservator, and ex-secretary of Sindh Forests and Wildlife Department, said increasing use of fossil fuels has increased the temperatures, and degraded the air quality. He said if carbon emissions were waved off even today, the existing carbon oxide that has already become part of the atmosphere would take more than a hundred years to neutralise. 

He said that usually droughts, deforestation and even inappropriate agricultural practices caused desertification. “Desertification is the loss of natural productivity. For example, if a good soiled land in a canal area is water-locked, then it is also a form of desertification.” 

Aijaz called for framing an all-encompassing policy framework in collaboration with the private sector to tackle the issues. 

Meanwhile, speaking to WealthPK, Muhammad Niaz Khan Kakar, Conservator of Balochistan Forest and Wildlife Department, said forests were the main source of decarbonisation. He said the forest department of each province should strive to increase the green cover. 

He pointed out desertification always resulted in the disturbance to the natural ecological/environmental cycle. “Only natural or biological ways should be adopted to avoid it. Desertification is natural if it takes place in its natural and gradual order. But the rapidly increasing desertification is the result of climatic impacts.” 

Speaking to WealthPK, Romina Khurshid Alam, Prime Minister's Coordinator on Climate Change, said, “By restoring 100,000 hectares of degraded land, six per cent of the forest cover of the total area can be achieved. Only 16 million hectares of the total land area in Pakistan is irrigated. The 3/4th part of the total land is affected by land degradation due to land logging and salinity. Most of the remaining area is facing climatic impacts.” 

She said the National Adaptation Plan (NAP) had been framed to rehabilitate degraded lands, sustain a livelihood, and improve land productivity. “To achieve this goal, collaboration among local communities, civil society organiations, academia, and governments is necessary.”

Talking to WealthPK, Dr Mazhar Hayat, Deputy Secretary, Ministry of Climate Change, said, “For land restoration, Pakistan can follow the example of the smart initiatives of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for the restoration of degraded land, titled ‘Green Saudi Initiative’ and ‘Middle East Green Initiative’. In Pakistan, the NAP framework addresses land degradation, water scarcity, deforestation, and other related issues, but it needs to be established on a scientific basis. Awareness is necessary in Pakistan concerning efficient water use at both the rural and urban levels.”