Islamabad:
The Standing Committee of the National Assembly on Climate Change and Environmental Coordination urged the use of satellite imagery to verify the official allegations of an improvement in forest coverage of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (KP), Gilgit-Baltistan (GB) and Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK), threats taken in force.
Predictive by Mna Munaza Hassan, the Committee met on Monday to examine deforestation trends and government’s response to wooden mafia activities. While provincial officials have presented an optimistic perspective, legislators questioned the accuracy of their reports and have called for stronger monitoring and application measures.
“The Committee cannot rely solely on pink figures. An independent verification by Suparco satellite imagery is necessary to confirm what is happening on the ground,” observed members at the meeting.
The KP environment secretary informed the Committee that the province’s forest cover had improved according to third -party assessments, noting the crisis of 2.3 million cubic feet of wood raised illegally and more than 360 vehicles used in smuggling. However, the members expressed concerns concerning the absence of a fire protection system and the continuous activities of wooden mafias in remote forest areas.
GB officials have recognized that if forest land has remained relatively stable in recent years, a major degradation has taken place in the 1980s due to sectarian conflicts and laws of law and order. They called for constitutional guarantees to protect forests and sought federal support for digital surveillance.
The Committee also expressed its concerns concerning information reporting the hotel in Attabad Lake in violation of regulations. GB officials assured legislators that these hotels were closed and a prohibition imposed on new construction.
The AJK forest department has reported a 10% increase in forest coverage, citing studies by the International Union for Nature Conservation (IUCN) and has confirmed that the entire commercial exploitation had been prohibited. The legislators, however, warned that smuggling of wood – in particular Deodar and fir wood – was still undressing the mountains of the region.
The secretary of climate change declared to the panel that an information system on the National Geographic (GIS) for the forests would soon be launched to follow digitally deforestation and illegal logging.
