PESHAWAR, Nov 23 (APP): Sarhad Conservation Network (SCN), a non-governmental organization struggling for the conservation of environment, culture and heritage, has prepared a montage video to highlight threats to forests and biodiversity in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
The short video of three minutes and three seconds is based on over 100 images highlighting the forests of KP and its rapid deforestation due to the cutting of trees by the timber mafia.
Titled `Sleep Walking into Disaster’, the video was recently launched at a seminar held in Islamabad by SDPI.
The video apprises watchers how 17 per cent of dense forest in KP is at risk of rapid deforestation, disrupting the whole ecosystem of the region.
Trees in areas including Harban (Upper Kohistan), Kalam (Swat), Shangla, Village Kot (Dargai) and Tirah in Khyber District are being cut, warns the video.
The video displayed pictures of cut trees in all above-mentioned areas to substantiate its claim of massive timber cutting.
Quoting estimates of Global Forest Watch, an initiative of the World Resources Institute to monitor global forests in near real-time, the SCN video mentioned that KP has last over 11000 acres of tree cover.
While provincial government estimated statistics indicate that the annual deforestation rate is around 1.5 percent.
The video report claims that the timber mafia is smuggling timber down the country by using the route of the Barawal area of Chitral to Bajaur and Mohmand districts. The culprits use nighttime for smuggling of timber, it alleged.
“The impact of climate change is being felt in the whole country and its major reason is the cutting of trees,” observed Dr. Adil Zareef, Convener of SCN.
Forest destruction is not only a local or regional issue but its effects are felt at the national as well as international level, Adil added.
Adil informed that SCN activist, Qurat ul Ain who teaches at the fine arts department in the University of Peshawar has made a major contribution to the preparation of the montage video.
The idea was to highlight the threats to the forest and biodiversity of KP and ask the quarters concerned to take notice of it and initiate strict action for its stoppage, he added.
Dr. Adil said Pakistan is already among the list of top ten countries badly impacted by climate change and if such tree-cutting continued, the impacts would be more climate-induced disasters as the country witnessed in the shape of devastating floods in 2022.
He urged the quarters concerned to take action to curb the practice besides creating awareness about the importance of tree plantation and empowerment of communities for the protection of forest cover in their respective areas.