National Workshop On Best Practices Of Sustainable Forest Management Held In Naran

A two day national workshop on best practices of Sustainable Forest Management in Pakistan concluded at Naran in Manshera district on Friday.

PESHAWAR, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 7th Sep, 2018 ) :A two day national workshop on best practices of Sustainable Forest Management in Pakistan concluded at Naran in Manshera district on Friday.

According to a press release issued here, the workshop was jointly organized by International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and Ministry of Climate Change under the GEF-UNDP funded project Sustainable Forest Management (SFM).

Senior officials of Forest and Wildlife departments of Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Sindh, Balochistan Azad Jammu and Kashmir, Gilgit Baltistan and FATA participated in the workshop in Naran and shared the best practices from their province.

In the welcome address Mahmood Akhtar Cheema, Country Representative IUN Pakistan appreciated the collaboration at national, Federal and provincial levels in sharing of these best practices. He proposed to share such achievements at international level also. The scaling up of 1 billion tree plantation initiative of KP Government to 10 billion tree plantation in Pakistan will need such collaboration.

While emphasizing the various services of forest to the ecosystem and humans, he proposed to engage the relevant institutions including the private sector.

Mohammad Ayaz Khan, National Project Manager SFM project presented an overview of the project and highlighted the objective of this National workshop, so that the first ever publication in Pakistan may be developed to compile and share the best practices of Sustainable Forest Management.

It is to reflect the great work done in Pakistan to be documented and shared at wider level. Pakistan being the 7th country among the most impacted by Climate Change, requires strong efforts towards strengthening forestry for mitigating the impacts.

He appreciated IUCN in organizing the workshop and coordination with all the speakers for papers and presentations. He added that a similar workshop on the best practices under SFM project will be organized at the end of the project.

Mr. Abdul Baseer Conservator Forest FATA-KP while welcoming all on behalf of KP Government, admitted that this is first such event of a kind where all federating units, academia and research institutions are together sharing their best practices. He added that the Foresters are best organized to cope with the world's challenges due to climate change.

First Technical Session was chaired by Mr. Aijaz Ahmed Nizamani, Chief Conservator Forest, Sindh Forest Department.

To set the base, Ms. Fauzia Bilqis Malik made a background presentation on Sustainable Forest Management practices in Pakistan and other countries.

Mr. Riaz Ahmed Wagan Chief Conservator Forest, Mangroves Sindh presented on Rehabilitation of Mangrove Forest in Indus Delta and shared the success of over last 30 years of mangroves rehabilitation. Sindh Forest department in collaboration with IUCN has worked through community involvement in collection of seeds, raising nurseries and planting mangroves through various techniques.

Community is involved in protection of Mangroves from grazing and browsing. Community is also facilitated in their livelihood, health education and other requirements, he expressed.

Mr. Gul Junejo, DFO Afforestation Sindh Forest Department presented on Sustainable Management of Kot Dhingano Riverine Forest through Community Participation. Community of 9 villages around this forest with about 5510 livestock are involved in the management of forest and in return benefits.

Mr. Safdar Ali Shah, Chief Conservator Wildlife Khyber Pakhtunkhwa presented on the Restoration of forest ecosystem through establishment of forest enclosures under the Billion Tree Afforestation project.

Safdar Ali Shah, Chief Conservator Wildlife Khyber Pakhtunkhwa made a presentation on sustainable trophy hunting in community managed area of Chitral and Kohistan. He shared the successes of the trophy hunting with total revenue of about USD 4m in 3 areas of KP only.

Shahid Rashid Awan, Additional Secretary Technical, Punjab Forest and Wildlife Department presented on Socio ecological improvement through SFM. Total area of Punjab Forest is 1.6m Acre area is all state owned forest including Scrub Forest, Irrigated plantations, Rangelands, Coniferous Forest and Riverine Forest. He proposed inter-provincial visits of forest departments and twice a year and also an effort towards the revival of Pakistan Forest Institute though request to Advisor to Prime Minister Ministry of Climate Change, Malik Amin Aslam and he invited all provinces to join.

The second Technical Session was chaired by Shahid Rashid Awan, Additional Secretary Forest Technical, Punjab Forest Department.

Mr. Ali Imran, Conservator Forest Balochistan Forest Department presented Afforestation, Reforestation, Range management through rainwater harvesting techniques in Balochistan. He shared an overview of scenario of Balochistan in terms of the available resources and challenges, especially water and the techniques used for water harvesting.

Dr. Aurangzeb Khan, Chief Conservator Forest Development AJK presented on the watersheds in AJK. Various kinds of forests in the AJK were shared. Massive cutting of forest without any management was done but no afforestation was done.

Mr. Ismail PPD Green Pakistan Programme GB presented SFM and private sector forests of Diamer district of GB a historical perspective of the challenges and measures was shared.

Mr. Abdul Baseer, Conservator FATA presented management practices in Chilgoza Forests of FATA. He shared the current management system of Chilgoza and also the ill practices impacting the production as well as sustainable management of the Chilgoza.

Mohammad Ayaz Khan, National Project Manager SFM wrapped up and appreciated the participation for their valuable sharing.

In the closing remarks, Mohammad Siddique Khan, Chief Conservator Forest KP emphasized the follow up on the implementation of decisions would be the real success.