Investor Presentaiton

Punjab Forest Policy, 2019 The rangelands of Punjab provide livelihood to the landless farmers living in the vicinity of these areas. The main source of income of this community is rearing of livestock. For grazing of about 0.5 million camels, buffalos, cows, sheep and goats on rangelands, the Forest Department issues grazing permits on nominal charges. These livestock contribute in improving the meat, milk, hides and wools production, resulting in increase in GDP of the country. 2.6 Linear Plantations Linear plantation refers to an area where tree plantation is present in shape of straight rows. In addition to the compact forest area, the department also manages linear plantations along provincial highways and canals. In 1961, a notification was issued declaring the right of way along the roads under the administrative control of Highway Department, as protected forest. At present the right of way of 11,680 km of provincial highway is being managed by the Forest Department. In 1994, the canal side plantations present on either side of major canals, branches and distributaries were transferred to forest department by the irrigation department. The total length of canalside plantation with Forest Department is 32,640 km. Likewise, the linear plantation along 2,987 km along rail side is also looked after by the department. The plantation along all types of linear plantation is carried out by the department through its development and non- development budget. 3. PREAMBLE The Punjab Forest Policy 2019 will provide a course of action to fulfill the desired objectives of forestry sector. The policy and its objective are liable to change and have to be reviewed constantly. The revision of Punjab Forest Policy of 1999 was necessitated owing to recent changes in the policy perspectives at provincial, national and global level. Accordingly, the trends and focus on forestry sector has increased as well as diversified. The Punjab Forest Policy of 2019 capitalizes on the basic policy perspectives provided in the Punjab Forest Policy 1999. Besides inclusion of new challenges and issues related to forestry in the Punjab Forest Policy, 2019, a frame of action plan has been added to achieve the overall objectives. Moreover, the previous policy did not have any time frame, therefore, a period of ten years have been fixed in the Punjab Forest Policy, 2019, after which it shall be reviewed for appropriate changes, if any. Although Food & Agriculture Organization (FAO) of United Nations (UN) has assessed that Pakistan has one of the highest deforestation rates in the world, however, the recent assessment by the department concludes that the province of Punjab has substantially increased tree cover from 3% to 6.8% over the past 15 years (District Wise Land Cover Atlas of Punjab, 2012-13, GIS Laboratory of Punjab Forest Department) despite the fact that the forest area remained constant. The increase in tree cover was primarily due to promotion of tree plantation on private lands. The existing forest cover is however so meager that it does not justify any commercial harvesting from state forest as it will result in further deforestation and degradation. The trees raised through farm forestry should however be harvested and replanted on sustainable basis to support economic activity at rural level. Despite considerable improvement in tree cover further improvement may be 10 | Page

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