Forests

• There are two types of forests:

Productive & Protective Forests:

Productive Forests:

• These are natural forests.

• These forests are used to extract products like timber.

• They have more commercial value.

• These forests have high tree density and closed canopy.

Protection Forests:

• These are manmade forest i.e. people planted these.

• These forests are linear.

• These forests have less commercial value.

• They do not provide any valuable wood.

• The main purpose of these forests is to protect the soil.

• They help in controlling the temperature and provide shade.

• Forests protect erosion of soil.

• Keep the environment clean and help in lowering the temperature.

• Forests help in the formation of humus that maintains soil fertility.

• Forests also help in reducing the flooding.

• They provide raw materials to industries including paper, timber, etc.

• They promote tourism and provide employment.

Types of Forests:

Alpine Forests:

• They can be found in Northern areas including Chitral, Kohistan, and Dir.

• The trees found in these forests have less growth because of low sunlight a–nd low temperature.

• The trees' roots have a better grip on the ground because they spread sideways and absorb more
nutrients.

• The branches of trees are upward normally to absorb more sunlight.

• The wood from these forests is only used for fuel.

Coniferous Forests:
• They can be found in Northern Areas including KPK, Balochistan Mountains, Murree, Islamabad, and
Rawalpindi.

• These forests can survive at low temperatures.

• The trees are conical in shape and have sloping branches.

• The leaves are usually needle-shaped, leathery, small and thick to check excessive transpiration.

• Less humus is formed in these forests.

• They offer timber, environment protection, tourism, wildlife, and beautiful scenery.

Tropical Thorn Forests:

• They can be found in Punjab Plains, Sindh Plains, and Western & southern Balochistan.

• They are low in height, usually 6 meters to 10 meters.

• They have thorny hardwood mostly; trees have deep roots to search for water and low vegetation
because of less water.

• The wood from these forests is generally used for fire only.

Sub-Tropical Scrub Forests:

• They can be found in Himalayas’ hills and foothills, Kirthar and Sulaiman Ranges, Makran Coast Range
and Western Mountains.

• These forests have tropical thorny and sub-tropical broadleaf specifies.

Riverain or Bela Forest:

• They can be found in River Indus and its tributaries.

• These forests have linear plantations along the banks of rivers.

• They have high yielding commercial hardwood species.

• They provide Shishum and Babul wood.

Mangrove Forests:

• They can be found in Sindh and Balochistan’s coastline areas.

• They have, broad, leathery and drip tips leaves.

• The trees there are low in height and shrubs are grown on the flats.

• The trees can survive in saltwater. As their roots spread into seawater.

• In better conditions, the trees can rise to 6 to 8 meters, but they are generally 3 meters long.

• Waste is dumped in the Arabian Sea that has stunted the growth of these trees in the Indus and Hub
Delta.

• Because of pollution limited species are grown there.

• They offer firewood, timber, breeding ground for fish, prevent coastline from erosion and absorbs
shocks of tsunami and earthquake.
Irrigated Forests:

• Changa Manga near Lahore, Wan Bachran near Thal, Chichawatni in Sahiwal are Irrigated forests.

• In these forests, economically important species of trees are planted in large quantities.

• They have species like Shishum, Babul and Eucalyptus.

• They produce firewood and timber.

Deforestation:

Causes:

• Rise of urbanization.

• Use of wood for the fire.

• Use of timber in industries.

• Construction of roads.

• Mining.

• Overgrazing of land.

Effects:

• Deforestation has many bad effects on our environment. Some of them are listed below:
• Erosion of soil by water and wind.

• Increase in floods.

• Surface run-off carrying sand and silt.

• The generation of electricity is affected because of siltation in reservoirs.

• Destruction and extinction of natural habitats.

• Food and crop production has been affected greatly.

• Irrigation canals are blocked.

• Harmed the fisheries.

• Extreme climate change and global warming.

Solutions to Problems Caused by Deforestation:

• There should be selective cutting that will forbid the cutting of young trees.

• Heavy machinery should be restricted in forests.

• Reforestation must be initiated to cover up for the loss of forestation.

• Fuelwood plantation should be done on reserved lands to preserve valuable wood species for other
wood industries.

• Forestation should be done of hill slopes to prevent silting, flooding, erosion, etc.
• Media should be used to spread awareness about the importance of trees and forests in general.

Afforestation:

• In Pakistan, many afforestation projects have been started:

• In Balochistan, Agha Khan Rural Support Program has been initiated that has planted 80 thousand
plants.

• The Tarbela/Mangla project is planting trees on privately owned badland.

• Rechna Doab Project is planting trees between Ravia and Chenab.

Sustainable Forestry:

• The cutting rate of trees must not be more than the rate of their growth.

• If a tree is cut, then it must be replaced from a sapling from the nursery.

• If forest areas are cut down, then new forest areas must be planted to accommodate for the loss to
nature.