Rangelands are the natural ecosystems, with enormous ecological, economic and cultural importance, providing the nation a number of products through negligible input.
The most immediate, obvious and principle product of rangelands is the livestock that meets the major share of protein requirements of the population of the country. In addition to the many minor and major products, plenty of services are also being rendered by the vast rangelands.
These rangelands not only produce herbage for various kinds of livestock and provide habitat to a diversity of wildlife but also offer a lot of aesthetic attractions for nature lovers.
The rangelands of Pakistan occupy approximately 65% of the country's land mass, equal to 48 million hectare, which are located in arid and semi-arid areas of the country.
In these lands, water scarcity limits crop cultivation and therefore, these are mainly used for livestock grazing.
About 60% of the total range resources of Pakistan are located in Balochistan while the remaining 40% are fairly/evenly distributed in other provinces, AJK and Northern Areas.
In the arid rangelands of Balochistan, Thal, Cholistan, D.G. Khan and Tharparkar, the main occupation of local population is the rearing of livestock
At the national level these naturally vegetated extensive lands provide most of the feed requirements of livestock ie 55% of the feed for sheep and goats, about 40% for horses, donkeys and camels; 50% for the cattle and buffaloes; and in Balochistan about 90% of the required livestock feed is derived from rangelands.
The livestock sector that depends on rangelands contributes about 8.4% to the GDP, 34% to total agriculture production and about 11% of the total foreign exchange earnings of the country.
Animal origin protein (mainly milk and meat) being an essential component of the human diet, of all ages, are estimated at 290 ml and 35g per day, respectively. Both large and small ruminants produce only 16.3 million tons of milk annually.
However, available feed resources can hardly provide 60% of the total digestible nutrients and 40% of the digestible protein requirements of animals.
CAUSES OF DETERIORATION OF RANGE LANDS IN PAKISTAN: The vast range resources are of vital importance for the sustainable development of the country.
However, these resources are under continuous threat from over-exploitation. Human beings have themselves played havoc in the deterioration of the range ecosystems through over-exploitation by livestock grazing and uprooting the shrubs for fuel purposes.
As a result, the upper stratum of vegetation have been lost by this deforestation practice on rangelands.
Furthermore, the high demand of food and the higher prices of feedstuffs attracted the local inhabitants to open up more grazing lands in low rainfall areas. These lands were naturally unfit for agricultural use and were eventually abandoned.
The severely deteriorated rangelands have, in return, joined the interlined events of cyclic nature leading to the environmental retrogression at vast level and thus accelerating the problems of global warming, ozone depletion, glacier melting and sea level rise.
Some of the important factors includes lack of interest of the community in rehabilitation and conservation of degraded rangelands; Number of livestock versus quality; Migratory herds by the seasonal influx of pawindahs (nomads) along with their livestock from Afghanistan at the start of winter, feed their animals in Pakistan ranges throughout the season; Arid climatic pattern and scarcity of water; Absence of sustainable development (SD) policy framework at the micro-level and lack of educational facilities in the field of Range Management.
STRATEGIC OPTIONS FOR RANGELANDS IMPROVEMENT: Pakistan is blessed with a variety of range conditions, so successful rangeland management practices in Pakistan could be tested and utilised gainfully.
During the past 40 years, several range development/improvement projects have been implemented in various ecological zones of Pakistan.
Range research studies conducted by the Rangeland Research Institute of PARC, Pakistan Forest Institute, Peshawar and Provincial Forest Departments have yielded useful information on the various aspects of range management.
In these findings, an attempt has been made to synthesise the available technology to develop comprehensive plans to manage and efficiently utilise vast national rangeland resources.
Simple scientific management may increase the productivity of resources from 2-10 times. The execution of management plans must be based on; Involvement of local communities in rangelands management plans, estimates of seasonal production levels of a given resource, seasonal fluctuations in the nutritive value of major plant species on the site, relative palatability and preference indices of range plants by grazing animals in a range ecosystem nutritional calendar for grazing livestock based on their physiological conditions, developing grazing management plans in terms of appropriate stocking rates and appropriate kind of livestock, Proper stocking rates ie, balancing animal numbers with the available forage resource, use the kinds of livestock best suited to the prevailing vegetal structure.
Restricting range use to proper seasons of the year for the optimum benefit of both plants and animals, uniform distribution of grazing animals over the range area and livestock to be taken to these pastures during the critical growth periods of range vegetation which allows ranges to recover.
NEW INITIATIVES OF UNIVERSITY OF ARID AGRICULTURE, RAWALPINDI TO MEET THE FUTURE CHALLENGES: Range management improvement potential can be judged from the range resources endowed in the tract, where the University of Arid Agriculture, Rawalpindi (UAAR) is supposed to enhance its educational, research and extension efforts.
UAAR is situated in such a tract which is on the one hand characterised by Pothowar scrub ranges, with improvement potential through range management practices, based on manipulation of allied ecosystem.
On the other hand, new horizons of barani/arid agronomic practices are open to trap the production potential by introducing environment-friendly modern technologies.
The Pothowar Scrub Ranges extend over the Pothowar Plateau and lower Himalayan piedmont plains stretching over Rawalpindi Division and the northern strip of Gujrat and Sialkot districts covering an area of 51600 km2.
Physiographically, the region is subdivided into dissected loess plains, piedmont plains, river plains, ridges and troughs, weathered rock plains, low mountain ranges (Salt range, Kalachita range, Kherimurat range, Margalla hills), severely gullied land and badland. Altitude ranges between 250 m and 900 m, rainfall ranges in amounts from semi-arid to sub-humid in seasonality. It is monsoonal with a Mediterranean bias in temperatures, hot to very hot in summer and cold in winter.
The natural vegetation is xerophytic comprising semi-evergreen, wooded shrub land. The indicator plants are Kau (Olea ferruginea), and Mallah (Zizphus nummularia). Soils in the piedmont plains, loess plains and river rock plains and mountain slopes are shallow, excessively drained, gravelly loam.
The region is predominantly dry farmed to wheat, maize, sorghum, millet, peanut and mustard, locally irrigated from small dams and from ground water along mainstream only.
The region also provides grazing opportunities for a large number of sheep and goats year round and seasonally, in winter, for livestock from the northern mountains, besides the local livestock.
Pakistan, in general, and the Barani region, in particular, is facing serious problem of land degradation.
The implications of a rapid population growth are more devastating and are taking a huge toll of the already dwindling natural resources. It adversely fosters the process of sub-division and fragmentation of farmlands, adds to the fragile and marginal lands by denudation of forests and rangelands.
There is massive migration from the rural to urban areas. It is the poorest of the poor who suffers from drought and misuse of natural resources. Unless proper managed, the already degraded resources will be under heavy pressure.
This situation has resulted in severe environmental threats that include, soil erosion, sloping cultivation, livestock grazing, deforestation, quarrying of stones, land tenure issues and poor management of natural resources. Broadly speaking, the situation presented above is the result of; lack of awareness and commitment among farming community in general and among policy/decision-makers in particular, which has resulted in the serious misuse of limited natural resources and lack of institutions to impart education and training to generate qualified manpower required for addressing the issues of land degradation and unsustainable use of natural resources.
One of the objectives of establishing the University of Arid Agriculture, Rawalpindi was to provide the opportunities to produce highly educated and skilled manpower to address the issues of arid agriculture and its allied fields.
This could not happen because of some uncontrolled reasons and thus arid agriculture could not receive due attention during the last many years. However, a number of departments in various fields of agriculture were successfully producing the quality manpower.
The need of introducing and establishing the Range Management and Forestry Department at the UAAR was always felt and demanded by the stakeholders, which has been dealt and fulfilled nicely.
The objective of the Department of Range Management and Forestry is to highlight the intensity of the threats to the range ecosystems emerging from the environmental issues discussed above and to suggest remedial measures to, firstly, halt this trend and, secondly, to rehabilitate the ecosystem.
The situation demands not only a proactive attitude but also taking actions well before the time of crossing such a threshold point from where the reconstruction of a fragile ecology of the Barani region becomes, at least, financially unaffordable if practically not impossible.
It must be recognised that population growth, economic processes, intensification of land use and environmental degradation are all closely inter-related issues and therefore, agriculture and natural resources must be considered equal partners in the processes of attaining sustainability of the agricultural system.
The challenge confronting the scientists and allied educationists is to match plant species and agronomic practices to the on site characteristics of land and water environment and develop an economically productive, culturally appropriate and environmentally sound agricultural system.
The floral and faunal biodiversity of rangelands also needs to be conserved in order to provide sustainable base for the productivity of rangelands.
In view of the changed environmental, economical and ecological scenario, UAAR management took some programmatic initiatives under the dynamic leadership of Dr Khalid Mahmood Khan, Vice Chancellor of UAAR, who is blessed with a strong academic background and administration abilities.
UAAR's decision of establishing Range Management and a Forestry department, was long awaited, but implemented well in time, which has been appreciated by all the stakeholders in the country. It has definitely enhanced the ownership level of UAAR by the dominant majority of dwellers of the vast rangelands in the Pothowar tract. It is in the credit of Dr Khan whose sagacious wisdom and professional commitment made it possible to provide the opportunities for the ecologically conscious persons whose desire to quench the thirst of modern education in the field of range-management sciences was not ever fulfilled.
This new initiatives is the result of Dr Khalid Mahmood Khan's personal interest an introducing Range Management and Forestry to address the environmental degradation of natural resources base in the country, in general, and in the Pothowar region, in particular.
The establishment of the Department of Range Management and Forestry at UAAR will promote scientific and technological research in disciplines of Range Management. Watershed Management, Social Forestry, Drought Management, Medicinal Plants, Agro-forestry, Rural and Pastural Sociology, Wildlife Management and Environmental Sciences, etc with special emphasis on dry lands.
This would play a crucial role in developing appropriate technologies for sustainable use of natural resources. However, to accomplish this objective, it has become imperative to keep pace with the technological progress being achieved in the world in order to accelerate the pace of scientific research and discoveries in these fields by establishing an infrastructure of research laboratories, field stations and museum, furnishing of classrooms, laboratories, offices, etc and organising the field study trips of the students of Range Management and Forestry.
This department aimed to emphasise teaching and research in this field, specifically oriented to the Barani regions of the country in general and the Punjab in particular.
As a result of persistent and dedicated efforts by the faculty of the UAAR, the university succeeded in building up a good nucleus of manpower in this department, which can be compared with any other such university.
The training or education being imparted in the fields of Range Management and Forestry must lay special emphasis on problems of over-exploited forest resources, degraded rangelands, devastated watershed and dwindling wildlife in the arid regions of the country.
It must also address the issues of biodiversity conservation in the country in general and in the Pothowar region in particular. These efforts of the UAAR would result in providing benefits to the people in the rangelands of the Pothowar region and the country.
UAAR will also provide opportunity to the students of the Pothowar region to get education and training in these disciplines, fulfilling the main objective of its creation. UAAR will also help to increase the productivity and income of the farmers of the Barani regions.
Hence, will result in the economic uplift of these areas and give boost to scientific research and improvement and development of new technologies in various fields of Range Management and Forestry.
Dr Masood A. A. Quraishi, is an eminent scholar who is currently working as a consultant in the Department of Range Management and Forestry. It was because of his keen interest and enthusiasm that the new department has established a multi purpose grass/legume and shrubs nursery. It contains a number of drought resistant local as well exotic germplasm.
The nursery will provide opportunity to the students of this department to get practical knowledge of range flora and to use these for research studies.
By summing up the aspects in a single nut-shell, it can be concluded that the creation and further strengthening of the Department of Range Management and Forestry is a recognition of "Barani/arid interventions and practices, because of the fact that rangelands are the sole dominant renewable natural resource, which provide the living base to its dwellers."