EDITORIAL: Unauthorised cutting down of trees from protected areas is a serious offence. Relevant government bodies have a responsibility to ensure no such activity takes place under their watch, yet it seems to be of least concern to Islamabad’s Capital Development Authority (CDA).
In a recent note, the Supreme Court registrar informed the apex court that citizens were complaining about cutting of trees, causing systematic deforestation in the F-9 Fatimah Jinnah Park on CDA’s direction. The court took suo motu notice of the transgression and, on Tuesday, ordered a stop to felling of trees.
Said the order, “given the public importance of this matter and its impact on the fundamental rights of citizens of Pakistan including rights in respect of access to public place under Article 26, which may have been undermined as it involves deforestation and the cutting of trees which degrades the right to life under Article 9 of the Constitution as interpreted by this court, the two preconditions stipulated in Article 184 (3) of the Constitution are met.” Notices are also to go out to the Pakistan Environmental Protection Agency as well as the Wildlife Management Authority.
It is heartening to note that the apex court is in no mood to leave any loose ends. President and general secretary of the Supreme Court Press Association have been appointed as joint commissioners under relevant rules to visit the park and take photographs/record videos showing the area where trees have been cut.
Also, two other persons have been named to represent the public and visit the park along with the commissioners or by themselves so as to better assist the court on the next hearing of the case on March 4. This matter will soon be resolved in a satisfactory manner. But the problem is widespread.
All the provinces have laws in place to protect and promote conservation in forests and national parks; yet illegal logging goes on, usually with the connivance of officers concerned, damaging ecosystems and the general environment.
As extreme weather events caused by climate change are becoming more and more frequent in this country wreaking havoc on the people’s lives and livelihoods, growing trees is the best bet to mitigate these devastating effects.
Notably, Pakistan has only 4.5 percent tree cover, which is far short of the minimum 15 percent international standard. About 1.5 percent of that too is lost every year, which speaks of poor forest management by the departments concerned.
The PTI (Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf) government had done some good work in its ‘Ten Billion Tree Tsunami’ project, and establishing 15 national parks in different part of the country under its ‘Protective Areas Initiative’. Unfortunately, the project seems to have fallen by the wayside.
Which is not surprising since it is common for a successor government in this country to discontinue schemes started by a predecessor. It is imperative that whosoever presides over the climate change ministry in the incoming government assigns top priority to regeneration of forests and parks. The need for an increased green cover through new plantations cannot be overemphasized.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2024