Pakistan

Forestry legislation

Forestry does not appear in the concurrent list of the constitution of Pakistan, as such it is a provincial subject. Provincial legislation is the main instrument to carry out the objectives of forest policy in the Country.

According to notification No. S.R.O. 1328 (I) 73, the provinces have full power to adapt and amend previous federal laws on forestry and to make new ones and thus the list of forest-related federal and provincial statutes is long (see FAOLEX documents). Also, some forestry laws clash with non-forestry legislation like laws on mines and minerals and corporate laws on regional development.

This situation is progressively leading to the need for harmonization and a case study is currently being conducted by a private law firm of Lahore to support the OIGF.

The main function of forest legislation in Pakistan has been to prevent misuse of forests and to check damage done to forests. Basic legislation, primarily regulatory and punitive is meant to prevent and punish abuse of public forests, while little has been done for private sector development. The privately owned community forests have remained under control of government in one form or the other and were subjected to similar laws.

In relation to forest fires, in the existing forest law there is a provision that communities living in the vicinity of forests may be involved when there is a forest fire in private or state forests. It has been a tradition that village communities assist the local forest department staff to put off forest fire on voluntary basis.

The villagers also assist the forest department to clear roads when there are big landslides that block traffic on roads in mountainous areas.

last updated: Monday, October 1, 2007