Environmental Degradation Wears on Pakistan
12/5/99
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RELAYED TEXT STARTS HERE:
Title: Environmental degradation wears on Pakistan
Source: Environment News Network, http://www.enn.com/
Status: Copyright 1999, contact source for permission to reprint
Date: December 5, 1999
Byline: Lucy Chubb
Due to uncontrolled deforestation, only 12 percent of the original
tree cover remains in Pakistan's Northwest Frontier Province.
Stress on the environment and on forest cover in particular is
amplifying social problems and creating both an ecological and human
crisis in Pakistan's Northwest Frontier Province, according to a
recent study.
The focus of the study, said Richard Matthew, professor of
environmental policy and international relations in the Department of
Urban and Regional Planning at the University of California, Irvine,
was to better understand how a number of social shocks have
contributed to the rapid loss of forest cover. In turn, the
researchers sought to find out if these environmental problems were
in fact a source of social instability in the region.
The researchers conducted 70 one-on-one interviews over a period of
one month, and also held town meetings to discuss how the people of
the area experienced the changes in their environment. After
completing this part of the study, the researchers consulted
government and non-government documents to correlate the information
they gathered from the residents.
Matthew and his colleagues concluded that overpopulation, corruption,
failure of the legal system, lack of funds for environmental programs
and an absence of well-established property rights are all
contributing to severe environmental degradation brought about by the
swift removal of forest cover. Lack of environmental resources means
no jobs, and fear and uncertainty about the future are in turn
contributing to unrest, crisis and conflict in the province.
There is a short window of opportunity, Matthew said, before the
environment becomes so degraded that it is unable to sustain the
number of people and before religious and political extremism make it
into an irrevocably violent place. To explain why these social issues
have come to the forefront, Matthew and his colleagues had to look at
the changes which have taken place in the province over the last
several decades.
Background
Butting up against the Himalayas, the Northwest Frontier Province is
a very isolated part of Pakistan. A single road provides access to
the area from the south, and this high mountain route is closed in
winter.
Due to rampant corruption, people in possession of a stand of trees
often chop them all down for fear that someone else will come along
and take them anyway.
Through history, the province inhabitants, most of whom are of the
ethnic group known as the Pathan, had maintained a balance between
the humans, their animals and the environment. The thick Himalayan
forests of walnut and pine trees provided fuel and shelter for the
people and also acted as the focal point of the ecosystem, offering
habitat for the area's animals and holding the soil of the hillsides
in place. There was also a very specific social order, where men and
women had distinct roles and tribal elders and religious leaders
settled disputes between individuals.
In 1979, the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan, and in subsequent
years approximately 3.5 million Afghan refugees made their way to the
province. These people came to this area, said Matthew, because they
were ethnically linked with the Pathan. The Pathan of the area did
not object to the coming of the refugees because according their
beliefs it is God's will to help those in need. The refugees left
almost everything behind, though they did bring with them their
livestock and their guns.
The influx of so many people invariably placed enormous stresses on
the age-old equilibrium between humans and the environmental
resources. Extra livestock put a strain on grazing land, and because
everyone, both resident and refugee, relied on wood and biomass for
heating and cooking, they began to cut down trees.
In spite of a carefully conceived forest management plan, the legacy
of the British colonial period has dominated since 1947. According to
Matthew, the department was set up specifically to cut down trees as
quickly as possible, and this point of view was all the people of the
area knew about timber superintendence.
Richard Matthew, a professor of urban and regional planning at the
University of California, Irvine, stands before a barren hillside.
The resulting rapid and uncontrolled deforestation since the 1980s
has left the area with only about 12 percent of its original forest
cover. The catastrophic dwindling of natural resources inevitably led
to disputes over who had rights to the trees that were left, and
today the ownership of about 90 percent of the remaining trees is in
dispute. Some people are going to the courts to settle their claims,
competing with an old tribal system and causing even further
confusion.
Scarcity has also bred corruption with warlords controlling the
forests. People in possession of a stand of trees often chop them all
down for fear that someone else will come along and take them anyway.
Logging has in fact been outlawed since 1993, but it seems that many
trees just "blow down," said Matthew.
With little forest cover left, the area is prone to flooding and
severe soil erosion. There is very little arable land and what's
available is either extremely poor or being used by drug dealers to
grow poppies for the production of heroin.
The desperate situation has placed undue pressure on the social
systems of the province, said Matthew. Families split up because of
sickness and poverty, with members moving away to find work
elsewhere. With so many people unable to take care of themselves, the
social infrastructure is also stretched to the limit. Medical
services are inadequate, the legal system, both tribal and
governmental, is unable to control the corruption, and illiteracy is
widespread. With little forest cover left, the area is prone to
flooding and severe soil erosion.
The overpopulation and resulting lack of resources has led to as much
as 90 percent unemployment. While the role of women in the province
has traditionally been and still is to gather wood and water and to
carry out the household duties, men are expected to go out into the
community to work and interact with others, said Matthew.
The men of this culture do not choose to be idle and would work if
they could, but because there are no jobs, they end up loitering by
the roadside together, where they talk about their woes. Arguments
ensue, followed by small-scale violence, often involving guns. "There
is escalating small scale violence, fueled by lack of resources and
enabled by firearms, which are so available in the region," he said.
The lack of good jobs offers men very few choices: go into the
illegal drug trade, leave the area in search of work, become a thief
or sit and do nothing. Such limited options engender a great deal of
frustration and anger, cause social systems to break down and allow
for social instability and corruption, said Matthew. Fear and need
contribute to the sense of uncertainty about the future, creating a
very stressful existence and opening the door for religious extremism
and violence.
Solutions?
There is a highly educated elite class in Pakistan that understands
that there are ecological problems in the Northwest Frontier Province
as well as elsewhere in their country. According to Matthew, they
have great ideas and extensive plans for helping the environment, and
are doing their best to implement them, including reforestation
programs in the Northwest Frontier Province. But they cannot get very
far because there is no money, he said.
Mini hydroelectric plants could be a very viable alternative to
burning wood for heat and cooking, but there is no money to build
them.
The government of Pakistan is in constant flux - there was a military
coup in October - as are its plans for allocating money for
environmental purposes. Pakistan has been developing nuclear weapons,
which is not popular among foreign countries, and as a result foreign
aid that could be directed toward the environment is being withheld,
Matthew said. Furthermore, monies that are available are being
focused on the southern portion of the country, which has a much
larger population and is far more developed economically and
agriculturally.
One of the simplest potential solutions to the problems in the
Northwest Frontier Province is hydroelectric power, said Matthew.
With abundant water flowing down from the Himalayas, a small
hydroelectric plant would cost about $30,000 and power at least 60
households. A few plants have been built, and despite a cultural bias
that alleges wood keeps you warmer and that food tastes better when
cooked over it, people are finding favor with the idea of reliable
power. Hydroelectric power, the implementation of land management
practices and solid land tenure system could stem the environmental
degradation, said Matthew, but this all needs funding and it doesn't
look there will be any anytime soon.
"Pakistan is looked upon as a hotbed of corruption," said Matthew,
and outsiders think that the environmental and social problems in the
Northwest Frontier Province is the fault of the Pakistanis
themselves. But Matthew strongly believes that forces beyond
Pakistani control brought about the situation in the province, a
place of great beauty and potential. Without the combination of the
British Forest Department legacy to cut down trees as quickly as
possible, and the influx of refugees following the Soviet invasion of
Afghanistan, conditions in the province would be very different from
what they are today.
Matthew was invited to this remote area by the Pakistani government.
He carried out his research in July with the help of a representative
from the International Institute for Sustainable Development, an
independent think tank in Canada, as well as a Pakistani official who
acted as host.