National Forest Policy.

In the view of Pakistan’s high vulnerability to adverse impacts of climate change, in particular to extreme events, mitigation and adaptation measures, the Government has elaborated this National Forest Policy. The goal of this document is the expansion of national coverage of forests, protected areas, natural habitats and green areas for restoration of ecological functions and maximizing economic benefits while meeting Pakistan’s obligations to international agreements related to forests.
The specific objectives are: (i) enhancing public awareness on economic, social, ecological and cultural values of forests, (ii) implementing a national level mass afforestation programme to expand and maintain forest coverage to meet international standards, (iii) controlling deforestation through regulating movement of timber and inter-provincial trade of timber, (iv) establishing and managing protected areas and networking through ecological corridors, (v) reducing carbon footprints of energy and economic sector programmes, (vi) facilitating the implementation of international conventions and agreements related to forestry, biodiversity and climate change, (viii) promoting standardized and harmonized scientific planning of forests, research and education.
In order to make forestry more productive and sustainable, the Policy plans a mass afforestation involving youth through, among others, the following policy measures: (i) prepare, sponsor and implement a long-term mass afforestation programme on federal lands, (ii) sponsor mass afforestation programmes in FATA, Gilgit-Baltistan to be implemented by concerned Forest Departments, (iii) provinces shall allocate a significant portion of National Finance Commission Award for the achievement of objectives of this Policy, particularly protection and expansion of forests, (iv) the Federal Government shall provide need-based support to all federating units for implementation of their respective provincial afforestation programmes, (v) the Federal and Provincial Governments shall support local government in implementation of their respective afforestation and forest protection programmes and projects, (vi) federally-sponsored programmes shall be regularly monitored and forest cover shall be assessed periodically by independent third party monitors.
To enable an inclusive and efficient system, the Policy plans to set up a number of measures for regulating inter-provincial timber movement and trade. The Government of Pakistan shall define routes for movement of timber across custom frontiers. A Timber Regulatory Authority shall be established legally empowered to check inter-provincial movement and trade of timber to apprehend illegal consignments, and plead in the courts of law.
To increase the resilience of livelihoods to disasters, the Government has taken a number of preparatory actions as required under the Cancun Agreement of United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), including training of all federating units and membership of related international and UN bodies. In Phase-I of REDD+, World Bank’s Forest Carbon Partnership Facility (FCPF) and United Nations REDD programme shall assist Pakistan in the preparation of REDD+ national strategy, national forest monitoring system, national forest reference emission level and a national system of safeguard.
The Ministry of Climate Change shall develop, in consultation with all stakeholders, an action plan for the implementation of this National Forest Policy. The action plan will assign specific responsibilities to stakeholders wand the Federal Forestry Board shall be reactivated under the chairmanship of Minister for Climate Change with a renewed mandate, composition, and functions. The Federal Forestry Board shall report to the Government on the progress of NFP on a six-monthly basis.