Land use and land-related issues faced by Pakistan are briefly discussed here

1. BY : Memoona Rafique

2. Land related issues in
Pakistan
Unsustainable
Agricultural
practices
Deforestation Urbanization
Soil erosion
Soil salinity
Water logging
Desertification

3. Land Degradation
80% land is arid or
semi arid
12% land is dry
sub humid
8% land is humid
degradation of dry-land
ecosystems
loss of soil fertility, flash
floods
loss of biodiversity
reduction in land
productivity
water logging, salinity

4. Unsustainable Agricultural
Practices
• Pakistan is an agricultural based country.
• Out of 80 Mha of the total land,
22 Mha is being utilized for the agricultural
production.
• Cropping sector has 60% of the total agriculture
contribution to the GDP while the livestock and forestry
accounts for 40%.

5. Agriculture Issues In Pakistan
Water
deficiency
and
drought
conditions
Long
duration
load
shedding
Absence
of land
reforms
High price of
fertilizers
and
monopoly of
companies
Use of
adulterated
or expired
insecticides
Conventional
farming
practices
Depletion
of forests

6. Agricultural Issues In Pakistan
• Water deficiency and drought conditions
water-deficit country
Can cause a shortage of 70 Million tons of food
is expected following 2025
• Long duration load shedding
serious threat to agriculture
due to the serious electricity short fall, tube wells
fail to work in an optimum manner.

7. Agricultural Issues In Pakistan
• Absence of Land reforms
Due to the absence of the land reforms in Pakistan the
subsidies and other farmer based incentives given by the
government are enjoyed by the landlords and the farmer
with small land holding suffers in the end.
Increase negative behaviour in society
• High price of fertilizers and monopoly of
companies
Due to the increase in the prices of these fertilizers an
average farmer fails to give his best on the farm and in turn
low yield cause the financial pressure and other problems.

8. Agricultural Issues In Pakistan
• Use of adulterated or expired insecticides
during the peak season there has been a shortage of the good
quality insecticides and the market is dominated by the
business of the adulterated or expired insecticides which in turn
are detrimental for the overall economic progress and the
sustainable agriculture in Pakistan

10. Urbanization
Urbanization refers to the
process by which a section
of people change from the
way of agricultural
operations in rural living to
an urban sub-agricultural

11. In Pakistan Urbanization statistics
The population in rural areas is
continuously declining from 61.4
percent in 2014 to 60.1 percent in
2016 while the urban population
is increasing from 38.5 percent in
2014 to 40.0 percent in 2016
respectively

12. Urbanization
from 2007 to
2018
2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018
35.44
%
35.82
%
36.2
%
36.6
%
37.0
1%
37.4
%
37.8
%
38.3
%
38.7
%
39.2
2%
39.7
%
40.2
%

14. Deforestation In Pakistan
• The disappearance of many trees from rain-fed areas has
contributed significantly to land degradation and the
deterioration of soil fertility.
• The forest area of Punjab is only less than 3%, whereas in
Sindh it becomes half of that.
• The declining rate of woody biomass is the second highest
in the world. It ranges between 4-6 per cent per year.

15. Province
/Territory
Forest
area
(mha)
1992 1997 2001 2005 2010
KP 1.49 1.52 1.49 1.48 1.5
Punjab 0.27 0.46 0.44 0.52 0.62
Sindh 0.34 0.27 0.28 0.23 0.20
Baluchistan 0.57 0.71 0.45 0.43 0.39
N.As 0.66 0.31 0.32 0.44 0.38
AJK 0.26 0.33 0.34 0.37 0.41
Pakistan 3.59 3.6 3.32 3.7 3.5

16. Deforestation In Pakistan

17. Soil Salinity
In some cases the under
ground water does not reach
the upper level of land but
remains slightly lowers and
gathers near the roots of
plants. Such situation is
called salinity. In such case
the sufficient amount of
water is not available for
irrigation, hence the salts are
not absorb in the land after
having mixed.

18. Soil Salinity In Pakistan
In Pakistan,
approximately
5.7 mha of
irrigated land
is affected by
salinization.
In Pakistan, the soils
affected by various
types of salinity and
solidity constitute
5.328 million hectares,
half of it in Punjab and
40% in Sindh and 9%
in Baluchistan
province.

19. Water Logging
Water logging is the natural
flooding and over irrigation that
brings water to underground
level to surface. As a
consequence displacement of
air occurs in the soil with
corresponding changes in the
soil processes and accumulation
of toxic substances that impede
plant growth.

20. Water Logging In Pakistan

21. Desertification In Pakistan
•Out of 79.6 million hectares of land area of
Pakistan, 62.4 million hectares s are susceptible
to desertification, as only 4.2% of the total land
is under forests
•Desertification contributes to other
environmental crises, such the loss of
biodiversity and global warming. Over
exploitation gives rise to degradation of
vegetation, soil and water.

22. Sustainable technologies to
combat land degradation
• Afforestation/agro- forestry in degraded areas
• Improved crop production in dry lands
• Improved range/livestock feeding and management
• Soil and water conservation, water harvesting and
increased water use efficiency
• Rehabilitation and reclamation of saline/sodic soils
• Improvement of drainage and on-farm management,
production and promotion of horticultural crops
• Conserving biodiversity

23. Causes
• Over exploitation gives rise to degradation of vegetation, soil and
water. These three elements serve as the natural foundation for
human existence.
• Land degradation is both a cause and a consequence of rural
poverty. Therefore, desertification leads to poverty, and poverty
leads to further desertification.
• There have been many attempts to assess the extent, nature, and
rate of desertification on global, regional, and local levels .
• Combating desertification can be done successfully using
modern techniques if financial resources are available and
political will to act is there.

24. Federal Institution
• Pakistan Agricultural Research Council
• Pakistan Council for Research in Water Resources
• Water and Power Development Authority and its institute for
Water logging and Salinity Research
• Arid Zone Research Centre, Quetta and its institutes
• Space and Upper Atmosphere Research Commission
• Soil Survey of Pakistan
• Pakistan Forest Institute
• Meteorological Department
• Marine Fisheries Department
• National Council for the Conservation of Wildlife
• National Institute of Oceanography

25. Provincial and local Organizations
• Universities of Agriculture, including University of Arid Agriculture
• Agricultural Research Institutes/Stations in arid/semi-arid areas
• Agency for Barani Area Development, Punjab
• Fisheries Research Institutes/Stations
• Environmental Protection Agencies
• Forestry Research Institutes/Stations/Divisions
• Sindh Arid Zone Development Authority
• Cholistan Institute of Desert Studies
• Cholistan Development Authority
• Coastal Development Authority (Sindh)
• Wildlife Departments/Boards

26. Non Governmental and community Based
Organization
• 1. International Union for Conservation of Natural Resources (IUCN)
• 2. Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI)
• 3. Society for Conservation and Protection Environment (SCOPE)
• 4. Agha Khan Rural Support Program (AKRSP)
• 5. Pakistan Institute for Environment and Development Action
Research (PIEDAR)
• 6. Rural Development Foundation

27. Conclusion
• Land degradation has been worsening in the absence
of effective land policies and political will to address
the long-lasting effects from land degradation. At
present there is no organization in the country
responsible for coordinating and monitoring the use of
land according to its potential.
• In order to reduce land related issues Pakistan should
make establishment of responsible organizations and
also make its implementation necessary.