Foresty in Pakistan and its geography Notes #UCP The forestry sector of Pakistan is a main source of lumber, paper, fuelwood, latex, medicine as well as food and provide ecotourism and wildlife conservation purposes. Less than 4% of land in Pakistan is covered with forests The coniferous forests occur from 1,000 to 4,000 m altitudes. Chitral, Swat, Upper Dir, Lower Dir, Malakand, Mansehra and Abbottabad districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Azad Kashmir and Rawalpindi district of the Punjab are the main areas covered with coniferous forests. Pindrow Fir(Abies pindrow), Morinda spruce (Picea smithiana), deodar (Cedrus deodara), blue pine (Pinus wallichiana), chir pine (Pinus roxburghii) are the most common varieties. The Coniferous forests also occur in Balochistan hills. Chilghoza pine (Pinus gerardiana) and juniper (Juniperous macropoda) are the two most common species of Balochistan. Miandam Swat The sub-tropical dry forests are found in the Attock, Rawalpindi, Islamabad, Jhelum and Gujrat districts of the Punjab, and in the Mansehra, Abbottabad, Mardan, Peshawar and Kohat districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa up to a height of 1,000 m. In Balochistan, they are confined to the Sulaiman Mountains and other hilly areas. Dominant tree species are phulai (Acacia modesta), kau (Olea cuspidata) and hopbush (Dodonaea viscosa). The tropical thorn forests are dominated by xerophytic scrubs. They are most widespread in the Punjab plains but also occupy small areas in southern Sindh and western Balochistan. They are mainly used for grazing purposes, watershed protection and fuelwood. Common species are vann (Salvadora oleoides), khejri (Prosopis cineraria), kair (Capparis aphylla), etc. The irrigated plantations were first developed in 1866 at Changa Manga in Lahore. Today they occupy about 226,000 ha. Sheesham (Dalbergia sissoo), mulberry/Shahtoot (Morus alba), babul (Acacia nilotica) and species of Eucalyptus and Populus are the common tree species grown in the irrigated plantations.

1. FORESTS
in
Pakistan
Pakistan Geography

2. FORESTS
• To maintain a balanced ecology 20-25 % area should
be covered by forests
• In Pakistan it is only 4.8 %
• TYPES OF FORESTS IN PAKISTAN
• ALPINE FORESTS(4000 m TO SNOW LINE)
• CONIFEROUS FORESTS (1000- 4000 METERS
• SUBTROPICAL DRY FORESTS (BELOW 1000
METERS
• TROPICAL THORN OR RAKH
• MANGROVES
• IRRIGATED PLANTATION

3. TYPES OF FORESTS
ALPINE FORESTS(4000 and above)
• Chitral, Dir, Shangla, Kohistan, Gilgit-
Baltistan
• Trees have stunted growth because of severe
whether conditions
• Not of much economic importance

4. TYPES OF FORESTS
CONFIFEROUS( 1000- 4000 meters)
• Gilgit –Baltistan , Chitral, Shangla , Dir ,
Malakand Kohistan, Manshera, Abbottbad,
Rawalpindi district
• Fir and spruce are at highest alltitude
• Deodar and kail at intermediate height

5. TYPES OF FOREST
• Chir in lower regions
• Many useful trees like Oak. Maple, willow,
birch, popular, walnut, are also found
• Coniferous forests mainly Chilghoza and pencil
juniper in Baluchistan hills also.
• Juniper forest of Ziarat spread covering
247,000 acres is worlds second largest and
oldest forest .It has been recognized as world
heritage by UNESCO

6. SUB TROPICAL DRY FORESTS
• The hills and foothills of the Gujarat ,Jhelum,
Rawalpindi, Attock, Manshera, Mardan,
Peshawar, Kohat , and Punjab are covered by
dry evergreen forest.
• In Baluchistan patchy areas of trees are found
in Sulaiman Mountains

7. FORESTS
TROPICAL THORN FORESTS
• These are forests dominated by thorny hard trees
like acasia ,Tamarisk,salvadora.
• Found in Punjab , Sindh, some areas of
Baluchistan
RIVERINE OR BELA FORESTS
• Narrow belts along Bank of Indus locally called
as bela,are found predominantly in Sindh
• Babul, Shisham,are common trees

8. FORESTS
MANGROVE
• Found in coastal and delta areas
• These protect coastal areas from erosion, storm
surge and tidal waves
• These serve as nurseries for marine life
• Very important for ecology of coastal areas
• Indus and Hub areas are covered by Mangroves
• These can survive in brackish and saline water
• Preservation of these forest is very important for
coastal ecology and marine life

9. FORESTS
IRRIGATED PLANTATION
• First irrigated forest was made in Changa
Manga 90 km to south-west of Lahore in 1866
• By 1947 there were 10 forests in Punjab
mostly
• Shisham , babul, euclyptus are main trees
• These forests are important source of timber,
fire wood