Deforestation and Desrtification in Pakistan

Deforestation and Desertification in Pakistan

Issue:

Many South Asian countries including Pakistan suffer from severe land degradation. The severity of the land degradation is 2 percent of the region’s GDP and seven percent of the region’s agricultural output. There is a great deal of money being lost because of land degradation and the breakdown is as follows: 5.4 billion dollars to water erosion, 1.8 billion dollars wind erosion, 0.6-1.2 billion dollars fertility decline, 0.5 billion dollars water-logging, and 1.5 billion dollars salinity. 140 million hectares, which is equal to 43 percent of the region’s total agricultural land, suffer from at least one form of land degradation. Of that land, 31 million hectares were strongly degraded and 63 million hectares were moderately degraded. Of the South Asian countries Pakistan is the third worst affected with 61 percent of its land dealing with degradation.

In Pakistan, land degradation includes deforestation, desertification, salinity and sodicity, soil erosion, water-logging, depletion of soil fertility, and negative nutrient balances. Pakistan has a total forest area of 12 million hectares. The declining rate of Pakistan’s forest is an alarming one in fact it is the second highest in the world. 4-6 percent of Pakistan’s forests are disappearing every year which equals 7,000-9,000 hectares. At this rate Pakistan’s forests may be completely wiped out in 10-15 years.

Reason:

Because of the increase in population in Pakistan the consumption of household firewood has sky rocketed; especially in the North where the per-capita burning of firewood is 10 times higher because of the cold winters.

What is Being Done?

There is not much being done about this issue now because many people in Northern Pakistan are not educated about the issue. They need to cut down trees to survive and stay warm and they have no other alternative. The only way this issue will stop is if they somehow develop or obtain something that can heat their homes; however, Northern Pakistan is not a very rich area and obtaining that kind of money would be very hard. Pakistan is in a lot of trouble and needs help; they need to become educated on this topic before their forests completely disappear.

Soil Erosion in Pakistan -Kayla Pigeon

The Problem

Soil erosion in pakistan is becoming an increasingly bigger problem. One of the main causes for this erosion is the overgrazing of land. As well as deforestation and poor water management. This erosion results in a decline of soil fertility making it very hard to grow crops in areas of Pakistan. Wind and water erosion is effecting over 76% of Pakistan and every year the country losing a billlion tons of soil thatis being dumped into the Arabian sea.This erosion primarily takes place in the summer due to the heavy downpours that exisit during that season. There is particular concern over the soil erosion in the river chenbab pictured above. This river has eroded over 12,000 acres of agricultural land and is affectinbg more and more villages in Pakistan.

The Reason

Part of the reason for the mass erosion of Pakistans soil is from the deforestation of the country. Pakistan only has a 5.2% forrest cover compared to the 25% that is considered acceptable. This is taking moisture from the land held by trees and not allowing organic matter to continue decomposing and creating fertile soil. These trees are being cut down in order for families to use them as fire wood and is being done in a way that does not promote sustainable use. Pakistan is considered second in the world for highest forrest degradation which could lead to the complete destruction of their agricutural economy.

What is being done?

Pakistan became concerned with the issue of soil erosion in the 1970's. They started a Mass Awareness campaign, saying that the people needed to become educated on the topic and have done this fairly successfully. However people in that area still need the wood to burn for harsh winter and though they are educated continue the deforesstation anyway. Pakistan has not passed any legislation to really solve the problem. It is hard to keep the poor population from using the natural resources. If Pakistan wants to continue to be a fully functioning country they have to learn to work together with land, not overuse it and maintain methods of sustainable use.

Desertification in Vietnam

What is the Issue?
Vietnam is having issues with desertification of its land. Vietnam is struggling to control this issue and because of this, Vietnam is now home to 90 million square meters of uncultivable land. This is 28% of the entire land mass which is now unusable. This major problem is being caused by uncontrolled forest exploitation and prolonged droughts as well as logging and slash-and-burn agricultural practices. Slash-and-burn agriculture is the practice of cutting and burning forests in order to create fields for agricultural uses or to create more pastures for livestock. This is partially due to ignorance of conservation because the people are destroying forests for economic gain right now in the present but they are not thinking of the impact it will have on the future. Of the 90 million square meters of land that is uncultivable, 50 million square meters of that is wasteland, 20 million square meters is seriously degraded and 20 million square meters of that is under the serious threat of degradation. One of the reasons slash-and-burn agriculture is such a problem is because the majority of the labor force in Vietnam is in agriculture. 51.8% of the labor force works in agriculture.

Reasons for the Problem
One reason for the desertification of Vietnam is a rising migration into forested areas. In June 2007, there was a rise in migration, especially to the provinces of Dak Lak and Dak Nong. The authorities in Dak Lak were concerned by the influx of people because these people were moving into the forests and making livings by cutting down trees. The Director of the Planning Office under the Dak Lak Settlements Committee, Pham Van Nagn said that "the situation is becoming uncontrollable." He said that the forests were in danger of disappearing and the government needed to step in and do something to stop this issue. The flood of immigrants began in 2005 and from 2005-2007, authorities recorded 2,321 new people moving into the province. According to the Dak Lak Forest Management Department, nearly 1 million square meters off forest is now occupied for cultivation by immigrants. In the first four months of the immigrants being there, at least 200,000 square meters of forest were cut down.

Desertification is also a problem because with the destruction of the forests, Vietnam is made vulnerable to natural disasters. In September of 2009, Vietnam was hit by Typhoon Ketsana. The desertification had taken away natural defences that Vietnam had with the forests and because of this, there was major flooding damage. It was one of the biggest floods that Vietnam had had in decades. 32 people were killed because of the major flooding, 32 lives which could have been saved if desertification was not such a problem in Vietnam.

What is being done?
So far, not much has been done to resolve the problem. Government officials are aware of the problem and are trying to make it more well known and educate people about the issue, but so far no plan of action has been put forth to prevent more desertification and reverse the desertification that has already occurred.

Sources:
Cotthem, Willem Van. "Increasing Desertification in Vietnam." Desertification. N.p., 29 June 2007. Web. 26 Oct. 2010. http://desertification.wordpress.com/2007/06/29/increasing-desertification-in-vietnam-google-alert-nhan-dan/

"Migration and Deforestation in Vietnam." Desertification. N.p., 29 June 2007. Web. 26 Oct. 2010. http://desertification.wordpress.com/2007/06/29/migration-and-deforestation-in-vietnam-ccd-colaition-olyecology/.

"Vietnam: Efforts to Combat Desertification." Desertification. N.P., 20 June 2008. Web. 26 Oct. 2010. http://desertification.wordpress.com/2008/06/20/vietnam-efforts-to-combat-desertification-google-nhan-dan/

"Vietnam." The CIA World Factbook. N.p., 20 October 2010. Web. 26 Oct. 2010. https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/vm.html