Desertification – By; Imaz Ali Khan Mastuj
Every year approximately 15 billion trees are cut down. Cutting such a large amount of trees could be deadly for us, as well as for our environment. Now the question rises that why people cut down trees, most of it is related to money and basic needs of people. People cut down trees for selling them, but some people cut down for their own need like for timber and for heat source. The local peoples cannot afford gas or electricity for their uses because of their high prices. Government has to launch a project which can balance the rate of deforestation because the deforestation is creating many environment hazards, among them the most prominent one is desertification.
- What is desertification?
Desertification is the most prominent environmental hazard of deforestation, this is caused due to the escaping of water from the land. As the water is gone from an area the area becomes more desert-type which leads to desertification. Desertification also occurs due to the use of ground water to irrigate crops, when we use ground water to irrigate crops the salt in the water absorbs in the soil, so that the soil become salty due to which plants can’t live there. We can define desertification as a reduction in the productivity of the land that is not reversible, but desertification and deforestation are two different things, they both have different effects on our environment, deforestation causes desertification but it has many other negative impacts like tree acts as an absorber of emission from the air, it absorbs CO2 and many more. Deforestation also plays a major role in the destruction of the habitat for wildlife, contributing to climatic change and weakening the land’s ability to catch run-off water so contributing to floods. I would therefore separate the two slightly, as each, therefore, impact Earth differently.
Another reason for desertification is no rain for a long period. In this way soil also loses moisture and as a result, desertification occurs.
Now desertification is caused by human activities like over-grazing, deforestation, uprooting of plants, and vegetables, and is also caused by climatic variations e.g. climatic change, drought, and moisture loss on a global level.
- Countries affected by deforestation including Pakistan:
Brazil is the country that has the highest amounts of trees get cut down annually (-3,466,000 approximately) because the Amazon rainforest covers land in nine countries and 60 percent of it is present in Brazil. According to Greenpeace, one-third of the deforestation in Brazil is linked to land grabbing of public land, mainly driven by meat producers clearing space for cattle ranches. The Brazilian former president Jair Bolsonaro signed an international pledge to end deforestation by 2023.When we talk about Pakistan’s periodic draughts they are the primary cause of desertification. Balochistan, Sindh, and Southern Punjab are the areas of Pakistan that are most affected by desertification due to the dry spells in the past three years. In Pakistan the rate of deforestation is very high, every year approximately 40,000 hectares of forests are being destroyed. Deforestation in Pakistan has created many environmental hazards like climatic change, extinction of rare animals like Capra falconeri (Markhor) and Snow Leopard, desertification, and displacement of the population. Desertification is the long-term symptom of deforestation. Desertification in Pakistan also has some role in the recent floods 2022.
A picture taken from Concern Worldwide, showing Sindh affected by recent floods 2022.
As Pakistan is an Agricultural country so desertification is very deadly for Pakistan because desertification is causing drought and as a result of which, the fertility of the soil is nearly over, the highly fertile area of Pakistan like Sindh and Punjab are also facing issues of drought. This thing is highly affecting the economy of Pakistan. In the book “Pakistan: A Hard Country” which is one of the most well-known political science books on the country written shortly after the floods a decade or so ago, the author says that, “Pakistan’s largest essential threat is not terrorism or corruption, but the climatic risk of the country becoming uninhabitable and splintering”.
In the recent COP27 events in Egypt Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif during his ongoing visit, met the Secretary General of the Arab League. The two leaders discussed bilateral and mutual interests, agreeing on strong cooperation to prevent the devastating impact of climatic change. Former Prime Minister Imran Khan launched the greatest tree plantation drive in the history of Pakistan on August 9 “Tiger Force Day”. Addressing a ceremony in Islamabad to launch the drive, he urged people to take part in the tree plantation drive across the country, saying Pakistan is the sixth most affected country by climatic change in the world.
“It is the responsibility of everyone to make the country green for our coming generation”, he said.
Pakistan has launched a program named National Action Program (NAP) to Combat Desertification in Pakistan, which identifies the factors contributing to the process of desertification in Pakistan and suggests measures and strategies, using an integrated and coordinated bottom-up approach to combat desertification and mitigate the effects of drought.
Map taken from ResearchGates, showing areas of Pakistan affected by drought.
- Role of Government to stop desertification:
The government has a very important role in the ending of desertification. It is the responsibility of the government to take care of our environment, the reason why people don’t care about our environment and cut down trees is due to the government. Government has to provide anything else for the people that they could use as timber like gas or electricity at cheap prices that the local people can afford. People also cut down trees for their business purposes, this cut down is bringing many environmental hazards like global warming, pollution, and desertification. The government of Pakistan have to impose high challan on timber mafias and other peoples who are doing deforestation. There is another way through which government can stop deforestation that is by imposing heavy fines on timber mafia and other peoples who are doing deforestation. If anybody start any type of industries, he has to plants trees equal to the pollution he makes.
- Conclusion:
The government of not only Pakistan but of all the countries has to take certain steps to stop desertification. Pakistan has to launch programs and management against desertification and deforestation(because it is the main reason for desertification), as the other countries have done, for example; China has launched a program known as ‘The Three-North Shelterbelt Program’ also called ‘Green Great Wall of China’. This is a national tree-planting project designed to rehabilitate degraded land and the desert encroaching into the fertile grasslands and farmlands of northern China. It is not only the responsibility of the government but also the responsibility of the people, the government has to create awareness among the people about the negative impacts of desertification with the help of social media, Television, and newspapers. We have to be sincere about our country and help to protect our country. If no steps are taken to prevent desertification and deforestation then Quaid-e-Azam’s country is in very big danger.
