Efforts on to preserve forests

ISLAMABAD
Efforts are under way to preserve 129,000 hectors of mangroves forests in the Indus Delta and 3,000 hectors in Miani Hor, Kalmat Khor and Gwadar bay areas.
The mangrove forest area, which has decreased to 2,600sq/km from 26,000sq/km due to natural causes as well as human exploitation, were once the sixth largest mangrove forests out of 92 countries in the world. An official said the government would declare the disappearing mangroves a marine park and assess the rate of its decrease every year so that preventive measures can be taken in this respect.
He said preservation of mangrove wood and by-products was non-existent as locals used them for timber, fuel wood, fishing poles, fodder, seafood, and grazing purposes. According to the reports, there are 895 villages along the 350-kilometre-long coastline of Sindh — including 129-kilometre-long shoreline of Karachi — where mangroves cover is declining making the coastal communities vulnerable to natural disasters. “The Climate Change Ministry will launch awareness campaign in coordination with the Sindh forest department to engage local community to protect the fast disappearing mangroves,” he said.
He said they are working on establishing a database of mangroves species and plant stems on 10,000 hectares every year and the work can be verified by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and other international institutions. The official said the provincial department had leased its land to the Port Qasim Authority on the condition that mangrove forests would not be harmed by its activities.