Vol. 106: Rabbi, Fazli: The Economic Reliance and Degradation of Forests in Northern Pakistan

The decline in the area of the natural forests due to degradation and deforestation in many developing countries is a critical problem and dominate the policy discourse on sustainability. Forest loss adversely affects the livelihoods of the communities dependent on these forests and leads to the loss biodiversity. The sustainable management of these natural forests is very important from environmental as well as its welfare aspects at the household level. Pakistan like many other developing countries is experiencing a very high rate of deforestation, and most of the country natural forests are under the threat of depletion especially in the North West Frontier Province (N-W.F.P). The rapidly changing demographic structure at the households level, socio-economic characteristics, households’ asset endowments and several institutional constraints at the local level affect the sustainable use of these forests. Poor socio-economic conditions, lack of physical assets, access to off-farm employment opportunities and the prevailing problems in the tenure over the forest ownership leads to unsustainable use and high economic reliance on the natural forests. This book looks at the relationships among households’ socioeconomic characteristics, demographic composition, asset endowments and households’ tenure status and forest economic reliance as well role of the natural forest in households’ welfare. The analysis highlights the crucial role of the households’ socio-economic, demographic composition and access to physical and human capital, off-farm opportunities as well as households’ property rights play in forest use, extraction and economic reliance. The objective of sustainable management of the natural forests in the region can be realized through the socio-economic development, improved access to off-farm jobs, improvement in the human capital and resolving the issue of tenure insecurity through granting secure property rights to the communities living on the forest frontiers. 

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