Taliban cut forests to fund militancy

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PESHAWAR – In addition to blowing up schools, bazaars, mosques and music shops, the Taliban in Swat and the tribal regions have destroyed the region’s forests.

“The Taliban ruthlessly cut down more than 80% of the forests when they controlled Swat,” Jamshaid Ali Khan, general secretary of the Sarhad Awami Forestry Ittehad (SAFI), told Central Asia Online. “The illegal cutting by Taliban not only caused environmental degradation but also deprived the local population of an economic lifeline.”

SAFI was established in 1997 to protect the sprawling forests in Swat, Dir and elsewhere in Malakand Division.

The Taliban initially relied on “donations” to pay for their militancy but later started exploiting natural resources to generate funds, Khan said.

“Contrary to the Afghan Taliban, who depended on the poppy trade, ... the outlawed Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) derived their financial strength from timber, precious stone mining and, in some areas, the imposition of a protection tax on minority religious communities,” said Muhammad Amin Jan, a lecturer in the Political Science Department at the University of Peshawar.

Pakistan has lost US $300m (Rs. 27.1 billion) annually from illegal logging by the Taliban, said Aslam Khan, assistant forest officer in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), citing the Forest Development Corporation’s annual report.

“The majority of the precious trees were cut before reaching maturity,” he said. “Some of the trees take 200 years to mature.”

KP and FATA once accounted for 17.4% of Pakistan’s forested area, Khan said, citing a 1990 government survey.

That percentage has dropped dramatically as militants cut down pines, cedars, and other trees. There have been no recent surveys to measure the amount of devastation.

Mohmand Agency in FATA is one devastated area.

“Forests on at least 3,000 acres have been depleted due to militant activities in Mohmand Agency during the past four years,” Mohmand Agency forest officer Tauheedul Haq told Central Asia Online.

Militants felled at least 12,000 big trees on Lakaro-Mamad Gat road in Safi Tehsil and destroyed about 2,740 acres of meadow, he said.

Now that the area’s security has improved, a campaign to plant more than 20,000 saplings to restore vegetation is under way, Haq said.

“We are cursing the Taliban because they snatched from us our source of income,” said Gul Afzal of Dir District.

Afzal is one of the many residents – each receiving Rs. 10,000 (US $111) per year – in more than 80 villages the government has paid since 1970 to protect forests.

About 5,500 forest protectors in Dir saw 80 square km of trees cut down by the Taliban.

The Taliban’s modus operandi was to engage timber “mafia” and give them a 50/50 split from cutting and selling timber in Malam Jaba, Madyan, Gat Peochar and Miandam in Swat, Jamshaid said.

“With the success of the military operation (that drove out militants in 2009), we have planned to carry out a survey regarding the total damages suffered by forests in FATA and make arrangements for rehabilitation,” Jamil Shah, a forest officer in FATA, said.

In addition to timber trees, Taliban militants also chopped down apple orchards in Malam Jaba, Fatehpur, Miandam, Lalko and other areas in Swat, said SAFI’s Dost Mohammad.

Rehabilitating the forests

The government formed a Joint Forest Management Committee to prevent further deforestation and to plan forest rehabilitation, Aslam Khan said.

“We have also imposed a ban on cutting forests, and those resorting to illegal cutting of trees would be (prosecuted) under the law,” he said.

Committees, with local residents on them, have formed to combat illegal lumber operations and protect trees until they reach maturity.

The committees established two checkpoints in Dir to thwart illegal timber transportation, SAFI’s Amir Mohammad Khan said.

“Our people also patrol the forests and report to the authorities of any illegal cutting of trees,” he said. In the past two years, smugglers have shot to death two people who were guarding the forests, he said. “We have lodged FIRs (First Investigation Reports) against unknown people because in the Taliban's era, it was impossible to arrest a person.”

Awareness campaign

Khan also stressed the importance of educating people on the advantages of trees, which provide food for animals and protection against soil erosion.

“One tree is responsible for supplying clean oxygen to 94 people,” he said.

Last month, authorities provided a seven-day training programme to stakeholders on a new initiative called Reducing Emission from Deforestation and Degradation, which seeks to benefit forest-dependent populations.

“Under this programme to be launched with the support of the UN, the residents in the forest-rich areas would be asked to conserve, rehabilitate and protect forests,” Khan said in describing the strategy. “After 10 years, the quantity of carbon stored in their respective forests will be measured and the caretakers would be paid accordingly.”

“Storing more carbon will mean more money. The measure would discourage tree-cutting,” he explained.

The plan also includes the possibility of offsetting emissions through sustainable forest management, conservation and increases of forest carbon stocks.