Junipers in danger (Ziarat)

• Pakistan suffers far more severe forestscarcities than most other countries in South Asia.Its natural forest assets are too small, with forest area and national land utilization figures ranging from 3.1% (Anon., 2003) to 3.6% of total land area (Khan, 2002).

• Pakistan suffers far more severe forestscarcities than most other countries in South Asia. Itsnatural forest assets are too small, with forest area andnational land utilization figures ranging from 3.1%(Anon., 2003) to 3.6% of total land area (Khan, 2002)

• Agriculture and Forest: A 247,000-acre forest of juniper trees, some of which are thousands of years old, in Pakistan's southwest may soon vanish because of the dearth of government conservation efforts, and the felling of the trees by villagers seeking fuel.

• Studies revealed that conifer forests have been declining @ 1.27% per annum (Ahmad et al., 2012). Yet Pakistan’s demands on its forests and other natural resources are high. The population is growing at 2.3% annually (Anon., 2002)

• Causes of Deforestration• Research revealed that the population growth and

urbanization are amongst the root causes of deforestation.Horticulture practices not only resulted in deforestation, italso led to excavation of ground water. The heart rot fungus attacked Juniper forest and partially decomposed litter is found only under trees and bushes. Therefore,appear to play an important role inshaping the vegetationanthropogenic activities of the area (Bazai et al., 2006).British environmentalist Norman Myers believes that 5% ofdeforestation is due to cattle ranching 19% due to overheavy logging, 22% due to the growing sector of palm oilplantations, and 54% due to slash-and-burn farming(Hance, 2008). However, grazing is not very importantfactor that affects the establishment and growth of youngre-growth in the forests.

• The forest near Ziarat district in Baluchistan, Pakistan's largest and poorest province, is the second-largest juniper forest in the world. Its slow-growth trees are estimated to be up to 4,000 to 5,000 years old.

• The "most extensive and best-known examples" of the juniperus excelsa species "are found in Ziarat at an elevation ranging from 1,980 to 3,350 meters (6,534 to 11,055 feet) above sea level," an International Union for Conservation of Nature report states

• UNESCO has declared Ziarat's juniper forest a "biosphere reserve," Pakistan's second, and the United Nations has added the forest to the World Network of Biosphere Reserves.

• "The juniper forests have suffered from temperature rises and ongoing drought since 1994. Snowfall and rainfall patterns have become irregular. Before the drought, snow fell regularly in winter months," said Abdul Raziq, a lecturer at Lasbela University of Agriculture, Water and Marine Sciences in Quetta, the provincial capital.

• "Another reason is disease caused by the use of banned sprays on nearby apple trees. Pakistan is one of the few countries where banned agriculture sprays are used," Raziq said. "The juniper trees are drying out and their smaller branches breaking down. The reason of drying juniper trees is yet not known. We sometimes call it juniper-cancer," he added.

• "We consider the life of a juniper tree as precious as our own human lives. This juniper forest needs special attention, especially in regards to funding, and to finding a way to stop them drying up," Shah Zaman Khan (social activist said.

• Also indigenous to Ziarat are almond, wild olive, ash and wild pistachio trees, and 54 plant species known for medicinal qualities, the International Union for Conservation of Nature has said.