Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has signed an MoU with Merlyn Woods Company Pvt (London UK) for leasing out in excess of 300,000 hectares for 40 years

ABBOTTABAD : Allai Forest Management Council, an umbrella organization of the joint forest management committees has rejected the memorandum of understanding (MoU) between Forest Department of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Merlyn Woods , a London based project developer  and  termed it  illegal &  unlawful while demanding for the immediate cancellation of the agreement.

Shafiq-ur-rehman Yousafzai , a local development worker and  ex chairman Allai Forest Management Council said that this initiatives on the part of KPK government is not only against the property rights but also is the violation of civil rights and extreme mis-use of official powers in the name of governance He claimed that  under the Forest Ordinance 2002, this agreement is illegal because there is no provision in the Ordinance 2002 which allows forest department to lease out forests for the Sale of Carbon Credits, which is the main objective of the Merlyn Woods agreement with KPK Forest Department.

While providing facts , he told that Guzara Forest or privately owned forests (38% of KP’s forests), comprise of most of the forests in the districts of Haripur, Mansehra, Abbottabad, Kohistan and Batagram. There is no provision in the KP Forest Ordinance 2002 that allows the Forest Department to lease out Guzara Forests. Shafiq-ur-rehman told that total area under forest only in district Battagram is 77040 acres (31190 hectares), 616320 kanals in total with the Guzara Forest (Private property)  66 485 acres (86.29%) , Resumed land, reserved (disputed)   5883 acres (7.6%) and Non Merged area of Black Mountains  4472 acres (6%). He claimed that these facts and figures are self explanatory and if someone assume that these private forests belongs to a few local influential is absolutely not true and this unilateral and illegal decision without the consent of thousands of small forest owners is against the law and will ultimately lead to an un control unrest if not clarified at this early stage of the negotiation.  He further stated that the government has taken the consent of some of the local influential’s who don’t have a single acre of forest in the revenue record  and demanded termination of the agreement. He questioned  that, if this MOU was in the best interest of the Guzara owners then why they were not consulted before its signing this is more than enough to prove that that the intensions of the government was no pro- small forest owners. Yousafzai further added that, if the government was keen in its intention then why they left kohistan where as official record the local communities/owners illigally cutted timber to the volume of 3400000 cft which means around 7500000 standing volume precious timber was cutted and allowed by the authorities to tranport it under FINE POLICY which was initiated during Sardar Mehtab’s tenure and then was carry forwarded by all the governments.

It may be recalled here that Forest department , Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has signed an MoU with Merlyn Woods Company Pvt (London UK) for leasing out in excess of 300,000 hectares for 40 years with grant in aid of Pound Sterling 12 million at a ratio of 20:80 of Pakistan’s most important tracts of forests for carbon credit sales/purchase under the Reducing Emission from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD) Programme. The initiative has a special focus on job creation, skills training, increasing standards of living, alternative energy sources, improved health and education as well as biodiversity conservation.
The project has been developed in partnership with communities living in and around forest areas and the KP Forest and Wildlife Departments. The programme, which covers 300,000 hectares of threatened forest in the districts of Battagram, Swat and Mansehra, is Pakistan’s first REDD initiative and will lead to the creation of a provincial baseline.  Merlins Wood has also initiated a similar programme in the Azad State of Jammu and Kashmir in Pakistan. The projects are paired with a higher-level effort to motivate broad support for REDD activities at the governmental level. The proposed project there will be over a region of 200,000 hectares.