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.
