Abstract
The annual deforestation rate of Pakistan is 2.37 %, the highest degradation rate in Asian countries. Illegal encroachment on forest land is one of the major causes of deforestation in Pakistan. This study addresses the issue of forest encroachments in Murree Forest Division (MFD). MFD is a biodiversity-rich popular hill station of Punjab province and hosts thousands of visitors throughout the year. MFD comprises of 19,135 ha (47,285 acres) of state forest land, out of which 1,158.8 ha (2,862 acres) was identified as land encroached upon by the land grabbers, builders, and timber mafia. During the past decade this problem has drastically increased and led to a suo moto initiative by the Lahore High Court (vide Writ Petition No. 1813–2010). For the forensic support to the court , a detailed geographic information system and remote sensing baseline mapping have been carried out in close coordination with the Punjab Forest Department, Survey of Pakistan, Punjab Revenue Department, and WWF-Pakistan. Legal forest boundaries were delineated using high-precision surveying based on a Differential Global Positioning System and total station systems, whereas the encroachments were identified using high-resolution satellite images . The accuracy of these boundaries and encroachments was assessed and validated on the ground as well as on historic maps. The study outcomes were presented to the court as a supporting document of evidence to help them make a better decision against the encroachers and land retrieval. The main goal of the study was to prioritize conversion strategies for sustainable natural resources and segregate them into immediate, mid-term, and long-term process of land retrieval to restoring forests back to their original state. The study prompts the relevant government officials to adopt the latest mapping technologies of GIS, GPS, and RS for efficient forest management practices and sustainable enhancements.
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Notes
- 1.
Patwari maps are set of revenue maps usually referred to as village maps or Patwari field maps. These include latha and mussavi maps . A Patwari (a lowest rank official in revenue system for two to four villages) is responsible to maintain these maps along other records, i.e., jamabandi (record of rights), register intkaal (mutations register), khasra girdawari (harvest inspection register), shajra nasb (genealogy table), field measurement book, and roznaamcha waqiati (daily journal).
- 2.
The main tenet of this theory is that increased human population has resulted in increased demands for natural resources, leading to severe resource depletion, especially deforestation .
- 3.
1 kanal = 20 marlas = 5,445 sq. ft. = 505.86 Sq. m; 1 acre = 8 kanals.
- 4.
SoP is a national surveying and mapping organization of the country. It is primarily responsible for all sorts of topographical land surveys of the entire country.
- 5.
1 karam = 5.5 ft; 3 × 3 karams = 1 marla = 272.25 sq. ft.
- 6.
Sehadda (village tri-junction) is a revenue stone placed at the junction point of three adjacent village boundaries. Normally a village map (latha) is marked with the help of three sehaddas.
- 7.
Reserved and protected forests in MFD occupy many small enclosed localities usually called internal chacks whose rights were declared under the ownership of local villagers at the time of settlement.
Abbreviations
- cm:
-
Centimeter
- DFO:
-
Divisional forest officer
- DGPS:
-
Differential global positioning system
- EIA:
-
Environmental impact assessment
- EPA:
-
Environmental Protection Agency
- FAO:
-
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
- FBM:
-
Forest bench mark
- FIRs:
-
First information reports
- ft:
-
feet
- GIS:
-
Geographic information system
- GOP:
-
Government of Pakistan
- GPS:
-
Global positioning system
- Gt:
-
Gigaton
- ha:
-
Hectare
- km:
-
Kilometer
- m:
-
Meter
- MFD:
-
Murree Forest Division
- NOC:
-
No objection certificate
- PDOP:
-
Positional dilution of precision
- PF:
-
Protected forest
- PFD:
-
Punjab Forest Department
- PRD:
-
Punjab Revenue Department
- RF:
-
Reserved forest
- RS:
-
Remote sensing
- SMC:
-
Study Monitoring Committee
- SoP:
-
Survey of Pakistan
- WWF:
-
World Wide Fund for Nature
- yr:
-
Year
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Acknowledgments
A number of departments and individuals provided support and contributions to this study. The following text attempts to acknowledge the contributors for the successful completion of the project. However, apologies are extended in advance if an individual is missed unintentionally.
This study was made possible principally through the enthusiastic participation of the field staff of the Punjab Forest Department (three DFOs, five SDFOs, three RFOs, 14 block officers/foresters, 128 forest guards, 15 clerks/stenos, and 3 drivers), Survey of Pakistan (9 technical persons), officials of Punjab Revenue Department (27 in number), and WWF – Pakistan (19 technical persons).
Supporting Organizations:
Special thanks are due to the Punjab Forest Department (PFD), Punjab Revenue Department (PRD), and Survey of Pakistan (SoP) for the support in conducting joint field surveys, data processing, and validation. The authors are grateful to the National Council of Conservation of Wetlands (NCCW) Ministry of Climate Change for providing Differential Global Positioning System (DGPS) for the study. The team is thankful to the Punjab Forest Department and Partnership Fund, Indus for All Programme of WWF – Pakistan for the funding/logistics support.
Project Monitoring Committee:
Mr. Raja Khalid Hussain, Chief Conservator of Forests Northern Zone, Rawalpindi, Punjab Forest Department
Mr. Ghulam Sarwar, Director, Survey of Pakistan
Mr. Imdad Ullah Bosal, Commissioner, Rawalpindi
Dr. Omar Jahangir, Assistant Commissioner, Murree
Mr. Saqib Zafar, District Coordinator Officer, Rawalpindi
Mr. Shahid Rashid Aawan, Deputy Secretary (Planning), Forestry, Wildlife, and Fisheries Department, Lahore, Punjab
Legal Advisory Team:
Mr. Ahmer Bilal Soofi, LLM, Cambridge, UK (Advocate Supreme Court of Pakistan)
Mr. Khalid Mian (Advocate High Court)
Ms. Amna Warsi, LLM, Pb. (Advocate High Court)
Ms. Ayasha Warsi, LLM, Pb. (Advocate High Court)
Map Production Team and Cartography:
Irfan Ashraf, Urooj Saeed, Kaif Gill, Naeem Shehzad, Wasif Yousaf, Syed Muhammad Irteza, and Zain-ul-Abdin
Geographic Information System Laboratory, WWF – Pakistan
Map Validation:
Muhammad Javed Gill (DFO Murree), Raja Akram (Incharge SoP Murree), Rana Nayab Khan (Tehsildar Murree), and Urooj Saeed (Manager GIS, WWF – Pakistan)
Software and Imagery Support:
The authors would like to thank ESRI for the software grant. Google Earth images were significant for the initial assessments of the encroached lands. ESRI base map imagery was used for forest boundary overlay at outer peripheries of Murree Forest Division (where satellite images of GeoEye-1 were missing).
The authors are thankful to Maj. (R) Shah Nawaz Badar (Secretary Govt. of the Punjab, Forestry, Wildlife and Fisheries Department), Mr. Ali Hassan Habib (Director General, WWF – Pakistan), Major Muhammad Ilyas Ch. (Deputy Surveyor General, Survey of Pakistan), Mr. Ghulam Sarwar (Director, Survey of Pakistan), Mr. Imdad Ullah Bosal (Commissioner Rawalpindi), and Ms. Uzma Khan (Director Biodiversity, WWF – Pakistan) for their guidance and support throughout the study.
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Ashraf, I., Saeed, U., Shahzad, N., Gill, J., Parvez, S., Raja, A. (2014). Delineating Legal Forest Boundaries to Combat Illegal Forest Encroachments: A Case Study in Murree Forest Division, Pakistan. In: Elmes, G., Roedl, G., Conley, J. (eds) Forensic GIS. Geotechnologies and the Environment, vol 11. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-8757-4_13
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