National Forest Policy Review Pakistan

Description

National Forest Policy Review Pakistan. Pakistan covers an area of 87.98 million ha; this includes 4.57 million ha of forests, constituting 5.2 percent of the total land area (Table 1). In 1998, the population was estimated to be 130.6 million with an annual growth rate of 2.6 percent. The population density is 164 persons/km2 and 33 percent of the population live in urban areas. The GNP per capita is US$450 and the annual GDP growth rate is 3.6 percent.Pakistan is a country with low forest cover; there are only 0.03 ha of forest per capita compared to the world average of one ha. With the population growing at 2.6 percent annually, the forest area per capita is declining. The area of public forests cannot be expanded and trees grown on private land contribute substantially to the nation’s wood production; this will increase in the future. During 2000/01, Pakistan imported pulp and paper products worth Rs.7 646 million and spent Rs.915 million on wood and timber imports. Pakistan annually exports sports and furniture goods worth Rs.2 to 3 billion.