Assessment of Forest Cover Decline in Pakistan: A GIS Perspective

Forests playa key function in maintaining global ecological balance and comprise essential natural resources of world which are being spoiled and depleted worldwide. Deforestation remains one of the most intractable environmental problems. Pakistan being a developing nation has limited forest resources. The rising climate change consequences remain the primary culprit behind this phenomenon. The rate of deforestation in Pakistan is 0.2% to 0.5% per annum, which is very high and alarming. The present study intends to focus attention on the extent of forests decline in various provinces and regions of Pakistan using GIS tools. The spatial and temporal dimensions of the physical and biological attributes concerning forest resources can be well represented graphically by using GIS techniques. The analysis of annual change rate forest decline for the last two decades revealed that the forests of Pakistan are under continuous threat of degradation and are being reducing at the rate of 0.71% yearly due to varying climatic conditions, natural and anthropogenic activities. The current study emphasized the need for conservation of forests as a fundamental task to be accomplished in order to avoid their vulnerability against various environmental and socioeconomic disturbance as well as maintenance of regional ecological balance.