The parliamentary Standing Committee on Climate Change and Environmental Coordination reviewed progress on curbing deforestation in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Gilgit-Baltistan and Azad Jammu and Kashmir, urging stronger oversight and use of satellite verification to confirm provincial claims. Members raised concerns about continued timber smuggling, gaps in fire protection and illegal construction, while provincial officials reported mixed results including seizure operations, a reported increase in forest cover in AJK, and commitments to improved digital monitoring.
The meeting, chaired by Munaza Hassan at Parliament House, focused on implementation of earlier recommendations following reports of timber mafia activity across the northern regions. Committee members pressed provincial representatives for clear evidence of recovery and durable measures to prevent renewed degradation.
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa officials told the committee that forest cover in the province had improved according to third-party assessments and reported enforcement actions including seizures of 2.3 million cubic feet of timber and more than 360 confiscations of vehicles and related equipment. Members, however, questioned the completeness of that picture, noting the absence of an effective fire protection system and ongoing concerns about timber mafias operating with relative impunity. The chair welcomed the province’s newly developed plan to address environmental issues but stressed the need for stronger on-the-ground enforcement.
Representatives from Gilgit-Baltistan said forest area has largely stabilized but recalled significant degradation during the 1980s linked to sectarian conflict and breakdown of law and order. They requested constitutional safeguards for forest protection and federal technical assistance to improve monitoring. The federal Secretary of Climate Change responded that a national GIS system for forest monitoring would be established. The committee also expressed concern over reports of hotel construction in violation of rules at Attabad Lake; GB authorities said offending hotels are being closed and new construction at the site has been prohibited.
Azad Jammu and Kashmir officials reported a ban on commercial logging and cited an IUCN study indicating a 10 percent increase in forest cover. Committee members nonetheless warned that widespread smuggling of valuable species—particularly Deodar and Fir—continues to remove trees from mountain areas, undermining recovery efforts.
After detailed discussion, the committee recommended that SUPARCO satellite imagery be provided to independently verify provincial claims about reforestation and to strengthen monitoring and enforcement. The meeting was attended by MNAs Mir Khan Muhammad Jamali, Shaista Khan, Syeda Shehla Raza, Mussarat Rafique Mahesar, Rana Ansar, Ayesha Nazir (virtually), Shahida Rahmani, and senior officials from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Gilgit-Baltistan, Azad Jammu and Kashmir, and the Ministry of Climate Change and Environmental Coordination.
