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ADB Approves $42.6 Million Loan to Pakistan for a Forestry Sector Project

Pakistan's forestry resources will be protected and conserved under a $42.6 million loan approved today by the Asian Development Bank for a forestry sector project. The SDR 29 million interest-free loan, from the Bank's concessional Asian Development Fund, is repayable in 35 years, with a grace period of 10 years, and carries an annual service charge of one per cent.

The project will protect and improve the hilly and mountainous environment of Pakistan's North-West Frontier (NWFP), raising the productivity of private, community and Government land suitable for growing trees, fodder and other crops.

The project draws on a social forestry approach that provides for participation by beneficiaries in the design, planning and execution of project-related activities. The project contributes to the Government's goal of expanding the country's forest resources.

The main components of the project include detailed resource inventory and management planning; the enhancement of institutional capability; development of about 25 subprojects; legal reforms; upgrading of the facilities of the Department of Forests, Fisheries and Wildlife; and monitoring of the country's Forestry Sector Master Plan and applied research.

The project aims to reduce the rate of depletion of Pakistan's forest resources, averaging nearly 2 per cent annually in the last decade. The decline in the area under forest cover has been due to extensive uncontrolled cutting of trees for industrial uses, fuelwood and fodder which has resulted from Pakistan's increasing livestock and human population.

The project is the first major effort at implementing the Master Plan, which was prepared in 1991 with Bank assistance and was adopted by the Government in December 1992. The Plan seeks to intensify the management of coniferous forests, protect and develop watersheds, and expand areas under farm forestry.

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