Illegal tree cutting is common in Pakistan and sometimes to cover this crime forests are set on fire.
Abstract In this paper forest fire events in Swat Valley have been reviewed with the objective to identify role of the present legislation and local people. Forest fire is a major threat for the forest resources of the valley. From 1993 to 2000 a total of 20 fire events were recorded by the divisional forest office in Mingora, including four major fire events in 2000. All fires were ignited by local residents, and were communicated to the forest department by local administrators (Police, Tasildar) or local people. Half the cases could be classed as intentional fire. For eight fire events the names of accused were known but only one accused was punished. The remaining accidental fires arose from routine prescribed burns by local farmers to promote grass growth. Legislation introduced to reduce fire events in the region is ineffective in controlling forest fire. Forest department has no preventive or curative wildfire strategy. There is no system of information to control fire hazard, though such a system appears warranted. Keywords: Forest legislation, wildfire, fire extinguishing, deforestation, protected forest
(PDF) Forest Fire Events in Swat Valley, Pakistan. Available from: \Forest_Fire_Events_in_Swat_Valley_Pakistan [accessed Dec 10 2018].
Introduction Forest fires are predominantly caused by man. Sturtevant et al (2004) reported that about 97% forests fire ignition is contributed to by man in northern USA. Ignition and spread of forest fires depends on fuel moisture level, weather conditions, fuel types and topography (Leblon, 2005; Ramon et al, 2005). Pakistan has a forest cover of only 4.5% of land area, and is facing serious forest depletion (Tanvir et al., 2006). Firewood accounts for 50% of rural fuel needs. Forest output is insufficient to meet the demand for timber for domestic and industrial use, fuelwood and fodder for livestock (Zubair & Garforth, 2006). Forest fire, lack of education, population increase and dependency on fuelwood, commercial scale exploitation, over grazing, illegal cutting and smuggling all contribute to forest depletion (Iqbal, 2003). Although fire hazard is mentioned in forest-related studies conducted in Pakistan, but have not been evaluated to identify its causes and control (IUCN, 1996; Iqbal, 2003). The various measure helpful in control include awareness, community involvement for providing on time information about fire hazard and their participation in fire fighting and use of legislation (Nichols, 2007)