Forest owners deserve compensation

The Express Tribune published an opinion piece by a forestry PhD arguing that forest owners in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa deserve compensation for trees they leave standing. The writer cites IUCN findings that the K-P Forest Department holds only 7% of forests, while 93% belongs to individuals, communities and joint owners. Owners have lost the 80% royalty they once earned from harvests under contractor and Forest Development Corporation systems, the piece argues, since harvesting was banned.

The writer says owners have lost interest in planting pine, a species that cannot be felled without departmental permission. This has fuelled distrust between communities and the forest department, and legal tree cuts have drawn online criticism aimed at both the department and the owner. The piece proposes a mechanism that pays owners for standing trees, using local prices for services such as oxygen production and carbon sequestration.

The writer says a mature standing tree delivers $3,600 per year in environmental and ecosystem services, based on empirical measurement. Under this approach, owners would be fairly compensated and less likely to object to forest service use while trees stand.