Buy forest's services, not its timber

Writing in The Express Tribune, a forestry specialist argued that Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa should shift its forest policy away from timber harvesting toward payments for services that standing trees provide. The author noted that the forest department has largely operated on timber-based rules since a 1992 ban on harvesting, leaving it with little experience in non-timber planning over more than four decades. The column says the ban also encouraged illegal felling and cut incomes for mountain communities.

The proposed revisions include carbon accounting, biodiversity valuation, watershed protection and support for non-timber forest products such as wild honey, medicinal herbs and resins. The author also calls for revised forest management plans, drone-based monitoring, and updated training at the Pakistan Forest Institute and the forest guard school in Thai Abbottabad. Eco-tourism and co-management with local communities are presented as further sources of value.

At the core of the proposal is a system in which beneficiaries upstream and downstream pay for quantified forest services, with revenue held by a legislated authority or an endowment fund and distributed to landowners and communities. The writer argues that this approach would keep trees standing while still delivering economic and environmental benefits. The piece does not set out a timeline or cost estimate for the scheme.