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Forest Ecosystems 2015, 2(2): 7 https://doi.org/10.1186/s40663-015-0032-9
Research Article | Open Access | Issue | Published: 09 April 2015

Evaluation of state and community/private forests in Punjab, Pakistan using geospatial data and related techniques

Show Author's Information Naeem Shahzad1,2,  Urooj Saeed1,2,  Hammad Gilani3( ),  Sajid Rashid Ahmad2,  Irfan Ashraf1,  Syed Muhammad Irteza4
World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), Ferozepur road, Lahore 54600, Pakistan
Institute of Geology, University of the Punjab, Lahore, Pakistan
International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD), GPO Box 3226, Kathmandu, Nepal
Department of Land Surveying and Geo-Informatics, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hung Hom, Hong Kong
Keywords:
Pakistan, Forest management, SPOT-5 satellite images, State and community/private owned forests, Murree Galliat
Cite this article:
Shahzad N, Saeed U, Gilani H, et al. Evaluation of state and community/private forests in Punjab, Pakistan using geospatial data and related techniques. Forest Ecosystems, 2015, 2(2): 7. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40663-015-0032-9
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Abstract Full text About this article
Background

Forests are fundamental in maintaining water supplies, providing economic goods, mitigating climate change, and maintaining biodiversity, thus providing many of the world's poorest with income, food and medicine. Too often, forested lands are treated as "wastelands" or "free" and are easily cleared for agricultural and infrastructure expansion.

 Methods

In this paper, the sustainability of two forest ecosystems (state and community/private owned) was evaluated using SPOT-5 satellite images of 2005 and 2011. This study was conducted in a sub-watershed area covering 468 km2, of which 201 km2 is managed by the state and 267 km2 by community/private ownership in the Murree Galliat region of Punjab Province of Pakistan. A participatory approach was adopted for the delineation and demarcation of forest boundaries. The Geographic Object-Based Image Analysis (GEOBIA) technique was used for identification and mapping of ten Land Cover (LC) features.

 Results

The results show that between the years 2005 to 2011, a total of 55 km2 (24 km2 in state-owned forest and 31km2 in community/private forest) was converted from forest to non-forest. The conclusion is that conservation is more effective in state-owned forests than in the community/private forests.

 Conclusions

These findings may help to mobilize community awareness and identify effective initiatives for improvedmanagement of community/private forest land for other regions of Pakistan.


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About this article

Evaluation of state and community/private forests in Punjab, Pakistan using geospatial data and related techniques

Show Author's information Naeem Shahzad1,2, Urooj Saeed1,2, Hammad Gilani3( ), Sajid Rashid Ahmad2, Irfan Ashraf1, Syed Muhammad Irteza4
World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), Ferozepur road, Lahore 54600, Pakistan
Institute of Geology, University of the Punjab, Lahore, Pakistan
International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD), GPO Box 3226, Kathmandu, Nepal
Department of Land Surveying and Geo-Informatics, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hung Hom, Hong Kong

Abstract

Background

Forests are fundamental in maintaining water supplies, providing economic goods, mitigating climate change, and maintaining biodiversity, thus providing many of the world's poorest with income, food and medicine. Too often, forested lands are treated as "wastelands" or "free" and are easily cleared for agricultural and infrastructure expansion.

 Methods

In this paper, the sustainability of two forest ecosystems (state and community/private owned) was evaluated using SPOT-5 satellite images of 2005 and 2011. This study was conducted in a sub-watershed area covering 468 km2, of which 201 km2 is managed by the state and 267 km2 by community/private ownership in the Murree Galliat region of Punjab Province of Pakistan. A participatory approach was adopted for the delineation and demarcation of forest boundaries. The Geographic Object-Based Image Analysis (GEOBIA) technique was used for identification and mapping of ten Land Cover (LC) features.

 Results

The results show that between the years 2005 to 2011, a total of 55 km2 (24 km2 in state-owned forest and 31km2 in community/private forest) was converted from forest to non-forest. The conclusion is that conservation is more effective in state-owned forests than in the community/private forests.

 Conclusions

These findings may help to mobilize community awareness and identify effective initiatives for improvedmanagement of community/private forest land for other regions of Pakistan.

Keywords: Pakistan, Forest management, SPOT-5 satellite images, State and community/private owned forests, Murree Galliat

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Publication history

Received: 16 March 2015
Accepted: 24 March 2015
Published: 09 April 2015
Issue date: June 2015

Copyright

© 2015 Shahzad et al.; licensee Springer.

Acknowledgements

Acknowledgements

Many departments and individuals generously gave advice, support and contributions to this study. The authors would like to thank the Punjab Forest Department, Government of Punjab for funding the detailed study of Murree Forest Division. The authors are thankful to Maj. (R) Shah Nawaz Badar (Secretary Govt. of Punjab, Forest, Wildlife and Fisheries Department), Dr. Omer Jehangir (Assistant Commissioner, Rawalpindi), Mr. Ali Hassan Habib (Former Director General, WWF-Pakistan) and Ms. Uzma Khan, (Director Biodiversity, WWF-Pakistan) for their guidance and support.

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