SWAT, Pakistan

Pakistan's northwestern Swat Valley attracts millions of tourists every year because of its snow-capped peaks, glistening blue lakes, lush green plateaus and thick forests.

Known as the "Switzerland of Pakistan" for its matching breathtaking scenery, the valley remained the favorite site visited by nearly 2 million people last year.

Nevertheless, it has lately been in the headlines for massive wildfires that have burned down over 14,000 acres of forest cover during the last three weeks.

Aside from dry weather conditions, many of the fires were set intentionally by the locals in order to benefit from a centuries-old law that permits them to share the ownership of forests with the government.

"Shamilat" or the law of joint property, which was introduced by the powerful Yusufzai tribe when they captured the Swat Valley in the 16th century, allows the local communities to share the ownership of forests with the government.

In line with the law, they can harvest the empty swaths of forests and use pastures for grazing their livestock in their respective areas.

However, they cannot chop down the trees except for the branches or decayed ones for firewood.

The law, which remained unchanged even during British colonial rule, had also been adopted by Pakistan with some amendments following the incorporation of the former princely state in 1969.

"We have seen an increasing trend of intentional wildfires in recent years in Swat. And the main purpose behind this phenomenon is to get more lands for agriculture," said Latif-ur-Rahman, a spokesman for the Forest Department of northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, in which Swat is located.

Speaking to Anadolu Agency, Rahman said the local people want to increase their agricultural lands due to the increasing population and food requirements.

“For that, fire is the best way to clear the forest lands of trees.

“In their false opinion, trees are less important than agriculture. This is ruining the entire environmental cycle, raising the risks for landslides and flashfloods,” he maintained.

Tradition turned law

Mohammad Nafees, who heads the Department of Environmental Sciences at the University of Peshawar, said Shamilat is actually as centuries-old tribal tradition which had later been given a law status by the British colonial regime and the Pakistani government.

According to the original Shamilat tradition, said Nafees, rivers, mountains, streams and forests were the joint properties of a tribe.

But after the 1969 incorporation, the Pakistani government made some changes, declaring the forest trees state property, while the locals were given the right to harvest forest lands and get tree branches for domestic use.

Another unwritten law, he went on to say, allows a farmer whose land touches a mountainous forest to clear the adjoining forest swath and incorporate that into his piece of land.

Nafees, who authored a thesis titled “Wildfires in Swat Valley,” told Anadolu Agency that intentional fires and negligence have been the two key factors behind the increasing deforestation in the scenic valley.

Swat boasted a robust 30% forest cover at the time of independence in 1947 which has gradually been reduced to less than 15%, he said.

“Currently, only far-flung and tall mountains are left with thick forest cover. Otherwise, the forests on low-altitude mountains have been converted into agricultural lands,” he added.

Ruining ecology

Currently, 70% of the forests in Swat fall under the Shamilat law, whereas the remaining 30% are either in the state’s control or privately owned.

Firefighters backed by army helicopters are still struggling to douse the raging fires in the chir pine-laden forests in Swat and adjoining districts of Shangla and Buner.

The wind-whipped blazes, according to the Forest Department, have burned down thousands of trees and killed several rare species of birds and animals.

At least four people, including three women, were killed in a wildfire in Shangla district last week.

The latest Forest Department report says that over 200 wildfires have been reported in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, mainly in Swat, Shangla and Buner districts.

Out of 210 wildfires, the report said 55 were started intentionally by the local people, while only 12 were due to the dry weather conditions. The causes of the remaining 143 blazes are still being investigated.

Nearly two dozen locals, it added, have been arrested on the charge of intentionally setting the forests on fire over the past three weeks.

Speaking to Anadolu Agency, Waseem Khan, the chief forest officer of Swat, said 95% of the fires that have been reported from the forests either fall under “Shamilat” or privately owned.

He cited “uncontrolled” tourism, locals’ “recklessness” and lightning as other triggering agents for the wildfires, which he said are a long-running problem.

“Apart from intentional fires, many wildfires occur due to negligence of locals and tourists,” Khan noted.

“In many cases, locals try to clear the high-altitude pastures and forest swaths of rotten and dry grass through controlled burning. But this controlled burning sometimes goes uncontrolled and engulfs the entire forest,” he said.

A huge wildfire reportedly erupted after a group of picnickers set bushes on fire, decimating a pine nut forest in southwestern Balochistan province late last month and killing three people.

Undermining government’s forestation efforts

Rahman, the Forest Department spokesman, said the government will impose heavy fines along with jail terms on suspects found to be involved in the intentional fires.

Acknowledging a lack of implementation of the criminal laws in the past, he said a person involved in an intentional fire can be fined up to 100,000 Pakistani rupees ($487) for each tree along with a jail term of up to two years.

Pakistan is one of the top 10 countries that are most vulnerable to climate change.

The latest spree of wildfires has undermined the flagship “10 Billion Tree Tsunami” project of former Prime Minister Imran Khan, whose Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party still governs Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

The ambitious tree plantation project, which aims to restore the country’s fast-depleting forest cover, has earned recognition from the UN as well.

Pakistan last year hosted World Environment Day celebrations for the first time in its history in partnership with the UN Environment Program (UNEP).