1. The Anatomy of State Failures
in Forest Management in
Pakistan
By
Lubna Hasan
The 23rd Annual General Meeting Of The PSDE
March 14, 2008

2. Deforestation in Pakistan
 Pakistan faces serious problem of depletion of
its forest reserves.
 Approximately 39000 ha of forest are being
cleared every year

3. Popular Perceptions about
Deforestation
 Over population is the primary culprit
 Imprudent behaviour of people living close to
forestlands
 Majority of forests are
owned/controlled/managed by the state
 Role of State in the Deforestation Process

4. Theories Regarding Deforestation in
Pakistan
 The THED ascribes deteriorating
environmental conditions of the Himalaya
region to the increasing population pressure in
the fragile mountain ecological environment
 Wider socio-economic processes-urbanization
of the lowland areas and the corresponding
increase in the demand for timber, construction
of roads

5. Theories Regarding Deforestation in
Pakistan
 Political economy approach
 Rent seeking activities of the communities
residing in/around the forests as a source of
deforestation
 Failure of the government to establish a proper
institutional set-up for forest management
 Unholy alliance between private forest
contractors and forest officials leading to
illegal logging activities

6. Contemporary Approach toward
Deforestation
 Multidimensional and complex process
 Distinguishes between direct and indirect
causes
 Deforestation is seen as caused by institutional
failures.

7. Contemporary Thinking on
Environmental Problems
 Government/State failures are the sum of
actions and/or failures to act which result in
sub-optimal situations
 State failures entail studying government
actions that resulted in sub-optimal net
benefits from the forests

8. Hypothesis
 The primary cause of deforestation in Pakistan
is failure of state to establish a system that
would ensure proper exploitation of forest
resources

9.  The government had complete disregard of the
existing tenurial arrangements that governed
resource use arrangements

10.  the process of government control over forests
created a discordant structure of property
rights

11.  Government was pitted against the community
and social recognition of state property was
absent, which made forest management an
impossible task

12.  Massive deforestation on part of the
government exacerbated the dwindling state of
public forests

13. Yearly Average for the Revenue Surplus Percentage
Period
1869-70 to 1873-74 5.6 1.7 30
1879-80 to 1883-84 8.8 3.2 36
1889-90 to 1893-94 15.9 7.3 46
1899-1900 to 1903-04 19.7 8.4 43
1909-1910 to 1913-14 29.6 13.2 45
1919-1920 to 1923-24 55.2 18.5 34
1924 to 1925 56.7 21.3 38

14.  Management failures placed forest contractors
in a comfortable alliance with the FD causing
excessive felling.

15.  “The institutional weaknesses of many of the
Government agencies, particularly in developing
countries, are well known. Very few technical and
managerial staff with limited implementation
equipment and facilities are asked to plan, manage
and monitor developments in millions of hectares of
forest resources often subject to a number of intense
external pressures… Forest resources are considered
as resources with "open access", with nobody
exerting effective property rights on them”

16. Resource Use and Availability
80000
70000
60000
50000
40000
30000
20000
Total Wood Cons.
10000
Supplies from Forests
0
^1993 ^1998 ^2003 ^2008 ^2013

17. Legal Classification
Reserve
34%
Communal
Protected 18%
20%
Guzara
others Section 38 13%
14% 1%

18. Causes of Forest Decline
Direct Underlying
Market Failures
Natural Causes
Policy Interventions
Human Activities
Governance Weakness
Agents
Socio-economic