New forest policy soon, says minister

ISLAMABAD: The National Assembly was informed on Thursday that a new Forest Policy is on the anvil and would soon be presented to the Cabinet for approval.

Minister for Environment Hamidullah Jan Afridi, while pointing out various lacunae in the previous policy, said the new policy had become imperative and his ministry had prepared the draft policy in consultation with the provinces, NGOs, community and other stakeholders.

 We shall be presenting this policy to the Cabinet within a week or so, he said in response to a calling-attention notice by Yasmeen Rehman, Shamshad Sattar Bachani, Nawab Abdul Ghani Talpur, Shakeela Khanam Rasheed and Rubina Saadat Qaim Khani.

The members had pointed out towards tree cutting across the country and had inquired about the forest cover area and new plans to enhance it. Afridi said: Despite a complete ban had been imposed on tree cutting in the 1993 policy, certain lacunae in it provided opportunity to the people of illicit tree cutting. In the new policy, we will address these lacunae.


Courtesy : The News