Forest on 3,500 hectares of Khost land revived

KHOST CITY (Pajhwok): Forest on 3,500 hectares land in southeastern Khost province has been revived with the support of some Non-Governmental Organization (NGOs), officials said on Thursday.

The officials of Agriculture, Livestock and Irrigation Department made these remarks during a workshop arranged by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), a UN body, for spreading awareness about the protection of forests.

The workshop was attended by a number of residents of Sabario, Bak and Jaji Maidan districts and some tribal and prayer leaders of some mosques, the official added.

FAO’s provincial representative Aslam Hasaand said that they will spread awareness among the residents of the mentioned districts about the protection of forests from being cut or eradicated.

Hasaand told Pajhwok Afghan News that they have also succeeded to revive over 2,000 hectares of jungles.

He said: “This is a capacity building program, during this five-year program (2022-2026) FAO wants to build more check dams and implement alternative projects for livelihood.”

Hailing the program, the tribal elders said that they will be able to protect the jungle better. Bak tribal elder Eid Marjan told Pajhwok that the jungles are considered public property and they think the protection of this property is an obligation of all.

Marjan said: “If these jungles are protected correctly and the harvested fruit from the tree of these jungles is sold in the markets, every house of these areas will be getting an income collected from the tree of the jungles. He said that they are committed to the protection of the jungles.”

Karim Mohammad, another tribal elder of the same district said: “Every tree is a beneficial creature; it benefits everyone whatever it is, if it is almond, walnut or pomegranate. Tree is useful greenery.”

Local officials said thousands of hectares of jungle was revived in that province. Baheer Gul Sabiri, an adviser of agriculture department said that 3,500 hectare of jungle was revived during the past three years.

A security unit called Green Unit was also created to protect the juggles and it was functioning all the time.

Sabiri said: “Although we have no fixed figures, but it was estimated that

about 20 percent of the jungle trees were cut by the people because of economic problems. Now, strict measures have been taken to protect the

jungles and no one was allowed to cut trees because it was considered public wealth.”

According to statistics 120,000 hectares of Khost’s Musa Khel, Qalandar, Spera and Tani districts lands have been covered by jungles.

Aw/nh