IT is unfortunate that when faced with dire circumstances we tend to resort to inaction rather than contemplating how we ourselves might have gone wrong. Take the ongoing debate around deteriorating air quality; instead of facing up to the causes and looking for long-term solutions, our government shows disinterest in tackling a pressing challenge. In this case, deforestation has an adverse effect on air quality. On Wednesday, this newspaper published the findings of a report by the Sindh forest and wildlife secretary that showed forest cover has declined by 80pc since 1971 in the province. While presenting its findings to the Supreme Court recently, the authors noted Sindh`s forestlands presently cover a negligible 100,000 acres. In a scathing indictment, one that requires investigation, the report revealed 145,245 acres owned by the forest department had been illegally acquired by private enterprises through collusion with the revenue department. Despite legislation regulating forest conservation and timber harvesting, the decimation of tens of thousands of trees by illegal timber mafias continues.

Now that it is laid bare before the Supreme Court that entrenched corruption, weak governance, faulty internal policies and political apathy are responsible for selling off swathes of once-lush forestland and the felling of majestic trees for decades, action to recover the encroached land and regenerate forests must be a critical goal.

While regenerating its forests, the government would do well to study KP`s by all accounts successful Billion Tree Tsunami Afforestation Project. However, in 2013, KP`s forests had also been depleted beyond their regenerative capacity because of the collusion of the forest department and profiteering timber contractors. After the government clamped down on illicit timber traders and conducted a satellite-based demarcation survey of forestland, it was able to reclaim much of the encroached land. Besides administrative action, involving community forest guards in the fight against the timber mafia and protecting forest enclosures for planting trees have offered locals ownership of their woodlands. Integral to the survival of populations, forests are unique plantations, naturally able to decrease pollution because they lessen the effects of severe weather and add oxygen to the atmosphere which leads to rainfall. For these reasons alone, the consequences of decades of felling of trees will pan out to be disastrous for health, livelihoods and food security. It is disheartening that so far there is no clear indication of coherent national policies to mitigate climate change especially strategies focused on preserving agriculture and forestation.