Poverty and Natural Resource Management in Pakistan (Panel DISCUSSION: POPULATION: RESOURCE OR SOURCE OF Depletion) (Report‪)‬

Pakistan is a country of contrasts, with diversified relief having majestic high mountain ranges snow-covered peaks, eternal glaciers, and the inter-mountain valleys in the north. Irrigated plains in the Indus basin contrast with stark deserts and rugged rocky plateaus in southwest Balochistan. The country is arid and semi-arid with substantial variation in temperature depending upon the topography and characterised by continental type of climate. Over the years since independence the natural resources of the country (land and water) have been harnessed which in turn made it possible to feed the growing population which more than quadrupled during the past sixty years. Construction of Tarbela and Mangla Dam facilitated the growth of irrigated agriculture and led the cropping intensity to peak. Sectors other than the agriculture also developed because of the backward and forward linkage of the agricultural growth thereby having an economy diversified and much less dependent on agriculture. There are however concerns raised with respect to the costs and practices of the past development in terms of environmental degradation, resource misuse and depletion. One fourth of the country's land area, suitable for intensive agriculture suffers from wind and water erosion, salinity/sodicity, water logging, flooding and loss of organic matter. Deforestation has taken its toll as the accelerated surface erosion is shortening the life of Tarbela and Mangla reservoirs, which provide water for 90 percent of the food and fibre production in the country. Over-exploitation and misuse of rangelands extending over a vast area are seriously constraining livestock production, thereby adversely affecting the livelihood of pastoral communities. The mangrove areas are under increased environmental stress.