What is Forest?

According to the FAO, a forest is any area of land with a tree crown cover of more than 10% and a size more than 0.5 hectares. At maturity, the trees should be capable of growing to a minimum height of 5 m.

Total forest area in Pakistan is about 4.53 million ha which is about 5.1%.

Types of forest in Pakistan:

There are 11 types of forest in whole Pakistan as:

1. Alpine Scrub:
2. Sub-Alpine Forest:
3. Dry temperature Forest:
4. Moist temperature Forest:
5. Sub tropical Chir pine Forest:
6. Sub tropical Borad leaved Forest:
7. Tropical thorn Forest:
8. Irrigated Plantation:
9. Mangrove Forest:
10. Riveraine Forest:
11. Linear Plantation:

1. Alpine Scrub:

This type of forest is commonly found at altitude of 3650-3800 m.

These forest are distributed among specific regions of Pakistan as:

• Hazara
• Gilgit baltistan
• Azad kashmir

Species of this forest are:

• Berberis:
• Ephedra:
• And many herbaceous species:

2. Sub-Alpine Forest:

This type of forest is commonly found at altitude of 3350-3800 m.

These forest are distributed among specific regions of Pakistan as:

• Dir
• Swat
• Chitral
• Hazara
• Gilgit Baltistan
• AJK

Species of this forest are:

• Abies pindrow:
• Pinus wallichiana:
• Salix spp:
• Betula utilis:

3. Dry temperature Forest:

This type of forest is commonly found at altitude of 1525-3350 m.

These forest are distributed among specific regions of Pakistan as:

• Inner mountain ranges of Chitral:
• Nilam valley:
• Kaghan valley:
• Takht-e-Suleman:
• Shingar:
• Ziarat:
• Gilgit Baltistan

Species of this forest are:

• Cedrus deodara:
• Pinus gerardiana:
• P. wallichiana:
• Picea smithiana:
• Qurecus spp:
• Fraxinus excelsior
• Acer caesium

4. Moist temperature Forest:

This type of forest is commonly found at altitude of 1373-3050 m.

These forest are distributed among specific regions of Pakistan as:

• Murree:
• Galies:
• Kaghan:
• Azad Kashmir

Species of this forest are:

• Cedrus deodara:
• Pinus wallichiana:
• Qurecus spp:
• Fraxinus excelsior:
• Picea smithiana:
• Abies pindrow:
• Aesculus indica:
• And many medicinal plant species:

5. Sub tropical Chir pine Forest:

This type of forest is commonly found at altitude of 925-1675 m.

These forest are distributed among specific regions of Pakistan as:

• Azad Kashmir
• Murree
• Hazara

Species of this forest are:

• Qurecus spp:
• Pinus roxburghii:
• Pistacia integerrima:
• Ficus spp:

6. Sub tropical Broad leaved forest:

These forest are distributed among specific regions of Pakistan as:

• Foot-hills and lower slopes of Himalayas:
• Salt range:
• Kala Chitta:
• Suleman range

Species of this forest are:

• Olea ferruginea
• Acacia modesta:
• Dodonaea viscosa:
• Zizyphus nummularia:

7. Tropical thorn forest:

These forest are distributed among specific regions of Pakistan as:

• Whole of indus plain

Species of this forest are:

• Acacias:
• Zizyphus mauritiana:
• Tecoma undulata:
• Salvadora oleoides:
• Tamarix aphylla:
• Prosopis app:

8. Irrigated Plantation:

These forest are distributed among specific regions of Pakistan as:

• Plains of Punjab and Sindh

Species of this forest are:

• Dalbergia sissoo:
• Morus alba:
• Bombax ceiba:
• Acacia nilotica:
• Melia azedarach:
• Populus spp:
• Salix:
• Eucalyptus spp:

9. Riverain Forest:

These forest are distributed among specific regions of Pakistan as:

• Flood plains and banks of major rivers:

Species of this forest are:

• Acacia nilotica:
• Dalbergia sissoo:
• Populus euphratica:
• Prosopis spp:
• Tamarix dioica:

10. Mangrove Forest:

These forest are distributed among specific regions of Pakistan as:

• Indus deltaic swamps on the coast of Karachi:

Species of this forest are:

• Avicennian officinalis:
• Rhizophora mucronata:

 11.  Linear Plantation:

These forest are distributed among specific regions of Pakistan as:

• Along roads:
• canals:
• Railway track:

Species of this forest are:

• Acacia nilotica:
• Dalbergia sissoo:
• Eucalyptus spp:
• Albizzia lebbek:
• Melia azedarach:
• Tamarix aphylla:
• Morus alba