Minimum area of land of 0.5 ha with a tree crown cover of more than 10% comprising trees with the potential to reach a minimum height of 2 m. Also include existing irrigated plantations as well as areas that have already been defined as forests on respective of legal documents and expected to meet the required thresholds as defined in the forest definition for Pakistan. The national forest definition of Pakistan DO NOT include Fruit Orchard, Agro-Forestry, Palm Plantations etc.
Human induced long-term losses within forest persisting for at least 4 years or more due to change in tree canopy cover i.e., open (11-30%), sparse (31-50%), medium (51-70%), dense (>70%) resulting in reduction of forest carbon stock and not qualifying as deforestation.
This category includes cropped land, including rice fields, and agro-forestry systems where the vegetation structure falls below the thresholds used for the Forest Land category.
This category includes rangelands and pasture land that are not considered Cropland. It also includes systems with woody vegetation and other non-grass vegetation such as herbs and brushes that fall below the threshold values used in the Forest Land category. The category also includes all grassland from wild lands to recreational areas as well as agricultural and silvi-pastural systems, consistent with national definitions.
This category includes areas of peat extraction and land that is covered or saturated by water for all or part of the
year (e.g., peatlands) and that does not fall into the Forest Land, Cropland, Grassland or Settlements categories. It includes reservoirs as a managed sub-division and natural rivers and lakes as unmanage sub-divisions.
This category includes all developed land, including transportation infrastructure and human settlements of any
size, unless they are already included under other categories. This should be consistent with national definitions.
This category includes bare soil, rock, ice, and all land areas that do not fall into any of the other five categories.
Mangroves occur mainly in the Indus delta swamps. The native species are extremely slow-growing and there is very little natural regeneration. The main species are Avicennia marina with some occurrence of Rhizophora mucronata and Ceriops tagal.
Riverine forests occur on the flood plains and banks of the major rivers of the Indus Basin. Flooding for about 6 weeks per year appears to be necessary to sustain the growth of the riverine forests. The main species are Acacia nilotica, Tamarix dioica, Prosopis cineraria, Dalbergia sissoo and to some extent Populus euphratica.
Dry tropical thorn forests are mainly present in the arid areas of Indus Plain up to the altitude of about 385 m. Trees which are usually thorny, stunted, and dominated by Acacia spp., Salvadora oleoides, Tamarix aphylla, Prosopis cineraria, Zizyphus spp. and Capparis decidua, among others. These forests have capacity to grow in areas where high temperatures prevail.
Scrub forests are found in the foothills of Himalayas between the altitudes of about 457 and 1,524 m. These are low forests of branchy trees, mostly thorny and evergreen. Olea ferruginea, Acacia modesta and Dodonaea viscosa are the most prevailing species.
Pinus roxburghii forms forest top canopies from about 914 up to 1,676 m altitudes. Quercus incana is the key broadleaved associate mixed with occasional Lyonia ovalifolia, Rhododendron arboreum, Pistacia intecerima, Syzygium cumini, Mallotus philippinensis and Ficus spp.
Moist Temperate forests are characterized by the extensive growth of conifers. The forest formations extend along the whole length of the outer ranges of the Himalayas between pine and sub-alpine forests at an approximate elevation of about 1,372 to 3,048 m above sea level. The main coniferous species are Pinus wallichiana, Cedrus deodara, Picea smithiana and Abies pindrow. The canopy formed by these species with height of 24-36 m while some individual tree diameters may reach up to 1.5 m. Taxus spp. also occurs locally in the lower canopy. Quercus spp. are prominent in outer margins of the zone as the most common associate.
Dry temperate forests are distributed throughout the dry inner mountain ranges, beyond the effective monsoon reach in the Northern areas, Chitral, Niilam and Kaghan Valleys, and Takht-e-Sulaiman, Shinghar and Ziarat. They grow at elevations of about 1,524 to 3,353 m and often even at higher altitudes. Free standing low branchy trees of Cedrus deodara, Pinus gerardiana, Juniperus excelsa, Pinus wallichiana, Picea smithiana and Quercus incana predominate as pure stands, often along with Fraxinus and Acer spp. Dry temperate forests can be divided further by their species composition into Montane Coniferous, Juniper and Chilghoza, Broadleaved and Northern Dry Scrub Forest sub-types. Pinus gerardiana (Chilghoza) forms dominant stands in Suleiman range, while elsewhere it grows as mixed stands with other species.
Sub-alpine forests are the upper-most tree formation in the Himalayas located at an elevation from about 3,353 to 3,810 meters (m) above sea level. Abies pindrow and Pinus wallichiana stands singly or in groups with an understorey of broadleaved trees where Betula spp. is typically prominent with Pyrus and Salix spp. The conifers are stunted, attaining heights of up to 8 m. The broadleaved trees attain heights of about 7 m.
Irrigated plantations are government managed forest blocks found in Provinces of Punjab and Sindh. The most common species planted are Dalbergia sissoo, Acacia nilotica, Eucalyptus camaldulensis, Populus spp., Bombax cieba, and Melia azedarach.
These are avenues of trees planted along roadside, canal side and railway side