Status of natural resources in the uplands of the swat valley Pakistan

Swat, a physical unit of land drained by the Swat River, is a mountainous terrain of Hindu Raj mountains (eastern Hindu Kush) and comprises mostly of mountains, gorges, and valleys within the altitudes of 600 m in the south to more than 6000 m in the north, the highest peak Falaksair being 6261 m high. Swat covers an area of 8220 km2 of land, bounded from all the sides by the lofty Hindu Raj Mountains. The area is broadly divided into (1) monsoon prevailing towards south, exhibiting the general features of Sino-Japanese type of vegetation, and (2) monsoon-devoid Swat Kohistan towards north with the prevailing features of Irano-Turanian type of vegetation. The area has always been famous for its natural beauty, pleasing environment, and peaceful people, all these attractions have ranked the area as a summer resort of prime importance for invaders in the past and tourists nowadays. The area has given birth, or has flourished, to a number of ancient civilizations whose archeological remains, rock edicts, carvings, and petroglyps are available everywhere in the area. Though Swat is placed in the trans-Indus Hindu Kush mountain region, its lush green landscape, plentiful water, and widespread croplands has referred the area as Swat Himalaya by some authorities. Sociopolitical changes in the area during twentieth century have had a great influence on floristic landscape, farming system composition, cropping patterns, and socioeconomic conditions of the people of the area. Historical review shows that the area was densely forested and self-sufficient in its natural wealth and agricultural produce. Swat was exposed to the periodical redistribution system of natural resources for the preceding four centuries. The system was based on exploitation of natural resources; it did not operate sustainably and caused severe depletion of soil, biodiversity, and water, resulting in a severe fall of per capita income. Most of the mountains and the valley basin were turned barren due to the overexploitation of vegetation for fuel, timber, and fodder. Natural vegetation remained restricted only to the graveyards or in the inaccessible high mountainous forests. The situation of natural resources exploitation was terrible at the start of the twentieth century. Political changes in Swat during the first quarter of the twentieth century positively influenced the natural resources management in the area and thereby the farming system and the floristic landscape of the area. The newly established Swat State turned forests into the state property and imposed ban on the forest felling and hunting animals elsewhere, which turned the mountain terrain to green everywhere. A new land settlement system was introduced, which improved the soil management, water harvesting, and cropping pattern, resulting in improved livelihood of the people of the area. At the end of seventh decade when the Swat State was not in place and people were free to exploit forest resources freely, most of the regenerated forest was uprooted within a short span of two to three decades. The people were naturally forced to search alternate sources to cope with the unavoidable shortage of fuelwood, timber, and fodder. Hence, the farm forestry was introduced in the middle of eighth decade. Soon the farm forest spread rapidly in the valley, resulting in an increased forest area for satisfying the fuelwood and timber demands of the community’s, along with the annual income of billions of rupees from the fruits. In this chapter, we review Swat (the Swat River catchment area or Swat valley) with the help of available secondary information with respect to the people, land, water, and biological diversity in a logical order. © Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2015.