Internews’ Pakistan-Afghanistan Cross Border Training and Information
Exchange - from Da Pulay Poray ("On the Borderline")
radio program
Deforestation in Shinwar District
Recorded in Pashto in Shinwar district of Eastern Afghanistan, March
2007
Written Transcript in English:
Sound of logging
Reporter: Why are you cutting down this young tree? First interviewee: I am from Bandar village. My name is Noor
Jan. We cut down these trees for our own use. We sell a bit of
firewood, to make a living. Second interviewee: My name is Talib Jan. I am also from Bandar
village. We have no other livelihood. Since we have returned
from Pakistan, there is no factory or office where we can work,
so we do this work in order to fulfill our needs.
Music rises for a few seconds
“A big poplar tree has been knocked down in the middle of the village The whole village is upset about it.”
Reporter: Aren’t you ashamed of yourselves, that you are busy
cutting down young trees? Talib Jan: There is nothing else that we can do to make a living.
There has been a drought. Reporter: If you find some other livelihood, then you will not
cut down trees? Talib Jan: No, if we find some other livelihood, then why should
we want to cut down trees? They make our mountains look so nice.
Music rises “Our whole village is upset”
Reporter: Don’t you have any tribal agreements in your area,
to prevent the cutting down of trees?
Talib Jan: No, there are none. There used to be in the old
days. There were very strict fines for cutting down trees. Now
these do not apply. Nowadays, everyone goes up to the mountain,
cuts down trees, and puts them to his own use, in order to make
a few rupees. This mountain belongs to this village of Bandar.
We have divided it among ourselves, and we are busy cutting down
the trees. Everyone is doing it. If I do not do it, someone else
is going to come along and cut down trees, if someone else desists,
then someone else will come along and do it. There are whole
tribes living in this area, and they are all poor.
Music rises for a few seconds
Reporter: How many trees do you cut down every day? Talib Jan: Right now, there is a mountain near our village (name
not distinct), where we have logged 800 trees in four days.
They are lying there now.
Music rises for a few seconds - “This is worrying
me"
Reporter: What are the harmful
effects of the cutting down of these trees?
Third interviewee: I am Maulvi Hidayatullah.
I live in the headquarters of the Shinwari district. The cutting
of our forests has a very harmful effect. It stops water from
staying in the mountains. It means that all the water all floods
down, causing destruction for people’s crops. Formerly, this
water used to be stored in the mountains. It helped irrigate
people’s crops. That is not happening now.
Fourth interviewee: My name is Haji Muhammad Sabir. I am from
Shinwari district. This causes a lack of rain, and an excess
of flooding. For another thing, it causes the extinction of the
birds, leopards and other animals that live in the forest. It
causes a lot of difficulties.
Music rises for a few seconds “The star of my love has disappeared The poplar tree has been knocked down, there is no shade The star of my love has disappeared.”
Reporter: Tell me, how much have animals and birds suffered because
of the knocking down of our forests?
Haji Muhammad Sabir: In the
old days, there were all sorts of animals which were hunted,
like deer. All these animals have disappeared, with the disappearance
of our forests. Big animals, such as leopards and wolves, have
also disappeared.
Talib Jan: In former times, there were bears and leopards in
our forests. There were all sorts of wild animals, but not now.
Music rises for a few seconds
Reporter: If it has such harmful effects, then
why do people knock down these forests?
Talib Jan: People are poor. There are no factories here and
no work. People are living on the bread-line. People who live
near the forests do logging in the forests and make a living
for themselves in this way.
Maulvi Hidayatullah: Some people may be cutting these forests
out of a dire need, but some people do it as a luxury. They do
it for money.
Music rises for a few seconds “Our watering place has turned into a graveyard The whole village is upset.”
Reporter: How about if new trees are planted?
Haji Muhammad Sabir: If new saplings are planted, and looked
after, then this will be a great service to the country.
Music rises “The whole village is upset – the whole village.”
Reporter: What should we do,
to prevent flooding, and also to protect forests?
Talib Jan: Forget about us, the government
should provide employment opportunities for people, make factories
and other things like that. If the government can provide us
with gas, then we will not need to burn wood to provide ourselves
with fuel. The cutting of the forest will be controlled, in that
instance.
Noor Jan: If the government could provide
us with electricity, gas and other utilities, it would be very
helpful. If they could mine more coal, this would also help to
protect our forests.
An Internews Network production, for
Da Pulay Poray program, broadcast on independent radio stations
in Pakistan and Afghanistan.
