The Mountain Society For Research & Development Chitral operation area is District Chitral, located in extreme north east of
the Khyber Pukhtunkhaw (KP) covering a total geographical area of 14,850 Sq km
with an estimated population of 385,000 (estimated) people living in 45,000
households scattered in 35 different valleys in the form of small village
settlements. There are 523 villages in the district and 42% of the population
lies below poverty
line. The district shares approximately 350 KM of its borders with Kunar and
Badakhshan and Wakhan provinces of Afghanistan. Chitral is geographically the
largest district (20%) of KP of Pakistan, while it makes only 2% of the total
population of the Province. Most of the Chitral district is glaciated, under
perennial snow, or is made up of bare rock, grazing lands and forests. The land
cover has been calculated as Grazing lands 25%, Forests 3.5%, Agriculture 3.5%
and the remaining 68% is glaciers and permanent snow covered mountains and bare
rocks. Human settlements, wildlife and vegetation in Chitral depend, directly
or indirectly, on the river systems that are fed mostly by the glaciers on the
high mountains. Generally, the land use
system in Chitral can be characterized as an integrated agro-pastoral economy,
relaying on combination of irrigation cultivation and animal husbandry. The
rural people depend largely on subsistence agriculture for their sustenance,
producing small amounts of cereal crops using traditional agricultural
practices and/or raising limited number of livestock. he natural resource base in district Chitral is deteriorating more rapidly than many other regions of the country, and receive lesser attention nationally & internationally then other ecosystem.
Subsistence agriculture, forestry, range lands, livestock rearing and casual labour in cities are the main sources of livelihood for the local people. Climatically, the area falls under dry temperate climate where, vegetation mainly consists of Pine (Pinus wallichiana), Chlghoza (Pinus gerardiana) Deodar (Cedrus deodara) and broad leaf species like Oak (Quercus incana The Forest of the area is under the direct control provincial forest department however the local Communities have rights of fuel wood, timber, fodder and share in the revenue from the sale of forest products. Due to ever increasing demand of growing population for fuel wood and timber, lack of fuel wood alternatives and heavy dependency of rural communities on these resources for their livelihood, natural forest of the area have been extensively cut. Majority of local people lives below poverty line and primarily depend on subsistence forestry, livestock & agriculture for their livelihood. Open grazing is practiced in the area with no measures for protection or promotion of the forests. This situation has led to serious degradation of forests and denudation of hillsides. If this process is not checked with appropriate interventions, these isolated Poor Mountain people will loose their livelihood and will also cause heavy loss to the country environment.
Subsistence agriculture, forestry, range lands, livestock rearing and casual labour in cities are the main sources of livelihood for the local people. Climatically, the area falls under dry temperate climate where, vegetation mainly consists of Pine (Pinus wallichiana), Chlghoza (Pinus gerardiana) Deodar (Cedrus deodara) and broad leaf species like Oak (Quercus incana The Forest of the area is under the direct control provincial forest department however the local Communities have rights of fuel wood, timber, fodder and share in the revenue from the sale of forest products. Due to ever increasing demand of growing population for fuel wood and timber, lack of fuel wood alternatives and heavy dependency of rural communities on these resources for their livelihood, natural forest of the area have been extensively cut. Majority of local people lives below poverty line and primarily depend on subsistence forestry, livestock & agriculture for their livelihood. Open grazing is practiced in the area with no measures for protection or promotion of the forests. This situation has led to serious degradation of forests and denudation of hillsides. If this process is not checked with appropriate interventions, these isolated Poor Mountain people will loose their livelihood and will also cause heavy loss to the country environment.