Millie's Story !

"Hi! I am Millie the babul tree , I represent my friends from the riverine forests of Pakistan. Today, I will share our story with you."

"I was born in a riverine forest in the province of Sindh , we are known as bela forests, in the province of Punjab. We grow alongside the River Indus and its main tributaries, namely, Jehlum, Chenab and Ravi. It may be interesting for you to know that the portion of the River Indus that flows through Sindh is one of the few rivers in the world to flow on a ridge. "

"The river flooded us regularly in the past to our great advantage and supplied much needed water and nutrients and that's why we became thick and widespread. A lot of my cousins and other relatives have occupied vast tracts of land in Sindh and Punjab that cover thousands of hectares. There are a total of 292,425 ha of bela under the control of the Forest Departments, out of which 241,120 ha are in Sindh and 51,305 ha in the Punjab. Our fellings have been taking place after every 30 years. But the felling of erosion strips depended on floods."

"We are important due to our social, economic, ecological and environmental values. Wild mammals such as hog deer, blue bull (Nil gai), jungle cat, squirrel, fox, jackal, wild boar; birds such as black and grey partridges, coucal, red munia, yellow-eyed babbler; reptiles including monitor lizard, snakes, tortoise; amphibians such as frog; and insects including butterflies and moths depend upon us for their existence and survival. We all help each other and live happily in our healthy environment. But we are under great threat now due to illegal cuttings, over-grazing,ignorance of the farmers and mismanagement on the part of the Forest Department, due to lack of funds. "

" We provide ecological stability to the flood plains and some protection to the river banks by reducing the ferocity of flood waters. There is a great difference between the normal flow and high flood water-levels. As a result, the river banks erode during the flood season.The river erodes more when the river level recedes as compared to when it is rising. The ferocity and speed of the flood water is enough to erode huge trees like me. The Sindh Forest Department now fells us before we are eroded by the river itself."

" We have been advantageous to the humans in many ways, but they have not understood our importance, they have been cruel to us. They divert the water that would otherwise have been available to us for their personal usage. They cut so many of us each day to obtain fodder for their animals and fuel-wood for domestic purposes. We also provide timber for furniture, gum, bark for tannin and honey. They should realise that we benefit them more when we are growing than when we are used after being felled."

"Excessive grazing, neglect in weeding, cleaning, thinning and other practices have also impacted on us adversely. All these activities have contributed to our ill-health, stunted growth and degradation. Apathy on the part of farmers and Forest Department and scarcity of funds contribute to our stunted growth. Inter-cropping could help to keep down weeds, and to put to use the areas that are lying blank. Weeds and wild grass that grow amongst us consume a fair share of water and nutrients. As a result, we do not get enough food."

"As a long time resident of the bela forests , I have seen the quality of our life deteriorating. We have been adversely impacted due to neglect, evasiveness and selfishness of human beings who are responsible for our degradation. In fact, their real responsibility is to look after our welfare and sustainable management. I feel that my colleagues and I are not as healthy and strong as we used to be. We are not getting enough water as the intensity of floods has decreased due to construction of dams, barrages and link canals for extraction of water upstream. Consequently, less sediment which contains nutrients reaches us."

"Due to reduction in abkalini (flooding) the level of groundwater-table has gone down and our roots are not able to make use of it. In the absence of water, nutrients cannot be absorbed by us. Hence, many of us have died, for want of nutrients and water and not more than 20% of us get water and nutrients that we require for our growth and survival. Many of my younger colleagues who are still surviving have stunted growth."

"Initially, a system of trench irrigation was used to irrigate us, but this was soon replaced with the system of flood irrigation due to various reasons. Those included the need for a greater human and financial input, the extent and magnitude of the operations to be accomplished in a short period, destruction of trenches by river-floods, livestock and wildlife animals, and in certain cases greater loss of water from sandy beds. Mesquite invasion has been more in cases of trench irrigation. Mesquite competes with us for water and nutrients,it is an intruder and a very aggressive plant that takes over us and expels us from our home. We fail to understand why this alien species was introduced by the foresters in Pakistan."

"Trench irrigation system may be useful for us in areas where flood water is low, the soil beneath is not sandy but loamy or clayey and the land is not undulating or high."

"To solve the problems of lack of supply of water to us the Forest Department has converted some of the previously river flooded forests into irrigated plantations."

"My half brother eucalyptus has been introduced from Australia. Its requirement of water and nutrients is high. It is almost sterile regarding wildlife and also changes the local ecology of the area. However, some of its species can be grown in saline and waterlogged areas. Eucalyptus is harvested at 15-20 years of age. Although it is not as good as we in many aspects. Cononcarpus lacefolius is another fast growing exotic species discovered by the Forest Department for saline soils and production of construction wood."

"We are an integral part of the riverine eco-system but we are under great threat. That is why I am writing this story to seek your help in our conservation and sustainable use. I would really appreciate if you kids could get my story across to others. I also plead to the Forest Department to take care of us. Our rehabilitation is important for preserving our social, economic, environmental and scientific values for the present generation and posterity. The Forest Department has the official and moral responsibility to conserve us!"