Pakistan’s diverse geography contributes to the wide diversity in climatic conditions in different agro-ecological zones of the country. The far north of Pakistan reaches into the Karakorum Himalayan ranges, whilst the southern and western, and coastal regions are lowland plains of the River Indus. Two smaller mountain ranges (the Safed Koh and Sulaiman ranges) run along the western border of Paki
stan. Pakistan is situated between the latitudes of 24° and 37° north and longitudes of 61° to 75° east, stretching over 1,600 km from north to south and 885 km from east to west, forming a rectangular territory covering about 880,000 km2 with a coastline of 1,046 km. Due to its highly diverse physiographic and climatic conditions, Pakistan has been classified into 11 geographical, ten agro-ecological, and 9 major ecological zones. Given its borders with Iran, Afghanistan, China and India, Pakistan occupies a geopolitically important location at the crossroads of South Asia, the Middle East and Central Asia. Around 80% of the Pakistan’s land is arid and semi-arid, 12% dry sub-humid, and 8% humid. Forests cover only 42,000 km2, or 5.2% of the total land area. The country has a fast growing population of about 180 million people, over 60% of whom depend on agriculture for their livelihoods. About 50% of the country by area is under some type of agricultural land use. Nearly 300,000 km2 is used as rangelands and 200,000 km2 as cropland of which 160,000 km2 is irrigated. Most of the rural population survives on fragile rain-fed lands prone to desertification, land degradation, drought, flood and severe climate change impacts. Rural landscapes across the country are characterized by moderate to severe erosion, deforestation, overgrazing, depleted ground water reserves, reduced surface water quantity and quality, raised salinity, low levels of soil fertility, and the loss of biodiversity. All of these are linked to unsustainable land use practices. Many endemic plant and animal species of global significance are threatened due to unsustainable and competing natural resource uses. Land degradation is depleting the gene pool of native plant species while clearing a path for invasive species. It is undermining ecosystem functions and services and reducing the household income of rural people. Nearly 40% of people inhabiting dryland areas now live below the poverty line. Land degradation is upsetting traditional land management practices with forced migrations resulting in conflicts between nomadic and sedentary populations competing for limited water and grazing land. Climate change and population growth have emerged as the major drivers of large-scale land degradation, posing great threats to food and economic security in the country. Pakistan is faced with daunting challenges of combating desertification, with more than 80% of the arid and semi-arid landscape severely affected by desertification, land degradation and drought. The drylands of Balochistan, Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and Punjab face increasing land degradation and desertification, being severely affected by climate change impacts, improper land use practices, over-grazing, deforestation and excessive removal of vegetation for fuel. Poverty, illiteracy, water scarcity, hot and dry spells, dust and wind storms, moving sand dunes, hill torrents, flash floods, subsistence rain-fed agriculture and livestock-based economy are distinctive features of dryland ecosystems in Pakistan. Heavy dependence of dryland communities on slow growing xerophytic vegetation in desert areas has rendered many areas devoid of vegetation, triggering the threat of shifting sand dunes. Underground water resources in the western dry mountains of Sindh and Balochistan are shrinking due to heavy exploitation of aquifers without any natural recharge. Irrigated areas are plagued with water logging, salinity and sodicity, reducing the productive capacity of soils and consequently leading to loss of soil fertility, crop yields, and agro-biodiversity.
