Pakistan's economy and living standards require timber imports

When Pakistan imports timber from around the world, it makes economic, social, and environmental sense. Pakistan's current forestry practices are unorthodox, underdeveloped, and most importantly, unsustainable. The logging and sawmill practices not only waste Pakistan's natural resources, but they also deteriorate standards of living within the country and produce poor quality wood products at higher prices.
Currently, Pakistan has the world's second highest rate of deforestation, with virtually no effective replantation programmes. The implications of this loss of forest have spilled over to the nation's other natural and agro-ecosystems, which will have adverse long-term economic impacts. It will also affect the country's domestic food supply.
Deforestation also makes Pakistan vulnerable to greater devastation in the event of natural disasters. The Pakistan Wetlands Programme, an environment protection group funded by the United Nations, noted that deforestation aggravated Pakistan's massive flooding in 2010, which directly affected 20 million people. The loss of dense woodland made stream and river banks much more prone to erosion, preventing any sort of resistance to the force of raging floodwater.
As Pakistan reaches out for international humanitarian aid in the wake of such natural disasters, its poor record on environmental sustainability makes potential donors less sympathetic. Forest degradation is also a major source of greenhouse gases which contributes to global warming. Environmental requirements, specifically those of curtailing greenhouse gas emissions, are often included in both bilateral and multilateral trade agreements. Pakistan's unwillingness to enforce environmental protection may cost its developing economy lucrative trade and investment deals.
Urgency must be stressed: A Pakistani government report indicated that Pakistan's wood bio-mass would be totally consumed within 15 years if the current rate of deforestation were to continue. Deforestation is not unique to Pakistan. However, other more forward-thinking nations have already begun to take action. India and China have instituted strictly-enforced bans on deforestation and logging, relying more on the import of lumber from other nations, like Canada. In fact, India has categorised Canadian lumber as an "intermediate" good to its economic development, removing duty, taxes, and non-tariff barriers previously associated with its import.
Environmental issues aside, Pakistan is incapable of fully maximising its own natural resources due to inefficient sawmills. Lacking in technology, expertise, or even sufficient infrastructure, Pakistan's sawmills generate large amounts of wastage from its natural resources. This wastage is neither environmentally sustainable nor economically sustainable. Pakistan's sawmills lack the capital base to efficiently cut logs with the economies of scale and world-class efficiency of Canada. With an over-reliance on hand-labour, Pakistan's sawmills cannot produce wood products that are competitive in quality or price with imports from Canada.
The capital and labour resources of Pakistan's saw-mills would be better utilised in more value-added industries, such as the manufacturing of finished goods that use lumber. Such employment traditionally yields higher wages and higher employment growth. Taking its lead from India and China, while recognising its own strengths and limitations, Pakistan should not levy any duties or taxes on Canadian lumber.
In fact, by encouraging the import of Canadian lumber, Pakistan may be able to undertake reforestation or afforestation programmes to rebuild its natural resources creating greater protection from natural disasters and elevating higher standards of living with greater biodiversity and food security. By importing Canadian lumber, Pakistan can also better leverage its competitive advantages of labour and craftsmanship by shifting its labour pool towards more value-added industries that create more jobs, yield higher wages, and greater stimulate the domestic economy.
Established in 1990 and founded by a Pakistani family in Vancouver, Canada, SPF Precut Lumber is one of the largest exporters of Canadian softwood lumber and wood products into fifteen different countries. In 2010, SPF Precut Lumber was awarded the BC Export Award as presented by the Government of British Columbia, Canada, becoming one of the very few companies to win the award twice (SPF Precut Lumber first won the award in 2008). SPF Precut Lumber is proud to stand with its partners in Pakistan to develop a forests-products market that is both environmentally-sound and economically-beneficial for all of Pakistan.-PR