Herat Residents Upset Over Toppled Trees

Monday, 4 April, 2011

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Mohammad Shafiq

As a loud crash rang out and a column of dust rose into the air, a crowd of people came running towards the scene, thinking a bomb had gone off. What they found instead was a fallen tree, cut down by loggers.

Like many others in Herat, a city in western Afghanistan famed for its abundant trees, the pine had withered and dried up, although it had been green and healthy only a short time before.

In recent decades, Afghanistan has suffered severe depletion of its trees, sometimes from logging for illegal timber exports, and sometimes for firewood as a substitute for hard-to-obtain imported fuels, or to just clear land.

Many residents believe Herat’s trees are being systematically poisoned so that, once dead, they can legally be cut down for their wood.

“I saw some people digging under this tree one night two months ago,” resident Jamshid Azizi said. “They poured something out of a barrel and covered it up with earth. The tree started drying up from that night on.”

Three years ago, a private company won a contract to chop down trees killed by an exceptionally cold winter. Mohammad Ehsan, head of forestry at the Herat municipal government, told IWPR this was necessary because the dead trees were at risk of falling or acting as tinder for fires, and they made the city look unsightly.

The timber was sold locally or exported, with the income generated going to the city authorities, Ehsan said.

At the time the contract was signed, the city authorities counted 1,400 trees needing removal. But that estimate has since doubled, leading to suspicions that healthy trees are being killed to make them eligible for cutting.

City residents unhappy with the disappearance of their trees believe there are teams of men at work, pouring acid on healthy roots to bump up the numbers.

“There were a few dry trees that needed to be cut down,” a Herat man who asked to remain anonymous said angrily. “But ever since the company signed the contract, it has been cutting 15 to 20 trees a day. That indicates that certain people are trying to dry out the trees for personal gain.”

There is no evidence to link the alleged tree-killers to the logging company, whose spokesman told IWPR it was doing everything it could to preserve trees and give them a chance to grow again even if they had dried out.

Abdul Qayum Afghan, head of environmental protection for Herat province, said he had heard reports of acid attacks on trees and his department was investigating, but it was unclear who the perpetrators were working for.

“Each tree that is cut down does great damage to the environment,” he said. “One pine tree produces enough oxygen for 50 people annually and maintains moisture over an area of 80 square metres. Being so big, it also provides a refuge for birds and insects.

He added that his department was trying to plant young saplings in place of the dead trees.

Nur Khan Nikzad, the spokesman for Herat’s police, said four arrests had been made, but insisted the alleged perpetrators “are not connected with the company”. Instead, he said, they were individuals who wanted to clear trees standing in front of their homes or businesses.

Prosecution service officials refused to give details about the four people arrested.

Despite denials that the attacks on trees are being orchestrated, some residents remain sceptical, reflecting a wider cynicism about the officials who represent them.

“The people involved aren’t so crazy as to be doing it for no reason,” one man said. “There are definitely other hands at work behind it.”

Mohammad Ehsan Shafiq is an IWPR trained-reporter in Herat.