Munaza Kazmi
Munaza KazmiIslamabad was built to be different. Surrounded by the Margalla Hills and laid out with tree-lined sectors, it was Pakistan’s “City of Forests.” Walk through F-6 or E-7 in spring and you still see it — jacaranda blooms, pine shade, birdsong. But that green is thinning, and the city is paying for it.
Tree loss in Islamabad isn’t from one big event. It’s death by a thousand cuts. Housing schemes and farmhouses eat into scrub forest on the outskirts. Roads get wider, parking lots get bigger, and mature roadside trees are the first to go. Inside the Margalla Hills National Park, illegal cutting and encroachment fragment the canopy. In foothill villages, trees still fall for fuel and land clearing.
The Pakistan Meteorological Department and CDA studies both pointed out, Islamabad is getting hotter, faster than many other cities.
It’s a matter of concern for not only the departments but for every resident, let me tell you how. First, heat. A single mature tree can cool its surroundings by 5°C to 8°C. Remove hundreds per sector and you get hotter footpaths, higher electricity bills, and more heat stroke cases in May and June.
Second, water. The Margallas recharge groundwater and protect the Rawal Lake catchment. When trees go, rain runs off instead of soaking in. That means more erosion, more silt in Rawal Lake, and more pressure on our taps.
Third, air and wildlife. Trees filter dust and smog. The Margallas also shelter leopards, deer, monkeys, and hundreds of bird species. Lose the forest, and we lose both clean air and the ecosystem that keeps it.
Before this turns into most alarming Islamabad must Protect what’s left: Enforce the Margalla boundary without exceptions. Use satellite monitoring and citizen reporting to stop new encroachment and illegal felling. Mandatory tree replacement: Treat a 30-year-old tree like infrastructure. If a project removes one, it must relocate or plant five native saplings on-site.
Planting the right plant in the right place: Shift to native species — chir pine, phulai, kahu, jaman, local oaks. Use Miyawaki micro-forests in schools, hospitals, and empty plots for fast shade. Plan green into the city: Mandate 20%+ tree cover and functional parks in all new housing schemes. No housing plan should be approved without a certified green map.
Islamabad still has an advantage most capitals lost long ago: mountains at its edge and room for trees on every street. If we keep cutting, we trade that for heat, dust, and water stress.
If we protect and replant, the capital can stay what it was meant to be — cool, green, and liveable.
