Freezing Malakand Turns to Firewood as Forests Disappear

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Peshawar: As a biting cold wave sweeps across the flood-hit Malakand division, temperatures have plunged sharply, forcing affected residents to scramble for warmth—especially through long, freezing nights.

While the sudden cold spell has deepened hardships for households in Buner district, it has created an unexpected windfall for firewood sellers whose dwindling businesses have sprung back to life.

Along the bazaars of Daggar, firewood stalls that once stood quiet now hum with activity. Vendors wrapped in woolen shawls huddle around stacks of timber, weighing, chopping, and tying bundles as customers queue in the chill.

“Business is booming as temperatures drop,” says Muhammad Imran, a firewood vendor in Daggar Bazaar. “Last week, I hardly made a sale. Since the cold wave hit Buner, I’ve been selling out faster than I can stock up. It has brought happiness to wood sellers.”

With gas outages worsening and electricity costs rising, families across the flood-affected Malakand division—hit by devastating floods in August last year—are turning back to firewood. Once a seasonal necessity, firewood has now become a winter mainstay.

For many rural households in Buner, Swat, Shangla, Malakand, Chitral, and Dir, it remains the most reliable and affordable heating option.

“It’s a bit expensive now, but we have no choice as LPG prices are also rising,” says Aziz Buner, a local journalist. “Gas pressure drops every evening, and it’s unavailable even for breakfast. With this cold, firewood is our only dependable option for survival.”

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In many households, children and elderly family members gather around firewood flames to share warmth and exchange stories through the night.

Aziz urges the KP government to regulate firewood prices and launch a crackdown against the timber mafia.

Residents say NGO activity in flood-affected areas has slowed significantly, leaving victims desperately waiting for government assistance—particularly for the reconstruction of homes damaged in last year’s floods.

Demand Skyrockets as Prices Rise

The surge in demand has pushed firewood prices higher across Malakand. Sellers report that bundles now fetch significantly increased rates as households, tandoors, hotels, and marriage halls rush to stock up for November to January—the coldest period of the year.

On the busy Pirbaba–Daggar Road, firewood dealer Asmat Shah works against time to fulfill an avalanche of winter orders. On nearly two acres of land lie giant stacks of logs—shisham, kikar, poplar, neem, ber, pulai, amaltas, soru, and jaman—waiting to be chopped into heating fuel.

“A mound of firewood costs Rs800 to Rs1000 depending on the timber quality,” he explains. “Demand skyrockets in winter because gas is short and LPG is too expensive. Big buyers like tandoors, marriage halls, and hotels get preference because of higher profit margins.”

His five laborers sort, chop, and bundle the wood, much of which is purchased cheaply from farmers in Mardan, Swat, Nowshera, Charsadda, Peshawar, and Upper Buner, before being transported to his depot.

A Shrinking Forest Cover

But as firewood sellers enjoy their busiest season in years, the booming trade exposes a deeper and more alarming issue: deforestation.

A drive along the Daggar Road reveals yards overflowing with cut logs and uprooted tree trunks—stark reminders of the fast-shrinking forests of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Pakistan’s National Forest Policy 2015 estimates that the country’s forest cover is already a meagre five percent, shrinking by 27,000 hectares each year, mostly from private and community-owned lands in KP and Gilgit-Baltistan.

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“Globally, around 10 million hectares of forest disappear every year,” says Gulzar Rehman, former Conservator Forests. “But KP is losing its green gold even faster due to population pressure, poverty, climate change, and unregulated logging.”

Pakistan’s population jump—from 37 million in 1947 to 223 million in 2022, with projections surpassing 330 million by 2050—has intensified dependence on forests. About 68 percent of the country’s wood is consumed as firewood.

Gulzar cites the decades-long impact of Afghan refugee influx in KP and erstwhile FATA, saying that even tree roots were dug up for survival. Yet, the global community “made no significant investment in restoring forestry resources in these areas.”

Environmental Consequences Deepen

Experts warn that relentless deforestation threatens wildlife, biodiversity, agriculture, and water systems. In watershed regions, tree loss has reduced crop yields and decreased downstream water flows.

In coastal areas—especially Sindh and Balochistan—deforestation has worsened flooding and accelerated seawater intrusion, contributing to disasters seen during the 2010, 2022, and 2025 floods.

“If we don’t switch to alternative energy sources like solar, wind, hydro, and biomass, we may lose our remaining forests in the coming decades,” Gulzar cautions. He calls for a nationwide “green emergency” and bilateral agreements to curb timber smuggling.

Timber Mafia

Former Environment Minister Wajid Ali Khan criticizes past political leadership for failing to crack down on the timber mafia, alleging that even saplings from the Billion Tree Tsunami initiative were prematurely cut in KP.

However, Forest Department officials highlight stringent measures under the KP Forest Ordinance 2002, which grants the Forest Force police-like powers, including arrest, search, and seizure rights—and even the authority to shoot in self-defense during anti-smuggling operations.

The force has expanded its jurisdiction into merged districts and established new check-posts along major roads.

Experts continue to push for specialized forest courts, upgraded communication systems, more vehicles, and better-equipped lockups to strengthen actions against illegal logging. They also stress the need for the COP29 UN Fund to become operational to support climate-vulnerable countries like Pakistan.

A Winter of Survival—and Warning

For now, firewood sellers across KP enjoy their busiest season in years. Their yards echo with the rhythmic thud of axes and saws.

But behind every crackling fire that warms a home or bakes a naan lies a stark reminder of forests silently disappearing in the background.

As winter deepens its grip, Malakand’s residents are caught between immediate survival and a long-term ecological crisis—a dilemma that grows more urgent with every passing year.