Abstract
Pakistan is a sub-tropical country lying between 24° and 37° North latitude and 61° and 75° East longitude (Anon., 1996). The total land area of the country is 87.98 million hectares (Amjad and Shah, 1996) which can be divided into four physical sub-divisions of Northern and Western mountains, the Indus basin and the Coastal zone. The northern mountains constitute the major portion of the watersheds of the Indus and Jhelum river system. The land in these watersheds is mainly in private ownership. wooded areas are interspersed with agriculture fields and often steep slopes are cultivated. Out of about 88 million ha total land area of the country, 26.6 million ha comprise the uplands, where watersheds of various sizes are located (Ashfaq, 1991). Since there is only 1.27 million ha of productive forests in the country (Amjad and Shah 1996), it is presumed that the remaining 25 million ha of watershed lands are cultivated, grazing and barren area, which are sources of siltation in Mangla and Tarbela reservoirs on river Jhelum and Indus, respectively.
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