From hegemony to nature-based solutions: Evolution of Pakistan’s forestry sector

• Pakistan’s state has consistently responded poorly to sustainability challenges due to the state's centralised control over environmental and forest policy. • Centralised and top-down governance has led to reactive policymaking in Pakistan’s forest sector. • Nature-Based Solutions (NBS) can be a promising way forward to address forest challenges and promote sustainable practices. Pakistan is a forest-poor country and, in recent years, it has faced growing climate challenges such as increased severe flooding and extreme weather events. Moreover, long-standing deforestation and environmental degradation are problems that threaten its ecological stability and economic resources, including forests. However, hardly any scholarly research tackling deforestation, flooding, and other climate challenges forms a gap in the literature regarding Pakistan's forestry and governance. This paper aims to fill that gap by exploring the key trends and challenges in Pakistan's forestry over the years and how these challenges could be effectively addressed. The inductive content analysis method is employed to analyse qualitative data, i.e., thematic interviews (N=8) and policy documents (N=5), and descriptive analysis to summarise quantitative data, i.e., questionnaires (N=22). Key findings are 1) the state has consistently responded poorly to the forest and sustainability challenges, essentially due to the state's centralised or hegemonic control over environmental and forest policy. 2) The authoritarian governance model, being a manifestation of Gramsci's notion of hegemony, has led to the reactive policy-making approach in Pakistan's forest sector, which is not well-equipped to cater to sustainability issues. 3) Nature-Based Solutions (NBS) – reforestation, disaster risk reduction, and biodiversity preservation – are a promising way forward to address forestry sector challenges and promote sustainable practices. In essence, this paper analyses the effectiveness of NBS to address forest governance issues and sustainability challenges by exploring the ways in which NBS-inspired actions can address top-down and reactive policymaking in Pakistan. This is also relevant, especially for other cases on NBS in the global South, as a way to tackle key environmental challenges and climate-induced disasters.