Following are a few
examples of environmental work that has been carried out in Pakistan
in order to conserve species and the associated habitat. The
projects cover a range of topics and issues that contribute towards
the early development of Pakistan’s environment.
Himalayan Jungle Project (HJP)
The Himalayan Jungle Project (HJP) has worked since 1991 with local
communities in the Palas Valley situated in two districts, Kohistan
and Batgram of North West Frontier Province (NWFP), Pakistan. It
aimed at protecting one of the richest areas of biological diversity
in Pakistan. Its approach was to empower and enable local
communities to establish sustainable, integrated natural resource
management in the Valley and soto reduce any obligation to degrade
the natural heritage (Bass 1994).After the completion of the first
phase of the project 1991-94, an inception year (1994-95) was
supported by the European Commission (EC) as a basis for
consolidating the work and for building up to a further phase of the
HJP. This extension provisionally termed the Palas Conservation and
Development Project (PCDP), which was approved in principle by the
Government of NWFP (GoNWFP) and Federal Governments through a
concept paper prepared by HJP.
Project Website:
N/A
Palas Conservation and Development Project (PCDP)
The PCDP extends and expands the work and approach of the HJP, which
was fully operational till 1994 and later on started till 1997 with
the help of Birdlife International and 1997-2000 with World Wide
Fund (WWF) support. The PCDP aims to safeguard biodiversity in Palas
by enabling local communities to tackle the linked causes of poverty
and incipient natural resource degradation, through an integrated
and participatory approach to conservation and development.
The PCDP started
its five years operation in January 2001 and addresses key national
and provincial policy objectives. These objectives are focused on
natural resource management and poverty alleviation, notably those
of the National Conservation Strategy (NCS), the Sarhad Provincial
Conservation Strategy (SPCS), the Forestry Sector Master Plan (FSMP)
and the Social Action Programme (SAP). PCDP will also help Pakistan
to meet its obligation under the Biodiversity Conservation
Convention (CBD), which the country has ratified.
Project Website:
www.palasvalley.org
Indus Dolphin Project (IDP)
In 1977 the Indus Dolphin Project was born after Giorgio
Pilleri’s scientific expedition (1974) revealed that in the stretch
of 170 km of the River Indus there were a total of only 150
dolphins. This discovery led the Government to mark it as an
endangered species and declare the area between the Sukkur and Guddu
barrages as Dolphin Reserve. The IDP still continues today and has
resulted in controlling the decline of this endemic mammal. The
numbers have now reached over 1,000 mark.
Project Website:
www.indusdolphin.org.pk
Marine Turtle Conservation Project
The Sindh Wildlife
Department started this project in 1980 to protect the turtles that
come to nest on Karachi’s beaches. The staff regularly collects
turtle eggs from the beaches and shift them into secure enclosures.
The hatchlings are then counted, weighed and measured and released
into the sea. The project has managed to release 430,000 hatchlings
into the sea and tagged 2,000 mother turtles.
Project Website:
N/A
Kirthar National Park
This park is one of
Pakistan’s Protected Areas and also a reason for many controversies.
A plan to build the Indus Highway was initiated to link the Northern
Areas to Karachi. Part of the road was to pass through the park,
which would have seriously threatened its biodiversity. The issue
was exposed by the media and NGO such as the WWF filed litigation
cases against the construction through the park. These cases forced
the Government to conduct an Environmental Impact Assessment, which
revealed that the economic benefits of the highway were far less
than the negative impacts it would have.
Project Website:
http://www.unescap.org/drpad/vc/conference/bg_pk_57_ihk.htm
Torghar Conservation Project (TCP)
This project is a legitimate,
private, ‘grassroots’ conservation programme which was started by a
group of volunteers in the Torghar Hills in Balochistan to control
the illegal hunting of the Suleiman Markhor (Capra falconeri
jerdoni) and Afghan Urial (Ovis vignei blandfordi), which
had resulted in marked decreases in the two species. In 1985, TCP
was initiated at a time when the endangered species such as the
Suleiman Markhor was at the verge of extinction in one of its most
important habitat of Torghar Mountain and Afghan urial were left in
very few numbers. Since the inception, majority of the tribesmen
were doubtful about the benefits of conservation. They believed that
it would only provide jobs to af ew individual as game guards
(Johnson, 1994; STEP, 2000).In 1994 an NGO called the Society for
Torghar Environmental Protection (STEP) was formed to administer the
project. Here as well the community participation is evident. The
local people were employed as game guards to protect an area of
about a 1,000 sq.km. Strictly controlled hunting is allowed to
generate some revenue for the locals. There has been a trophy
harvest of only 40 animals in twelve years and STEP has been able to
enforce a complete ban on unauthorised hunting. According to a
survey conducted in 1994 the population of both the species had gone
up from 100 to more than 1900 animals. The universal acceptance of
conservation truly happened with the introduction of developmental
schemes that benefited the entire community. The people of Torghar
have learnt that conservation when practiced correctly brings pride
and economical benefits to the entire community. They have realised
that flourishing populations of Urial and Markhor will guarantee a
bright ecologica land economical future for Torghar.
Project Website:
http://www.un.org.pk/undp/sgp/green-pioneers/chap-13.htm
Conservation of
Chilghoza Forest and associated biodiversity of the Suleiman Range,
Balochistan
Spread over an area of 260km2,
the Suleiman Range Chilghoza Forest is the largest stand of pure
Chilghoza pine in the world. In addition to serving as a critical
habitat for the endemic Suleiman Markhor, the forest is an extremely
vital watershed for the local residents. There are 50,000 local
residents that earn a part, or all, of their income from this forest
either through the sale of Chilghoza seeds or through timber related
activities. In view of these threats, WWF-P undertook a pilot
conservation initiative in 1992 in the Balochistan side of the
forest. The five years of experience while working with the local
tribal communities has led WWF-Pakistan to extend its outreach to a
larger area (WWF, 2000a).The pilot project interventions and the
development of rapport with the local communities provided inroads
in the generally conservative, inward looking and suspicious people.
Further, in the light of the success of the pilot phase and keeping
in view the community’s commitment and willingness to participate in
the project interventions, WWF-P planned to extend its conservation
and development programme through a long term strategy.
Project Website:
N/A
Maintaining biodiversity with rural community
development
The principal aim of this
project Pre-Investment Feasibility (PRIF) implemented on the ground
by IUCN-Pakistan in collaboration with Northern Areas (NAs) and NWFP
Wildlife Department is to test if conservation of Pakistan’s
biodiversity can be enhanced by providing rural communities with the
technical skills and necessary legal empowerment to manage wild
species and habitat for long term sustainable use (IUCN, GoP and
UNDP, 1999). IUCN-Pakistan and the Government of NWFP’s Wildlife
Department jointly implemented this project. Rural communities were
active partners in this project and over 40 villages were involved
in the first two years. During the process, the objectives of the
project were achieved in collaboration with the active involvement
of the local communities in both areas: NWFP and NAs. The technical
skills of the rural communities were enhanced in various aspects of
the project activities which have resulted in the successful harvest
of their wild species generating revenue for them, without
jeopardizing their population status. Legal empowerment has been
provided through establishment of institutional mechanisms for
collaborative management of wild species with the participation of
local communities and government staff. These mechanisms include
joint management committees and valley level wildlife conservation
plans. The hypothesis was approved in this approach that enhanced
technical capacity which lead to the conservation of biodiversity.
Project Website:
N/A
Mountain Areas Conservancy Project (MACP)
Based on the Pre-Investment
Feasibility (PRIF) phase of the project, a full scale GEF project
entitled “Mountain Areas Conservancy Project” is being implemented
in the four conservancies of NWFP and NAs. This project includes the
baseline information from the previous project and uses the lessons
learnt during that phase (GOP, 1999).The full scale GEF project is
being implemented in its full capacity in the four conservancies and
the lessons learnt during the previous phase is being implemented.
The lessons applied to a wide range of different communities by the
project are very successful in its implementation and is leading to
the long-term sustainable use of the resources. Both the
biodiversity project (PRIF) and the MACP are initiatives meant to
achieve goal of biodiversity conservation and management through
community involvement in Pakistan. They are the best examples of
integrating technical (biological) areas of work with the
cross-cutting tools of socio-economic sciences, in order to support
stakeholders in effectively managing their environments.
Project Website:
http://www.macp-pk.org
http://www.gefpak.gov.pk/MACP.htm
Conservation of key wildlife species and their
habitat in the Northern Areas: Northern Areas Conservation Project (NACP)
The NAs of Pakistan serve as a
habitat for a number of globally significant wildlife species. There
are five selected sites/valleys for this project representing rich
wildlife and habitat coupled with the threats faced by these
wildlife species. The valleys provide critical habitats to Musk deer
(Moschus chrysogaster), Snow leopard (Uncia uncia),
Astore markhor (Capra falconeri jerdoni) and Himalayan ibex (Capra
ibex sibirica), Woolly flying squirrel (Eupetaurus cinereus)
and the Brown bear (Ursus ursus). The survival of these
species is under threat from the loss of habitat stemming from human
activities, excessive hunting by locals and outsiders, and weak
enforcement of wildlife protection laws (WWF,2000b).Over the project
period from 1992-2000, WWF-P has been successful in implementing a
hunting ban while enhancing the socio-economic conditions of the
resident communities through various development activities
including bridge construction, irrigation channels and agricultural
crops development. These have resulted in an increase in the
wildlife population ultimately generating revenue from these
resources through community based trophy hunting.
Project Website:
http://www.wcs.org/international/Asia/pakistan/pakistanprojects
Conservation of the snow leopards in northern
Pakistan
The IUCN Red Data Book lists
the snow leopard as a globally endangered species. It is estimated
that the total remaining population is 7,000–10,000, out of that
approximately 300 are found in Pakistan. In a pilot phase project,
WWF-P has identified critical habitats of the snow leopard in a few
regions and now extended its scope of activities for the
conservation of this flagship species by focusing on identifying
critical habitats in other areas (WWF,2000b).Looking into the
different studies and applying the following lessons in this
project, it is learnt that if the livestock protection is enhanced
and improved through training and skill development of the grazier
communities, snow leopard killing is reduced to a large extent. This
project is still under implementation and the results are needed to
be evaluated in detail, once the project will be completed.
Project Website:
www.snowleopard.org
www.snowleopardconservancy.org
Conservation of migratory birds in Chitral,
NWFP
Chitral lies on the
migratory route of several globally important bird species. These
birds face enormous hunting pressure as it is estimated that about
200,000 of the one million migratory birds passing through Chitral
are killed during migration. Given these drastic figures, WWF-Pakistan
initiated efforts to reduce the hunting pressure in 1992 (WWF,
2000b).The awareness and education efforts proved quite successful
when, in addition to reduced local hunting, communities also started
establishing private bird refuges. In addition, establishing nature
clubs in high pressure hunting areas and formation of conservation
associations comprised of few known hunters has a great impact on
the project.
Project Website:
N/A
Himalayan Wildlife Project (HWP)
Work on the conservation of
brown bears in Deosai Plains started in1993. It involved the
Northern Areas Forest Department (NAFD) and the surrounding resident
communities. In view of the experience with similar situations
elsewhere in NAs, participatory approaches towards management based
on the active involvement of the local communities needed to be
explored in this project. Earlier literature reports revealed its
distribution over 300km from Deosai. However hunting and capture in
the recent past have drastically diminished their number, and at
present the surviving population is found only in Deosai. This
project was initiated with the intent to protect the brown bear from
total elimination (HWP,1994). The active involvement of the local
community and with the collaboration of the NAFD has resulted in the
declaration of Deosai National Park and the development of its
Management Plan. The surviving population has now increased to 35-40
in the year 2001from 15-20 in 1993. Effective control on the
poaching by the project team and the local involvement has a great
impact in achieving the project objectives. Annual monitoring of the
project is under process by the HWP, the local communities and the
NAFD together.
Project Website:
http://hwf.org.pk
Conservation of Chiltan Markhor in the
Hazarganji Chiltan National Park.
Hazarganji Chiltan National
Park is located close to Quetta and is the only remaining habitat of
Chiltan Markhor (Capra aegagrus chialtanensis) in the
country. WWF-Pakistan with the financial support of World Bank was
involved in developing the management plan of the park and its
subsequent implementation with the Balochistan Forest Department.
The endemic Chiltan Markhor is only found in the Hazarganji Chiltan
National Park of Balochistan (WWF, 2000b), which made the basis of
this project. In collaboration with the provincial government, WWF-P
has prepared a comprehensive management plan for the conservation of
biodiversity in the Hazarganji Chiltan National Park. The plan
lays a special emphasis on improving the status of the Chiltan
Markhor and has designed extensive activities for this purpose.
These activities are based on the lessons learnt during the planning
stages of developing this plan. The failures in the effective
implementation of the plan were due to information gap between the
Balochistan Forest Department and WWF-Pakistan.
Project Website:
N/A
Protected Areas Management Project
This project will help conserve
nationally and globally important habitats and species in Pakistan's
three Protected Areas of Machiara in Azad Jammu and Kashmir, Hingol
in Balochistan, and Chitral Gol in the North-West Frontier Province.
It will specifically benefit the poor and women of the custodian
communities, who make the most intensive use of natural resources
due to lack of other opportunities, by providing skills training and
micro-credit. The project will seek to conserve natural habitats and
arrest the decline of species; improve the capacity of government
agencies and community institutions; improve collection of
bio-diversity data; and support environmental awareness campaigns
for the general public, school children and tourists. The
preliminary work on these PAs has been initiated in there spective
regions in collaboration with the relevant stakeholders. All the
issues as mentioned above will be undertaken keeping in view the
processes involved in it including the stakeholders’ analysis, need
identification, community and local NGOs/CBOs network involvement.
This will help involve all the stakeholders in developing the
management plans for all PAs and their subsequent implementation.
These processes will pave a long way for the effective monitoring of
the PAs in future which will help improve the biodiversity of the
parks.
Project Website:
http://www.gefonline.org/projectDetails.cfm?projID=87
Bear-baiting in Pakistan
Bear-baiting is an age old
activity in the sub -continent that came with the Britishers. This
game became popular in the region especially amongst the big
landlords and gypsies. The herders or the graziers during livestock
grazing capture the bear cubs from the wild, sell them to the
trainers who ultimately train them and later on purchased by the
gypsies. WWF-Pakistan on the request of several national and
international organisations conducted a nation wide survey of the
bear-baiting in Pakistan. This revealed some useful information
regarding the number of captive bears and the cruelty to animals
during bear baiting. WWF-Pakistan has been successful in
collaboration with the World Society for the Protection of Animals (WSPA)
in imposing a ban on this illegal practice. The district
administration in each bear-baiting zone played an active role in
putting an end to this cruel sport. This ban has led to a sharp
decrease in the capture of bear cubs from the wild and paved a long
way in improving the status of ear species especially the Himalayan
black bear.
Project Website:
http://www.wspa.org.uk/campaigns.asp?campaignType=5
Protection and Management of Pakistan Wetlands
Project
The Protection and Management
of Pakistan Wetlands Project is a UNDP/GEF funded project under the
PDF-B phase (UNDP, 2000). The executing agency is the Government of
Pakistan, which has delegated the implementation responsibility of
this project to WWF Pakistan. The overall objective of this phase is
to undertake the necessary preparatory work and lay a strong
foundation for the successful implementation of the full GEF project
for the conservation and sustainable use of the biodiversity of
Pakistan wetlands. The full GEF project will contribute towards the
fulfilment of the Government’s obligations under various
conventions. The project will strengthen government and local
capacity to protect and manage selected representative and globally
important wetlands ecosystems. The project would also develop
mechanisms to involve local communities, line departments and NGOs
to conserve and manage the wetland ecosystems (GoP & GEF,
1999).During the PDF (B) Phase, four different wetland complexes
were identified through GIS and remote sensing techniques.
Additionally, field work was carried out to establish floral and
faunal baseline data in collaboration with the line departments and
local NGOs/CBOs. Threats to these resources were identified in
collaboration with the key stakeholders – the communities. This
project was very useful in collecting information at very low level
especially at the planning stage that fed into the detailed project
document for funding by the international donors. This project
objective is based on two sub -sets of objectives: The first address
important issues such as policy, awareness and creation of an
enabling environment for wetlands conservation at the national level
and the other deals with the management of four wetlands complexes,
carefully selected to broadly represent conditions in each of four
wetlands eco-regions in the country.
Project Website:
http://www.pakistanwetlands.org/
http://www.gefpak.gov.pk/wetlands.htm
