Pakistan Had Carried Out An Extensive Exercise In Environmental Arena By Preparing National Conservation Strategy:Mushahidullah

ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 21st May, 2018 ) :***EMBARGOED till 22 May*** Federal Minister for Climate Change Senator Mushahidullah Khan conveyed his message on International Biodiversity Day being celebrated every year on 22nd May.

The theme of this year International Biodiversity Day is "Celebrating 25 years of Action for Biodiversity". Federal Minister for Climate Change Senator Mushahidullah Khan said Pakistan became a party to the convention on biological diversity (CBD) in 1994.

Prior to that, Pakistan had carried out an extensive exercise in environmental arena by preparing National Conservation Strategy. It was a response to the World Conservation Strategy in 1980 and subsequent UNEP led expert meetings in 1980s.

Pakistan's National Conservation Strategy has elements of biodiversity consideration and its sustainable use reflecting the priority and efforts for conservation. Legal framework in the form of provincial wildlife legislation was in place since the very beginning and Pakistan became party to other International Conventions related with conservation of habitats and biodiversity.

In addition, realizing the significance of species and habitats, Protected Areas network was established in 1970s. He further highlighted that since becoming the party to the Convention, Pakistan prepared its Biodiversity Action plan as a guiding document in identification of conservation priorities resulting in a number of conservation projects including Protected Areas Management project, Mountain Areas Conservancy Protect.

Stakeholders' involvement and local communities remained key factor in implementation of these projects. Success of these projects have paved path to replicate these projects in other areas. Sustainability of these projects was also a unique feature to promise the long lasting impact for conservation and sustainable use of biological resources.

The endowment funds created under these projects have helped in replicating similar funds for other species and habitat conservation. He also emphasized that participatory conservation efforts have been exercise in Pakistan in which communities were actively involved to ensure long term sustainability of the species conservation.

Trophy hunting programme of Northern Pakistan initiated in early 1990s with six animals quota has been a big success and it is now replicated in all the provinces and Gilgit ,Baltistan involving conservation and sustainable harvest of ungulate species through local communities.

The programme has helped in improving populations of Markhore, Urial, Ibex, Sind wild goat and Blue sheep.

The programme is adopted abroad with a higher degree of success in species and habitat conservation.

The benefits of conservation are enjoyed by the local and custodian communities. He further added that in the CBD era, Pakistan has exhibited progress in declaration of Protected Areas based on representation of priority areas.

Recently, Astola Island has been declared as first Marine Protected Area and it has led to further negotiations and consultation for declaration of other Marine Protected Areas with high conservation priorities.

It will help in achieving the conservation targets as well as protection of our marine environment. He also highlighted that In regional context, Pakistan has been an active member of SAARC, ECO and other regional fora like Global Snow Leopard and Ecosystem Protection Program (GSLEP), South Asia Wildlife Enforcement Network (SAWEN), North Indian Ocean Marine Turtle Taskforce for joint efforts in conservation of Species and habitats.

Ratification of Cartagena Protocol on Bio-safety is considered as a significant milestones for Pakistan. The protocols address challenging tasks of curbing negative impacts of new and emerging technologies genetic engineering and biotechnology towards environmental and human health.

Pakistan's Bio-safety rules and guidelines are already practiced; the capacity of the institutions will be enhanced for effective implementation. He also conveyed that Pakistan has ratified Nagoya Protocol back in 2013 and negotiations with different stakeholders on legislative and administrative measure are going on.

The protocol will help in ensuring fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising out of utilization of genetic resources. Biological resources being a provincial subject demand a greater harmony in legislative, administrative and policy measures.

He stressed that on implementation of the provisions of the convention, Pakistan has been regularly submitting its National reports that reflect national efforts for biodiversity conservation. Considering the domain of Biodiversity, a strong linkage with other sectors is very important.

In this regard, biodiversity concerns are incorporated in other sectors including forestry and agriculture. The successes in conservation of species and habitats in some areas go along with challenges and barriers. Water scarcity,dependency of people on biodiversity resources for food and health, agriculture practices has posed some challenges for our scientists and policymakers.