Sarhad Provincial Conservation Strategy - IUCN

esearchers. The wide altitudinal and climatic variations
within the province yields a wide variation in
agro-ecological capability, vegetation zonation, forest
cover types, soil types, and other characteristics. Efforts
by various agencies to classify or zone these features
have led to the development of several different classification
schemes.
The choice of a particular eco-region classification
system affects the mechanism the Government
chooses to protect plant biodiversity. The size, location,
and type of conservation reserves will be
affected if representative areas are to be set aside
on an ecosystem basis.
As in the case of animal species, detailed investigations
of most plant species have not occurred and
it is difficult to be definitive about their status. This
situation will be partly ameliorated with the completion
of the biodiversity action plan, which is
described in more detail below.
A summary of known information on the NWFP
biodiversity is provided in Table 13.1.
1 3 . 2
T H R E ATS TO WILD FAUNA & FLORA
The biological diversity of the NWFP has been
described as the most varied in Pakistan, although it
also may have the dubious honour of being the most
threatened. The principal threats are overhunting,
ESTIMATED SPECIES DIVERSITY 1
B I O L O G I C A L D I V E R S I T Y , P A R K S & P R O T E C T E D A R E A S 13
overfishing, pollution, and habitat destruction due to
deforestation, land conversion to agriculture, soil erosion,
and overgrazing. Some cultural practices, such
as regarding species like snakes as pests and deliberately
destroying them, have also resulted in a loss of
biodiversity.
Of the 18 habitats in Pakistan defined by Roberts
(1977), 12 are found in the NWFP; many of these
are concentrated in the northern mountainous portion
of the province. None have been systematically investigated.
Population data for wildlife other than large
mammals and birds are incomplete, and very little
research has been done or is under way. Although
there are several excellent researchers in
Government, universities, and NGOs, it has become
increasingly clear that far more systematic work is
necessary. But the institutional capacity and resources
to undertake such work does not yet exist.
No definitive analysis of endangered animal
species has ever been undertaken in the NWFP, but
informal sources suggest that there have been several
extirpated or locally missing species and that mammals
and birds are threatened (M. Malik and A. Ahmed,
pers. communication). These are listed in Table 13.2.
The unknown status of so many of these species
demonstrates the need for more basic research on
wildlife populations. It is very difficult to work without
such basic data. Wildlife and parks management is
virtually impossible. Yet biodiversity is so essential to
TABLE 13.1
ESTIMATED ENDEMIC THREATENED
Mammals 158 2 2-6 20
Birds 666 7 25
Reptiles/Amphibians 174 ? 1
Fish 156 22 ?
Invertebrates ? 9+ ?
Flora 5,500-6,000 3 100 (approx) 1+
1 This ia a summary of information in the Environmental Profile. The authors stress that the data are estimates at best with very low confidence in other than the
mammal species. Much research remains to be done.
2 Total for all of Pakistan.
3 2,000 medicinal plants have been identified.
SARHAD PROVINCIAL CONSERVATION STRATEGY 157