Sarhad Provincial Conservation Strategy - IUCN

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of predators and prey species, but the snow leopard
deserves as much attention as the western tragopan.
Just under way, supported by the United Nations
Development Programme (UNDP)/GEF funding, is an
IUCN-led project in Chitral District and the Northern
Areas to use community-based approaches in wildlife
conservation. Under this project—based on a successful
experiment initiated by WWF Pakistan and
the Northern Areas Administration in the Bar
Valley—the community residents of three other valleys
will receive training in wildlife management and be
asked to define and manage conservation areas in
exchange for a portion of the revenues received from
any sustainable use programme that is also implemented.
In addition, new initiatives are also under
way to promote the establishment of private game
reserves, with 75% of the revenues accruing to the
private landholder.
These are all useful experiments and steps in the
right direction, but at the end of each, there remains
the fundamental problem of the lack of core institutional
capacity to sustain the programmes once the
projects are complete. Even though many communitybased
programmes are designed for sustainability,
the broad range of inter-linked threats to biodiversity
due to population growth and deforestation remain.
Therefore, the problems must be tackled holistically.
But the Agriculture Department and the DFFW do not
have the resources, personnel, or the training to continue
programmes in research, management, or
enforcement. A quick action plan is essential, as is a
longer-term institution-strengthening initiative.
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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
The Biodiversity Action Plan
The Government of Pakistan’s endorsement and ratification
of the international Convention on
Biological Diversity means that a national
Biodiversity Action Plan must be developed. Due to
the nature of the Constitution in Pakistan, however,
much of the implementation requires the participation
and action of the provincial governments. This
commitment is further reinforced by the endorsement
of Agenda 21, which offers in several chapters
guidance on the conservation of biodiversity. World
160 SARHAD PROVINCIAL CONSERVATION STRATEGY
Bank funding is now confirmed to begin this work
as of July 1996.
The Federal Government, under the auspices of the
National Council for the Conservation of Wildlife, has
established a team consisting of both Federal and
provincial levels of Government plus IUCN, WWF,
and Birdlife International to help develop the Action
Plan. Implementation will require intensive work by
provincial officials, who do not presently have the staff
or resources to do the needed surveys. Thus significant
additional funding requests will also be forwarded to
the GEF and other potential donors. Given that GEF
was established to facilitate precisely this form of activity,
Pakistani officials are optimistic that resources will
be made available by the international community.
Although much of the work required will involve
cooperation with other provinces, a great deal of
work will be specific to the NWFP. So in effect an
NWFP action plan will be developed, and this will
be also seen as an element of SPCS implementation.
A Round Table of NWFP biodiversity specialists will
be established to oversee the provincial aspects of
the Action Plan. Implementation of the Action Plan
will include the development of a parks and protected
areas system, based on representative ecosystems.
It will also include measures for biodiversity
conservation outside protected areas.
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Parks & Protected Are a s
One of the principal tools for in situ protection of biodiversity
is a system of parks and protected areas.
The legislation that created these in Pakistan provides
for three categories: national parks, wildlife sanctuaries,
and game reserves. The first two categories strictly
protect wildlife, while the third allows for some
consumptive uses. The system is considered inadequate
by most analysts. The Environmental Profile, for
example, noted that only 3 of the 12 main ecosystem
types of the NWFP receive any protection coverage,
and the extent of coverage of even these is poor.
Only 6.14% of the province can be considered to
have some formal protection, and many observers
report that the areas are inadequately protected, in
the sense that there are no management plans and