Sarhad Provincial Conservation Strategy - IUCN

In mountainous areas such as Chitral, however,
particularly in the former princely states, there will
need to be resolution of now 30-year-old land tenure
disputes before any trust with local communities can be
established. In every meeting to date on community
involvement in parks and protected areas, two issues
are raised. One, people want a contract specifying the
right to participate in the management process, and
two, land ownership disputes must be settled before
participation can begin and an attitude of trust can be
engendered. This is a critical issue to be resolved by
the Government, not by decree or court decision, but
through fair, participatory arbitration.
1 3 . 3 . 6
Biodiversity Conservation Outside Pro t e c t e d
A re a s
Complementing a programme of legislative reform
should be a review of Government policy in general,
and of forestry and agriculture in particular, to provide
as much consistency as possible with the overall
biodiversity conservation goals. Such a policy review
would be part of the work plan of the implementing
body outlined later in this chapter.
The land use planning and integrated resource
management processes recommended elsewhere in
the SPCS will have the conservation of biodiversity as
one of the core values or objectives.
Biodiversity conservation as a fundamental component
of integrated resource management need not
be difficult to achieve. There are successful examples
in many developing countries, notably Nepal,
Bhutan, and Thailand. It is also true that as conservation
programmes are established they are proving to
have considerable economic value, particularly for
plant genetic resources for both medicinal and nutritionally
valuable species. To achieve these benefits,
however, the information must be actively pursued,
meaning that the very legal underpinning and the
terms of reference of the planning and management
process must mandate the conservation and documentation
of biological diversity.
Biosphere Reserves, a UNESCO designation, is
an important potential mechanism for integrating
biodiversity conservation with socio-economic devel-
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
opment. This programme, which has often been
overlooked or poorly implemented, uses a series of
buffer zones and economic cooperation areas
around a core protected area to help in the management
of some of the key resources that have been
the basis for the creation of the protected area.
For example, a park may be created to protect
markhor habitat and the species itself, but there may
be a buffer zone developed in which some timber harvesting
is allowed under a prescribed management
plan. This allows local people to keep using the land.
It also reduces local resistance and resentment about
the protected areas in which no human beings are
permitted, while protecting biodiversity. Moreover, it
serves as a very useful approach in areas where integrated
resource management is desirable.
1 3 . 3 . 7
I n s t i t u t i o n - s t rengthening for Biodiversity
C o n s e rvation, Parks & Protected Are a s
The institutions responsible for biodiversity conservation
in the NWFP do not have sufficient human or
financial resources to undertake the programme just
outlined. In the case of fauna, the DFFW has difficulty
managing the existing complement of small
national parks, wildlife sanctuaries, and game
reserves. Managing a complete system will not be
possible without considerable additional investment,
particularly in human resources. It should be possible
to raise additional financial resources through
expanded ecotourism and adventure travel in the
p r o v i n c e .
Similarly with flora, there are many individual
researchers working on very diverse species, both
wild and domestic, but no province-wide inventory
has been completed. Nor is it likely that one could be
done rapidly, given limited institutional capacities,
including the universities. In addition, the causes of
flora losse are even more complex than for animal
species, as they include overgrazing, deforestation,
land conversion, and direct pollution. These are very
confounding problems that must be dealt with in a
systematic and holistic manner.
Thus a commitment will be made to implement a
new institutional training initiative. This will view the
SARHAD PROVINCIAL CONSERVATION STRATEGY 165