Sarhad Provincial Conservation Strategy - IUCN

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A S S E S S I N G P R O G R E S S T O W A R D S S U S T A I N A B I L I T Y
provided sufficient resources for the ‘process’ elements
for this programme to proceed. In addition,
some ‘seed’ funding is available for fledgling programmes
in support of non-governmental organizations,
sustainable land use programmes, and a
Chitral District Strategy, among others.
But all the programmes require more significant
funding. Other donors are needed in order to implement
the strategy fully. There is definite interest in the
SPCS, as demonstrated by the good attendance at the
various donor coordination meetings. Indeed donors
such as Germany have already agreed to fund some
aspects of the work (such as improvement of urban
environment in Peshawar—the Peshawar District
Strategy). Others, such as Canada, Norway, the
Netherlands, and the European Union, are also generally
pleased that the NWFP is setting its environment
and development priorities through the SPCS.
By 1998, the priority-setting process will be in line
with the financial planning cycle of the Government
of NWFP, and there will be a more rational connection
between environmental priority-setting and financial
reality.
This is quite an important achievement because it
is often the case that governments worldwide do not
make a link between financial planning and the environment.
The ‘greening’ of Government budgets is
clearly becoming a priority, but it is still too often the
case that Government decides on infrastructure or
other development priorities first, and then considers
that an environmental impact assessment process will
be sufficient to transform the project into ‘sustainable
development’.
Also, many conventional economists still use the
term ‘sustainability’ in a strictly financial sense. This
perspective will take time to change, and, again, it
236 SARHAD PROVINCIAL CONSERVATION STRATEGY
should not just be an analysis undertaken in the context
of environmental impact assessment. A sustainability
analysis, before proceeding with a project, is
the appropriate approach. Institutions such as the
International Institute for Environment and
Development in the United Kingdom and the
International Institute for Sustainable Development in
Canada have research teams staffed by economists
from developing countries working on the topic of
assessing progress towards sustainability. Work in
Canada on ‘greening’ Government budgets is under
way, and the applicability of this work to Pakistan
will be examined. By aligning SPCS priorities with
the financial planning cycle, this problem will begin
to be solved.
Optimism must prevail, if this project is to succeed.
No matter how long it takes, the sustainable
development of the NWFP is crucial to the survival of
the human species. Even partial success can provide
inspiration for the rest of Pakistan, and eventually for
the balance of south and central Asia. A region
racked by decades of warfare, with untold environmental
problems, needs a role model. The NWFP
can provide that leadership.
In 1997, it will be appropriate to do an evaluation
of the Transition to Implementation phase of the
SPCS, and to prepare a new Strategy, linked to the
Ninth Five-Year Plan. But this will have far more significance
than the first one, given the dawning of a
new millennium. In fact, the next phase of the SPCS
might best be called the SPCS 2000 with an even
longer term vision than the five-year planning cycle
and work plan that it would contain. The SPCS 2000
would therefore have a more symbolic component as
well—defining with more precision a vision of sustainability
for decades to come.