Sarhad Provincial Conservation Strategy - IUCN

y the inclusion of various environmental screening
and review procedures in the proposed environmental
legislation.
Another related problem is that although the
Government has established the ES in the PE&D
Department and the EPA, significant environmental
and natural resource management responsibilities
are distributed throughout other governmental
departments, most notably Forests, Physical
Planning and Housing (PP&H), and Public Health
Engineering as well as some others. These, too,
need attention. There are discernible problems of
coordination among these departments, partially
due to the inflexibility of their mandates and limited
resources, but also due to the territoriality that
plagues Government worldwide. Thus, it may be
useful to consider a wholesale restructuring of
the environmental mandates of many of these
departments.
The case of the EPA is a special one, because its
mandate comes from Federal Government instructions
that are outdated and from legislation that is
unenforceable, the Environmental Protection
Ordinance 1983. The problem, in legal terms, is
discussed below, but institutionally the EPA is not
able to do its work, which is to enforce certain standards.
In reality it can undertake little more than
public relations activities, which it does well, and
some environmental research, for which it has some
well-trained and motivated staff. But it has little
equipment and almost no budget. An EPA strengthening
project sponsored by the World Bank has
been delayed so often that staff is demoralized and
unable to complete their basic tasks. Indeed, it is
questionable whether multilateral loans should be
used to strengthen departments that do not generate
revenue, although a fully functioning EPA may
reduce costs in other areas. In any event, a lack of
progress in EPA strengthening weakens considerably
the ability of the NWFP to implement the
S P C S .
Linked to the problem of administrative accountability
and the organization of Government is the
problem of outdated legislation and legislative gaps,
particularly in environmental sectors. There is also a
lack of respect for the law among the population in
G O V E R N A N C E & C A P A C I T Y D E V E L O P M E N T 6
general, a lack of knowledge about existing civil
rights, and a problem with enforceability. And there
are problems of outright corruption.
Law reform is possible, but inculcating a new
respect for the law and improving enforceability are
more difficult problems that will take time. A tendency
to create tough new laws and then use draconian
techniques to enforce them has occurred in the
past in Pakistan, and it has failed. It will be better to
produce laws that balance incentives and partnerships
with sanctions and penalties. It is also important
to take measures to involve and educate people
about the purpose and objectives of the statutes and
to provide sufficient time for public awareness programmes
to take place.
Within the PE&D Department itself, due to inadequate
staffing, the work load is overwhelming. There
is little opportunity to function more than in a reactive
mode to outside demands, with occasional opportunities
to promote project-specific ideas related to
unique environmental problems. But this is inadequate
and does not meet the overall mandate of
PE&D Department. The Department should be
strengthened so that it can fulfill its strategic planning
mandate for the environment sector. This role is not to
control but to coordinate the activities for the departments
that have environmental mandates. Not the
least of these is the mandate to produce, monitor,
and update the SPCS on a cyclical basis. Ideally, this
mandate will become a legal requirement of the
department, but there needs to be formal training in
strategic planning—not just for the SPCS, but for situations
in which strategic choices are needed among
competing courses of action.
Related to the strategic planning process for environmental
policy and planning is the need for better
coordination of relevant agencies in their field activities.
Basically, the province needs a legally based
system of land use planning and integrated resource
management. At present, to the extent that it occurs,
land use responsibilities are divided among various
departments, depending on what prompted the work.
Certainly many of the recent generation of rural
development or rehabilitation projects are largely
well coordinated, but coverage of the province is
quite incomplete.
SARHAD PROVINCIAL CONSERVATION STRATEGY 51