Local communities to be made custodians of biodiversity

Islamabad: The climate change ministry is pursuing an action plan in which the local communities would ultimately become custodians and beneficiaries of biodiversity in the country.

Various plans and programmes are in advanced stages for the conservation and sustainable use of biological diversity and integrate as far as possible the conservation and sustainable use of biological diversity into relevant sectoral or cross-sectoral plans.

In the past, the strictly protected areas often failed to consider the interests of local communities, resulting in reducing their willingness to accept conservation regulations. Now the government is focusing on managing natural resources of an area such as forests, wildlife, and other land resources by involving community organization at the grass-roots level through collective the decision for common interests and benefits.

It is pertinent to mention here that Pakistan is a party to two international conventions dealing with biodiversity: the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals and the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora.

The government has helped communities develop their village funds namely Conservation Fund generated from trophy hunting of animals, ecotourism, and other related sources. Pakistan is one of those fortunate countries, which is ecologically diverse from north to south, east to west. It has 12 climatic zones where ecotourism is being promoted with the help of the local communities. The incumbent government has increased the national park area by 9 or 25 percent, showing its strong commitment to the protection and preservation of biodiversity. The spokesman of the climate change ministry said the government is taking effective measures to reduce deforestation, halt unsustainable fishing practices, eliminate environmentally harmful subsidies and begin the transition to sustainable food production systems and a circular economy over the next decade.