Pakistan Protected Areas Me e t i n g Pr o c e e d i n g s Islamabad, Pakistan September 24 – 25, 1994 This workshop was funded by United States National Park Service The views expressed in this publication are not necessarily those of IUCN Cover photo: IUCN Editors: Naziha Ghazali, Umber Khairi and the Communications Unit, IUCN IUCN–The World Conservation Union, Pakistan 1, Bath Island Road, Karachi 75530 © 1995 by IUCN–The World Conservation Union, Pakistan All rights reserved ISBN 969-8141-15-4 Formatted by the Communications Unit, IUCN Printed by Rosette Contents List of Abbreviations and Acronyms iii Objectives of the Meeting 1 Being Systematic: Introducing National Systems Planning for Protected Areas 3 Laos PDR: Protected Areas Systems Planning 7 Overview of Protected Areas Systems Planning: Focus on Pakistan 9 International Experiences in Protected Areas Systems Plans 11 Protected Areas Systems Plans: Principles, Process and Structure 15 The Sarhad Provincial Conservation Strategy, Biodiversity and Protected Areas 17 IUCN's Role in Conservation in Pakistan 21 The Role and Contribution of WWF Pakistan to Conservation 25 Working Group Discussions 27 Annexures 29 1. IUCN Protected Area Categories 31 2. Agenda 35 3. List of Participants 37 PAKISTAN PROTECTED AREAS MEETING i ii PAKISTAN PROTECTED AREAS MEETING List of Abbreviations and Acronyms CNPPA Commission on National Parks and Protected Areas IUCN IUCN–The World Conservation Union NCS National Conservation Strategy NWFP North West Frontier Province PA Protected Area UNDP United Nations Development Programme UNEP United Nations Environment Programme WCMC World Conservation Monitoring Centre WWF World Wide Fund for Nature PAKISTAN PROTECTED AREAS MEETING iii iv PAKISTAN PROTECTED AREAS MEETING Objectives of the Meeting Abdul Latif Rao Programme Director, Strategies Support Unit, IUCN Pakistan boasts an impressive network of 14 ● Conservation values of PAs are not fully National Parks, 84 Wildlife Sanctuaries and 76 known. Game Reserves in addition to several reserve ● Critical habitats of many endemic, unique and forests, protected forests and state forests. However, endangered species are not represented. Pakistan's Protected Areas system suffers from the ● Only a few National Parks have management following shortcomings: plans. ● Haphazard designation. ● There is no real government commitment to the ● The fact that nature conservation reviews have management of PAs. not been carried out (even in internationally ● Local communities are not involved in the man- designated areas such as Ramsar sites). agement of Protected Areas, hence their atti- ● The main focus is on game species; other ani- tude towards PAs and park management is mal and plant species have been ignored. hostile. ● Areas notified under the Forest Act have, Given this situation, it is evident that there is a simultaneously, been given another designa- pressing need for a Protected Area systems plan to tion under wildlife legislation. be developed for Pakistan through an extensive ● All ecosystems are not represented. consultative process. ● Some ecosystems are under represented. This meeting aims to clarify concepts and iden- ● Boundaries have not been worked out accord- tify obstacles so that a feasible approach towards ing to ecological considerations. PA systems planning in Pakistan can be devised ● Communal and privately owned property is through consensus. I sincerely hope this meeting not represented. succeeds in these objectives. PAKISTAN PROTECTED AREAS MEETING 1 2 PAKISTAN PROTECTED AREAS MEETING Being Systematic: Introducing National Systems Planning for Protected Areas Adrian Phillips Chair, Commission on National Parks and Protected Areas, IUCN In preparing for this session I came across an IUCN ty or protect the habitats of endangered species; publication: Protected Areas of the World, Volume I, and also to provide places for tourism and recre- which covers the Indo-Malayan region and was pub- ation. In this traditional view, we 'set aside' such l i s h e d in 1992. Let me quote from a concluding places from the mainstream of land use change paragraph of the survey of Pakistan: and development. "Protected areas have been created hap- In recent years such a view has been radically hazardly, often in the absence of any cri- reassessed. Beginning at the World Parks Congress teria for their selection, and boundaries in Bali in 1982 (with the motto Parks for drawn with little or no ecological Development) and culminating in the Caracas basis….While most major habitats are Congress (where the motto was Parks for Life) there represented within the existing protected has emerged a new perspective on PAs which does areas system, a comprehensive systems not regard them as places to be set aside, but review has never been carried out at the instead as part of a broad strategy for ecologically national level. Clearly this is a priority in sustainable development. order to plan the further development of Let us reiterate briefly how PAs (national Pakistan's protected areas network." parks, nature reserves, etc.) on land and sea can I suggest that this should serve as our sermon contribute to the process of development. They: for the next two days, for it represents the challenge ● Help conserve soils and water in erodible to which we must rise. areas; The structure of my paper is as follows: ● Regulate and purify water flow (especially ● To reiterate the importance of Protected Areas through watershed protection); and their place in conservation and ecologi- ● Shield people from natural disasters such as cally sustainable development; floods, storm surges, avalanches or landslides; ● To specifically recall the relevance of the ● Preserve natural genetic resources of value to Convention on Biological Diversity; medicine, and to plant and animal breeding; ● To then lead on to the idea of national systems ● Provide a sustainable supply of natural prod- plans for PAs; and ucts (e.g. timber, fish, rattan, nuts) to local ● To relate this to work, as in the case of communities in and around the area; Pakistan, on national conservation strategies ● Provide critical habitats for feeding, breeding and strategies for sustainable development. or resting of species that are harvested by Why bother about Protected Areas at all? Now people elsewhere; that we recognise the need to protect the environ- ● Generate income and employment through ment of the entire planet, should we not regard tourism; and everywhere as a Protected Area? The point is a ● In some cases provide protection for land valid one, and I think the honest answer should be which is farmed or otherwise managed by peo- 'Yes'. A pedantic argument could thus be made to ple following traditional land use practices. call Protected Areas 'specially protected areas'. But This is an impressive list, which shows the whatever we call them, we need them because they many ways in which PAs can bring economic and are a key part of a comprehensive approach to con- social benefits and thus contribute to development. servation and ecologically sustainable development. Nevertheless, I think it is important not to lose In the past, it has been argued that we need sight of the original purposes either. In our haste Protected Areas to safeguard places of great beau- to embrace utilitarian values, we should also con- PAKISTAN PROTECTED AREAS MEETING 3 sider the spiritual value and emotional appeal of Until the 1960s Protected Areas were selected wildlife and unspoilt, beautiful places. I suspect mainly for their outstanding scenic qualities or to that many people working in the Protected Areas protect the habitats of large mammals or conspicu- business are still motivated by a passion for beau- ous birds, or to provide for outdoor recreation. ty and wild nature. During the late 1960s and 1970s, biogeo- The many benefits of Protected Areas can, graphical approaches were adopted, with an however, only be realised if they are managed attempt made in a number of countries to establish effectively, and the full range of PA types exploited. networks of Protected Areas safeguarding a repre- From this account, it is clear that Protected sentative range of ecosystems and habitats. Then in Areas are about more than the conservation of bio- the 1980s, concepts like sustainable development diversity, just as biodiversity conservation is about and new scientific theories (such as island biogeog- more than Protected Areas. Nonetheless, Protected raphy, population dispersal and extinction theories) Areas and biodiversity conservation are very close- gained currency and ultimately evolved into the pre- ly linked. The Global Biodiversity Strategy prepared sent focus on biodiversity. The scope of a national by IUCN, United Nations Environment Programme PAs system has consequently expanded. Not only and the World Resources Institute, and launched at should such a system ensure the representation of the Caracas Congress in 1992, identified the sever- major ecosystems and biogeographic regions, it al ways in which Protected Areas are vital to biodi- must also be: versity conservation. For example, they: ● Cost effective (i.e. concentrate financial and ● Maintain viable populations of native species; human resources for conservation where they ● Maintain the number and distribution of com- are most needed); munities and habitats; ● Provide a political mechanism for the market- ● Exclude species introductions made by people; ing of conservation; ● Allow species distribution to shift in response ● Be a means of involving the public in conser- to climate change; vation; and ● Foster the study of all aspects of biodiversity; ● Generate commitment from a wide range of ● Allow – but regulate – the use of valuable sources (including NGOs) to implement the genetic resources; and plan. ● Ensure that the use of biological resources is In short, a national systems plan is as much a kept within the foregoing criteria. political document as a technical one. Similarly, the In the light of these facts, it is not surprising means by which it is prepared are as much a politi- that the Convention on Biological Diversity signed cal process as a scientific one.