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WWF-Pakistan identifies major
threats to Indus Delta
Pakistan
Times National News Desk
KARACHI: World Wide Fund
for Nature (WWF-Pakistan) has identifies major threats to Indus Delta
Eco-region, which include shortage of fresh water supply, deteriorating
water quality because of various kind pollution, land clearance, over
harvesting of resources, socio-economic conditions preventing or leading to
access to natural resources, weak implementation of policy and legal
framework, and sea water intrusion.
Deputy Director General, WWF-Pakistan, Dr Ejaz Ahmed on Friday called for
immediately initiating a multi-dimensional approach strategy for
conservation and up-gradation of IDER where public sector organizations’
individual and collective role should be marked. The NGOs, CBOs and the
local communities should be given due participation to achieve the targets
within shortest possible time.
The Main Features
Main features of this conservation plan should be representation of all
distinct communities living within conservation landscapes and protected
area networks; maintenance of ecological and evolutionary processes that
create and sustain biodiversity; maintenance of viable populations of
species; conservation of natural habitats large enough to be resilient to
disturbances and long-term changes.
He said the planning process should comprise reconnaissance, biological
assessment, socio-economic assessment, root-cause analysis, stakeholder
identification and assessment, biodiversity vision, conservation targets and
milestones, roles of partners, communication strategy, eco-regional plan,
monitoring and evaluation framework, and long-term funding.
Taxonomic
WWF-P’s senior environment scientist deliberating upon the proposed IDER
planning process said taxonomic would include amphibians, birds, fishes,
invertebrate, mammals, reptiles and vegetation. The objectives are species,
habitats, processes and livelihoods.
IDER should be divided into sub-regions of Guddu, Sukkur, Kotri and coastal
belt. While the main partners could be Sindh Government and Federal
Government departments of Forest and Wildlife, Irrigation and Drainage,
Environment, Planning and Development, and World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF-Pakistan).
He also underlined the need for balance between partners and level of
intervention.
Dr Ejaz Ahmed said under proposed “ Forever Indus Conservation Plan 2025”
initiated by WWF-P, 15 priority areas of global, eco-regional and
sub-regional significance had been identified, while 10 conservation targets
for next 10 to 20 years and 43 milestones for next 3 to 5 years were set.
Five action plans had also been marked to build relationships for efficient
resource utilization for effective results.●
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