Pakistan parks project lets communities tend the land and keep jobs

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South Africa News News

As farmers and (poorly) protected wildlife parks clash, a new initiative is protecting the environment while creating sustainable jobs

Islamabad — For 20 years, Khunjerab National Park was a point of tension between Pakistan’s government — which established the park in 1975 as a sanctuary for rare species — and locals who had grazed their livestock on the land for generations.

In its latest move to generate jobs amid the Covid-19 pandemic while boosting conservation and curbing the impacts of climate change, Pakistan has announced the creation of Pakistan’s first National Parks Service, modeled on the US agency. Under it, the country aims to get more local communities involved in running national parks and earning an income as they protect nearby conservation areas.

Conservation expert Anis ur Rahman estimates only about 5% of the country’s parks are properly managed. The others suffer from clashing priorities and a lack of co-operation between the government and the communities that live around them and rely on them for grazing, hunting and firewood, he said. Ashiq Ahmed Khan, a wildlife specialist working at the government’s Pakistan Forest Institute in the 1990s, helped draft the first management plan for the park that brought together locals and the provincial wildlife department.core zone. In exchange, other grazing areas were designated on a rotation that gave each time to recover after being used, noted Khan, who is now retired.

 

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