Celebrating 25 Years of Action for Biodiversity

The programme has established a strong linkage between healthy ecosystems and human welfare, thereby main- streaming the importance of biodiversity to the custodian communities [ ] 175 An innovative approach to conservation of ungulates Living in a fragile and damaged natural resource-based area is a major cause of poverty. To subsist, the poor are compelled to mine and overex- ploit the limited resources available, further aggravating the situation. Pa- kistan’s conservation programme es- tablished community based conserva- tion by providing an innovative way to finance conservation and generate alternate sustainable livelihoods. Managed by local elders and communities, the programme allows community game watchers to mon- itor the area and stop all poaching while allowing a small amount of tro- phy hunting once populations became stable. Proceeds from trophy hunting are utilized by the community to un- derwrite the costs of conservation. The role of custodian communi- ties is now increasingly recognised in national biodiversity-related policies and legislation. Proactive involvement of local communities has helped in recovery of ungulates and in improvement of non-target threatened species and habitats. This has led to recognition of the role of communities in conservation and management planning for all protect- ed areas. Community Conservation Areas have increased significantly, thereby enhancing the national pro- tected areas network. Currently there are 117 such areas in Pakistan. The community-based conserva- tion initiative has a three-pronged approach: conservation of species and habitats; sustainable use of biologi- cal resources; and fair and equitable sharing of benefits. The conservation efforts in the community-managed conservancies are supported by the technical expertise of the relevant wildlife departments. Joint moni- toring is carried out to evaluate the trends of populations, not only of the ungulates but also of other non-tar- get species and habitats as well. The concept of sustainable use of biolog- ical populations is based on strict monitoring and population estimates carried out on scientific grounds. The procedures are significant enough to meet the CITES criteria. The Federal Ministry of Climate Change has a mechanism of estab- lishing the population structures of desired ungulate species and recom- mends a reasonable number of heads available for culling. The measures on conservation and sustainable use have resulted in viable ungulate pop- ulations of wild sheep and goats. The activities conducted under the umbrella of community-based conservation and trophy hunting contribute towards Pakistan’s Aichi Biodiversity Targets as well as its Sus- tainable Development Goals commit- ments. Predator-prey relationships are being restored, with an increase in prey populations and other non-target species and more stable populations of predators at all levels. Kashmir markhor in Chitral Gol National Park Pakistan P akistan is home to the Himalayas, Karakorum and Hindukush mountain ranges, which host a diversity of large ungulates — markhor, urial, ibex and blue sheep — which conservation biologist George Schaller aptly termed the “Mountain Monarchs”. By the mid-1980s, these ungulates were at the verge of extinction due to rampant hunting, habitat loss, easy access to weapons and low levels of law enforcement. To address the crisis, tribal leaders in Balochistan province of Pakistan started a conservation programme in Torghar hills of northern Balochistan, with the help of US Fish and Wildlife Service. This programme being implemented across the country. Dr. Masood Arshad