LAHORE, July 22: Survival of mankind lies in harmony with Nature.

This was the crux of the message given by eco guards of the Adventure Foundation Pakistan (AFP) that carried out a clean-up operation at the Ayubia National Park on July 19-21 in collaboration with the WWF-Pakistan, the IUCN-Pakistan and the NWFP Wildlife Department.

The eco guards who came from diverse backgrounds — students, boy scouts from 10 Haripur schools, businessmen, teachers —- made history by launching a clean-up drive in the park for the first time since it got the status of a national park in 1984.

The drive was launched in connection with the celebrations of the International Year of Mountains-2002.

Speaking at the opening ceremony held at the PTDC Hotel at Ayubia on Saturday, Adventure Foundation official and convener of the clean-up operation Aftabur Rehman Rana said that the main objective of the campaign was to create awareness among local people and visitors about the importance of conservation of environment in the mountain areas and remove litter from slopes of the Ayubia National Park.

He said this was unfortunate that the park was fast losing its grandeur and natural beauty owing to careless attitude of tourists and locals. He said one could see garbage and waste everywhere on the slopes of the mountains. He said local hotels and shopkeepers located on mountains dump non-degradable waste and garbage on slopes. This stuff affected the growth of vegetation badly and caused erosion, he said.

Mr Rana said the walk on the Pipeline Track that was one of the best walking tracks in the world was no more scenic in the presence of filth. He said that a strategy should be evolved to solve the problem permanently by involving locals, hotel managements, public representatives and enlightened individuals.

NWFP wildlife conservator Dr Mumtaz Malik said the national park served as a Nature’s museum and it was the responsibility of every individual whether a tourist or a local to help the wildlife department preserve the originality of the park. He said the quantum of litter increased when there were more tourists.

Saying the wildlife department was not capable of protecting the national park alone, he said it needed the cooperation of NGOs and volunteers. He said a proposal was under review to impose penalties on hotel managements, locals and tourists in case they were found involved violating the instructions of the department.

Dr Akhtar Cheema and Dr Asif Ali Zaidi of the IUCN-Pakistan said that 2002 was not only International Year of Mountains but it was also eco tourism year. They said that more and more efforts should be made to create awareness about the importance of environment. They said such a clean-up operation was aimed at setting a precedent for locals as well as tourists to keep their surroundings clean.

WWF-Pakistan’s communication director Amjad Aslam in his brief remarks stressed the need for making collective efforts to inculcate a sense of responsible living into every individual.

CLOSING CEREMONY: Speaking at the closing ceremony held at the information centre of the wildlife department at Donga Gali on Sunday, Adventure Foundation chief Brig Jan Nadir retired drew the attention of the authorities concerned towards the gravity of the situation in the national park. He said for how long volunteers would collect litter from the park where even no garbage dumping arrangements had ever been made. He congratulated the participants in the clean-up drive for making a it a success.