December 12, 2006	Tuesday	Ziqa'ad 20, 1427

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ISLAMABAD, Dec 11: International Mountain Day was observed here on Monday with a call for concerted efforts to conserve the mountain ecosystem together with integrated approach to development of local people.

“Poverty, lack of educational and health facilities coupled with unemployment among mountain people have increased immense pressure on natural resources”, said Sohail Malik, representative of IUCN, The World Conservation Union.

According to an estimate, 10 to 11 million people live in the mountains occupying about 12 per cent of the total land area of the country.

“Unfortunately, these areas continue to face biological threats due to deforestation, over-grazing in high altitude pastures, unchecked development and mining, as well as unsustainable harvesting of plants and animals,” Mr Malik said.

In 2003 the UN General Assembly declared December 11 as ‘International Mountain Day’. Every year, the day is observed with a different theme relevant to sustainable mountain development.

This year’s theme “Managing Mountain Biodiversity for Better Lives” aims at creating awareness of sustainable management of mountain biodiversity for the benefit of all.

The day is taken as an opportunity to create awareness of the importance of mountains to life, to highlight the opportunities and constraints in mountain development and to build partnerships that will bring positive change to the world’s mountains and highlands.

Given that Pakistan is essentially a mountainous country, it can be an ideal eco-tourism destination for mountaineers, nature lovers and adventurers, Mr Malik said.

“But we need to identify opportunities and constraints through a detailed evaluation with the active cooperation of local leadership,” he added. Training and capacity building should be part of this intervention to equip local communities with skills that enable them to effectively handle community affairs related to eco-tourism, Mr Malik said.

Speaking on the occasion, State Minister for Environment Malik Amin Aslam Khan said the government was taking every possible measure for the betterment of local people.

Mountain Areas Conservancy Project, a 7-year programme near completion in the Northern Areas and the NWFP, has been successful. The project is being funded by the Global Environment Facility (GEF), United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the government.

The project has been able to brig about sustainable development in the mountain areas through creating awareness among mountain communities of the urgent need for releasing pressure on natural resources, he said.

On the occasion, Kalash, Hunza and Kashmiri folk dances were also presented, besides a photo exhibition focusing mainly on mountainous areas of the country.

A Reporter Adds: The involvement of mountain communities must go beyond mere rhetoric and the local people should have a say in decision making, said Ismail Khan, the elected representative from Asia region of the Board of Directors of Mountain Forum.

In a public statement issued on the occasion of International Mountain Day, he said the theme, “Managing Biodiversity for Better Lives”, called for managing mountain biodiversity and building partnerships at all levels for promoting biodiversity management in a way to reduce poverty, improve livelihoods, and protect environment.

He recalled that mountain biodiversity today faced increasing risks from the little-understood phenomenon called climate change, under pricing or un-accounting of its ecological services, mismanagement, government policies not in line with ground realities, poaching, bio-piracy, destruction of mountains and forests, and failure of many states to recognise the rights of the indigenous and native mountain peoples to their traditional lands and compensate them adequately for their roles as environmental custodians.

“In South Asia, there is a new hope for establishment of a trans-boundary peace park in the central Karakoram which has seen decades of conflict between Indian and Pakistan over control of the Siachen glacier,” Mr Khan said.

Community-managed biodiversity initiatives should encourage establishment of environmental funds or trusts; and commitments by some states to putting a significant percentage of their territories under protected area regulations are helping the cause of sustainable mountain development, the statement said.