PESHAWAR: The lone botanical garden of international standard in Pakistan at Azakhel, Nowshera, is at risk as the provincial government has decided to allot more than half of its land to a university for establishment of its campus, according to sources.

They said that the University of Peshawar’s botanical garden, established at a cost of Rs20 million in 2005 on a 689-kanal piece of land in Azakhel, was the only facility of its kind in the country that was registered with the UK-based Botanic Gardens Conservation International (BGCI).

The BGCI is working on implementation of the global strategy for plant conservation and sustainable development worldwide.

Sources said that the botanical garden was registered with BGCI as it fulfilled the criteria set for the purpose. “The botanical garden will lose its international stature if its land is handed over to Air University, Islamabad,” they added.

The establishment of the garden was aimed at research, plant conservation, academic programmes and recreations, sources said. They added that there were many endangered species of plants in the garden.

Sources said that using garden’s land for any other purpose was against the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf’s Green Growth Initiative that was launched by its chief Imran Khan on Sunday.

On one hand PTI was working to make Khyber Pakhtunkhwa greener while on the other hand the provincial government was taking such a decision to damage the botanical garden, they said.

“The botanical garden is situated in the hometown of Chief Minister Pervez Khattak, who is keen in the establishment of the campus,” sources said.

They said that out of the total 689 kanals area of the botanical garden, the provincial government would allot 400-kanal land to the Islamabad-based university for setting up its campus. The land has been leased out to the University of Peshawar by local government and rural development department for 99 years.

Sources said that Pakistan was signatory of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD-1992) so use of botanical garden for other purposes would be deviation from the international commitment that could defame the country internationally.

They said that use of garden’s land for other purposes would create hurdles in the implementation of the short and long term objectives of ICUN’s Biodiversity Action Plan for Pakistan, National Conservation Strategy and Sarhad Provincial Conservation Strategy.

“The botanical garden is used for biodiversity conservation and carbon sequestration, which would be disturbed if its land is handed over to the university,” sources said.

It would discourage various NGOs and other agencies working for biodiversity conservation worldwide that would ultimately lead to deterioration, destabilisation and degradation of the forest and ecosystem in the country.

Shiraz Ahmed Paracha, the spokesperson for the chief minister, when contacted, said that the botanical garden was set up on around 100 kanals land while the rest of the land was lying unused.

He said that establishment of the campus was not an environmental hazard rather it would brought prosperity in the region by educating youth at their hometown.

“The botanical garden can be established somewhere else,” Mr Paracha said, adding that establishment of the campus of Air University was part of PTI’s plan for education sector.

“As Nowshera is an underdeveloped district, the establishment of the university campus would create jobs for people,” he said.