CHITRAL: Involvement of indigenous communities is essential to conserve biodiversity in Chitral and for this purpose the government should provide legal cover to the indigenous and communities’ conserved areas (ICCAs) through proper legislation to effectively manage the flora and fauna.

Speaking at the concluding ceremony of the USAID-funded project ‘empowering indigenous communities’ in Chitral here on Friday, Leadership in Environment and Development general manager Tahir Rashid said that the treasure of biodiversity of Chitral should be protected from deterioration.

He said that indigenous communities in Chitral had a rich experience of conservation of nature, but their exclusion from the process in the past had caused a serious imbalance of ecosystem. He said that the aim of the project was to build capacity of the community and identify best practices and lessons linked to the better wildlife management in the area.

Project coordinator Ijaz Ahmed said that six ICCAs were formed in a year both in lower and upper Chitral. “The network of ICCAs was established while linkages were also developed with different government departments, including the local campus of Shaheed Benazir Bhutto University,” he added.

A charter of demands was developed to make ICCAs statutory bodies in the field of conservation of biodiversity and it was handed over to the wildlife department.

Speaking on the occasion, deputy commissioner Aminul Haq said that creating awareness of the importance of flora and fauna was the first tool of conservation process and the project had accomplished this task. He said that poaching of wildlife species and illegal cutting of deodar trees could be checked by involving local communities.

Published in Dawn, May 30th, 2015

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