MOSAIC: World Parks Congress
TWELVE per cent of the Earth’s surface will come under debate in the global forum to tackle the future of protected areas. The V World Congress on Protected Areas, or World Parks Congress (WPC) as it has become known, is a once in a decade opportunity to take stock of the global protected area estate and define priorities for future action.
Former South African President and Nobel Peace Prize winner Nelson Mandela and Queen Noor of Jordan, patrons of the V WPC, will open this forum in Durban, South Africa, where 2500 protected area specialists and representatives from governments, local and indigenous communities, and the private sector will assemble from September 8 to 17, 2003.
The theme of the Congress Benefits Beyond Boundaries reinforces the meeting’s focus on addressing people’s needs and providing a stream of economic, political and environmental benefits to societies worldwide. Without an effective network of protected areas all these benefits “clean air and water, fertile soils, inspiring landscapes and unique wildlife” will be lost.
Previous Congresses have had a tremendous impact in assisting national governments to create new protected areas and direct more resources towards biodiversity conservation.
The World Parks Congress is organized by IUCN-The World Conservation Union, its World Commission on Protected Areas (WCPA), South African National Parks and the Government of South Africa.
Over 44,000 protected areas provide people around the world with life-sustaining material, spiritual, and recreational values. National parks, wilderness areas, multiple use and other types of reserves provide water, protect soils and filter air. They offer materials from nature to meet the needs of local communities. They hold the promise of improving foods and medicines from their unexplored genetic resources. Protected areas help balance the Earth’s climate, provide nutrients to the production of food and fibre, and mitigate the impacts of major storms and other catastrophic natural events.
However, this legacy is far from secure and sustainable. These places, of such high value to people and their livelihoods are at risk, as never before. The Durban Congress is a milestone for catalysing a renewed commitment to protected areas and spurring global action. The Congress will develop the Durban Accord and Action Plan which will address key challenges to the protected area system and guide its development in the next decade. It will present the best “both latest and traditional” knowledge on protected areas and biodiversity conservation, including the 2003 United Nations List of Protected Areas, jointly produced by UNEP World Conservation Monitoring Centre and the IUCN World Commission on Protected Areas.
PROTECTED AREAS OF PAKISTAN: Over the course of the past three decades Pakistan’s protected areas system has expanded to include 229 sites that are listed as protected areas. They are distributed across the country, the majority being concentrated along the Indus Valley. Pakistan has 57 entries in the United Nations list (1997) of internationally recognized PAs. Some protected areas of Pakistan are: Kirthar National Park (Sindh), Indus Dolphin Reserve (Sindh), Hazarganji Chiltan National Park (Balochistan), Khunjerab National Park (NWFP), Cholistan Wildlife Sanctuary (Punjab), Desosai National Park (Northern Areas), Chitral Gol National Park (NWFP).
Pakistan’s protected areas are divided into three categories, with specific objectives: Wildlife Sanctuaries (to protect species or groups of species of flora and fauna for breeding, and to protect them from extinction); National Parks (to protect and conserve areas of exceptional geological, biological and cultural importance for educational, recreational and scientific uses); and Game Reserves (to protect flora and fauna for sustainable use).
Pakistan’s protected areas are inhabited by the Indus dolphin, woolly flying squirrel, ibex, markhor, urial, goitred gazelle, Marco Polo sheep, snow leopard, the Baluchistan black bear, blue sheep, Himalayan ibex, bluebull, Indian chinkara, blackbuck, musk deer, Indian gazelle, hyena, desert wolf.
Besides being home to flora and fauna of global importance, endangered and threatened mammals, Pakistan’s PAs boasts of a large variety of the nation’s biodiversity, species of birds, insects, marine and fish, and plants, especially medicinal plants like Seabuck thorn, Peelu, wild mint, ajwaeen, Gul-e-banafshan, gaozaban, reetha, bakain, ratanjot.— Samina Iqbal
Understanding depression
DEPRESSIVE symptoms are known to be associated with worse health status among patients with coronary artery disease, states a recent issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association. A cross sectional study was performed on 1024 adults with stable coronary artery disease in San Francisco, to compare the symptom burden, physical limitation and quality of life between psychological and physiological factors. Depressive symptoms were measured by a 9-item Patient Health Questionnaire. A resting echocardiogram, and an exercise treadmill test assessed cardiac function. Stress was measured by using the 4-item Perceived Stress Scale and was considered positive if the participant had experienced at least one stressful symptom fairly often. The results proved the association to be strong with health status outcomes and depression. This was independent of cardiac function.
Depressed patients were more obese, had a lower exercise capacity, were younger with a low income and were smokers and less likely to be married. They were also more likely to have diabetes. The study therefore suggests that depression, a modifiable risk factor, is strongly associated with perceived overall health among patients with coronary artery disease.
Therefore, efforts to improve the health status of cardiac patients should include assessment and treatment of depressive symptoms. This will eventually lead to better health outcomes. Some antidepressant therapies as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, may even improve cardiovascular outcomes among patients with cardiovascular disease. — Dr Fatema Jawad
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