ISLAMABAD, Nov 20: The government is focusing on capacity- building of local communities for successful implementation of the mountain areas conservancy project (MACP), Minister of State (Incharge) for Environment Tahir Iqbal said at a presentation by mid-term review (MTR) mission of the project here on Thursday.

He said $10.35 million were being spent to protect Karakoram, Hindukush and western Himalaya mountain ranges under the project.

“The ministry is making efforts to conserve Markhor and other endangered mountain species through community participation programmes”, he added.

He said government’s involvement and share in the project would be enhanced by developing a programme according to the recommendation of the MTR mission.

Mr Iqbal said MAC was a seven-year project with a cost of $10.3 million, primarily funded by the Global Environment Facility (GEF) and co-financed by the UNDP. IUCN-Pakistan is implementing the project under the direction of the government, he added.

He said the proposed sites included in the project area are: Gojal and Nanga Parbat conservancies in the Northern Areas and Trichmir and Qashqar conservancies in the NWFP.

The minister said in order to protect the rich ecological landscape and bio-diversity of the selected sites, MACP comprised a package of intervention to address the underlying causes of bio-diversity loss in the region.

The principal focus is on empowering local communities to manage bio-diversity and making them accountable for quality of their resource stewardship.

The MTR mission was launched by UNDP/GEF to assess and report on the progress achieved to-date and identify and analyze major technical management and operational issues, the minister added.

He said the MTR mission in its review had appreciated the community involvement aspect of the project and had recommended to strengthen participation of provincial and district governments.

The MTR mission also recommended an extension of the project by 6-12 months and improvement in the overall coordination and collaboration, he added.—APP