ISLAMABAD: A cultural showcase on Saturday featured colourful folk performances, adventure documentary screenings in connection with the 8th Pakistan Mountain Festival.

The two-day event also included an art exhibition and displayed handicrafts and horticultural products. Several craftspeople from mountain regions were at the showcase offering handmade decorative pieces, books, locally embroidered fabric, accessories and traditional foods and dried fruit.

A folk music band from Chitral also played at the showcase, and young people from Rawalpindi and Islamabad who were in attendance performed Balti dance along with them.

Around 17 large paintings depicting the Margalla Hills were also displayed, to highlight the beauty of the area and raise awareness about protecting the natural habitat. The works were made by some 20 art teachers from the twin cities in a live painting competition at the Margalla Hills National Park last year.

The works highlighted the beauty and biological diversity of the local mountain environment as well as the challenges these areas face.

Speaking at the event, Islamabad Deputy Mayor Zeeshan Ali Shah Naqvi said the mountains are a wonderful part of the plant, full of resources that need to be conserved and protected.

“However, we also need to take care of the people living in the mountains. Their education, health and livelihood depend on the integrated sustainable strategies where the prime focus should be on the human,” he added.

Mr Naqvi urged for a hill safari programme to be launched, on the desert safari model, to promote tourism and the importance of mountains for adventure sports.

Biodiversity and indigenous cultures are threatened by the urbanisation of mountain destinations, anthropologist Dr Nadeem Omar said. Every part of the mountain has a particular culture, a range of handicrafts and agri-products, and there is need to develop cultural marketing plans by engaging young and educated people in microenterprises, he said.

Environmentalist Ali Ahmed Jan said environmental impact assessments are missing from large development projects, which has increased the stress on nature and the environment. He said that while there are laws, they are not implemented, and also urged young people to realise the potential of their skills to empower marginalised communities of their areas.

Munir Ahmed from the Development Communications Network, which organised the event, also called on the youth to raise their voices for their rapidly degrading homeland. He said that in addition to climate change, the ignorance of key stakeholders is also affecting the mountains, contributing to the loss of cultures, ecosystems, habitats and natural resources.

He urged the government to control deforestation from the highlands to reduce the climate impact on glacier melt and the loss of water resources.

Published in Dawn, December 9th, 2018