PESHAWAR, Jan 23: Post-earthquake reconstruction and rehabilitation must be undertaken on sound environmental principles and practices, says the president of International Union of Conservation of Nature (IUCN ).

It was stated in a press release issued here on Monday.

Valli Moosa, president of the IUCN, highlighted the significance of sound environmental management in mitigating the impact of natural calamities and said International Union of Conservation of Nature would offer its expertise to minimize environmental damage.

The press release said the recent earthquake provided an opportunity to rehabilitate the ecosystems through sustainable livelihood of the local people.

Mr Moosa, who is visiting Pakistan from Jan 24 to 26, would call on the acting president of Pakistan, the prime minister of the Azad Kashmir, the federal minister and the minister of state for environment and other officials.

Based on field assessments of environmental risks and needs in the wake of the earthquake, IUCN has formulated a medium- and long-term recovery strategies.

He would also visit the earthquake affected areas in Azad Kashmir, and possibly, the NWFP.

In the wake of the Oct 8 earthquake, International Union of Conservation of Nature has been proactively engaged in bringing environmental aspects of the tragedy to the fore.

Partly due to its efforts, environmental aspects were adequately incorporated in the damage and need assessment report jointly prepared by the government of Pakistan, the Asian Development Bank and the World Bank for the donors’ conference in November 2005.

Apart from the preliminary assessment and the risks and needs assessment reports, it has released alert bulletins highlighting the most critical post-earthquake hazards and how to deal with them for relief administrators as well as the general public.