ISLAMABAD, Jan 26: Local communities’ participation is a must for conservation of biodiversity through incentive-driven initiatives. This was stated by Minister of State for Environment Malik Amin Aslam on Thursday. He was speaking as chief guest at the opening ceremony of an international workshop on “Potential Biosphere: International Reserves in Pakistan” at a local hotel.

The one-day workshop was jointly organized by the science and technology ministry, and Unesco to create awareness and identify potential areas which can be declared as biosphere reserves in the country.

The event was attended by a host of national as well as international stakeholders. The Ministry of Science and Technology hosts Man & Biosphere (MAB) secretariat, and Pakistan Museum of Natural History (PMNH) has been designated as its focal point.

“Only local people can take care of biodiversity in their respective areas provided they are given economic incentives,” said the minister.

The country’s northern areas possessed a hidden wealth of herbs which also needed adequate marketing and linkage with the outer world, he added.

The government has taken a number of initiatives like mountain areas conservation project and protected areas management project for the protection of flora and fauna in the northern areas.

The minister said biodiversity, the variability among living things and ecological systems, was world’s natural wealth.

“Our lives depend on it. The efforts for conservation of species and ecosystem have got appreciable momentum in the country for the last several years,” he said.

The workshop brought together ministries and government departments concerned, researchers, NGOs, academicians and wildlife experts.

In a country where conservation efforts are still at a nascent stage, such collaborative efforts are essential for biodiversity conservation and its sustainable utilization for socioeconomic uplift of local communities, the participants of the workshop observed.

Governments around the world are now coming to recognize that a sustainable future really does depend on biodiversity conservation. It is clear that biodiversity provides human beings with many vital goods and services, and maintains the life sustaining systems of the biosphere.