PESHAWAR, Jan 14: The World Wide Fund (WWF) and China’s Xiangjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography will initiate a joint development and conservation plan for protected areas and community people along the Pakistan-China border, said a senior official.

Three villages will be identified in the catchments of Khunjrab National Park on the Pakistani side and three villages in the surroundings of Taxkorghan Nature Reserve on the Chinese side for the project titled ‘Conservation of Joint Protected Areas along the Pakistan, China Border’.

“Xiangjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography and the WWF had signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU), allowing both the contracting parties to carry out activities in the border areas of the two neighbouring countries,” said Ashiq Ahmad Khan, Chief Technical Advisor of WWF.

The administration of the Northern Areas had endorsed the plan, he said, adding that he, along with country director of the United Nations Development Fund (UNDP)-Pakistan, would brief the Chinese scientists in Beijing this week to seek their consent.

The UNDP-Pakistan has agreed to collaborate with the WWF while the UN development body in China would also be engaged in the development activities of the border areas of the two countries.

Officials said the Chinese institute would also sponsor two Pakistani students, engaged in the conservation of the area, for PhD.