ISLAMABAD, Aug 31: The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) on Tuesday agreed to provide Rs34 million ($0.564 million) to the Ministry of Environment for carrying out two projects to control desertification and ozone depletion in Pakistan.

A signing ceremony of agreements in this regard was held here at the Ministry of Environment. Lena Lindberg, the UNDP resident representative, Shaher Bano Walajahi, Deputy Secretary Environment, and Farah Ayub Tareen deputy secretary, Economic Affairs Division, affixed signatures on the documents.

Secretary Environment Javed Hasan Aly, Additional Secretary Raja Raza Arshad, Inspector General Forests Dr Bashir Ahmed Wani, Joint Secretary (Development) Khalid Masood Ahmed and other high- ranking officials of the ministry, UNDP and Environmental Action Plan-Support Programme were also present on the occasion.

Lena Lindberg, after signing the agreement, said: "There is a lot of land degradation and desertification in Pakistan, which is a silent disaster and must be checked effectively." She also hoped that the new projects would help in preventing environmental degradation in the country.

The projects to be carried out by the ministry included "Sustainable Land Management to Combat Desertification in Pakistan" and "Institutional Strengthening of the Ozone Cell within the Environment Ministry for looking after matters pertaining to phasing out ozone depleting substances (ODS) under the Montreal Protocol". The Montreal Protocol was ratified by Pakistan in 1992.

Out of the total amount, $340,000 have been provided by the Global Environment Facility through UNDP for Sustainable Land Management to Combat Desertification in Pakistan Project, which has been prepared by the Ecosystem Management and Natural Resources Conservation Programme of the National Environmental Action Programme (NEAP) under the Forestry Wing of the ministry.

The project will focus on mitigating the causes and effects of land degradation on the structural and functional integrity of dry-land ecosystems through capacity-building, institutional strengthening and on-the-ground interventions for Sustainable Land Management.

The prime objective of this project would be implementation of National Action Plan (NAP) for Combating Desertification and Mitigating Impacts of Drought, which has been prepared to fulfil Pakistan's obligation to implement United Nations Convention on Combating Desertification (UNCCD).

The second agreement is related to initiation of phase-III of the project for Institutional Strengthening for the Implementation of the Montreal Protocol to phase-out Ozone Depleting Substances. The two-year project will cost $224,467. According to the officials, the $172,66 phase-II of the same project is near completion.

According to the phase-III project, the Ozone Cell, set up in January 1996 in the Environment Ministry under phase-I, will continue to follow up and implement all related activities such as legislation, licensing, data reporting, providing technical and financial assistance to local industry to convert to the use of Non-Ozone Depleting Substances technology.