ISLAMABAD, July 22: Mountain Area Conservation Fund (MACF) worth $5 million has been established to provide sustainable financing to local communities for environmental protection and conservation of biodiversity in four mountain areas of Nanga Parbat, Gojal, Trichmir and Qashqar in Northern Areas and the NWFP.

The fund has been established under the seven-year Mountain Areas Conservancy Project (MACP), which is a $10.5 million joint venture of the Global Environment Facility (GEF), United Nations Development Programme and the Ministry of Environment.

The board of directors of the fund met here on Thursday. Speaking on the occasion, the board chairman and secretary environment Javaid Hassan Aly said the fund would help further the excellent work of the project which had been underway since 1999.

The MACF will be of great benefit to the country in the longer term as the mountain areas contribute considerably to the national wealth, he said.

The board of directors consists of equal representation from the government, civil society, local mountain area communities and the UNDP.

Initial funding of $1.5 million has been provided by the GEF and $0.75 million by the UNDP. Contributions of $0.25 million each have already been committed by the federal government, government of the NWFP and Northern Areas.

UNDP chief environment Arif Alauddin said the fund was a unique example of how to provide stable funding for conservation activities undertaken by local communities which were de-linked from government's budget cycles.

It will also help support law-enforcement activities to ensure compliance with environmental protection regulations agreed upon between the local people and the government departments responsible for overseeing development activities.

In addition to this, the fund will help cover costs of technical assistance to communities, awareness raising and environmental education.

The board of directors also adopted a company seal and appointed Dr Mohammad Khurshid as company secretary, and Dr Bashir Wani (IG Forests) as the chief executive of the Mountain Area Conservation Fund.