IUCN Pakistan celebrated the World Day to Combat Desertification

Karachi, June 16, 2011 (IUCN)

A Press Briefing was organized by IUCN Pakistan in collaboration with Baanhn Beli and FPCCI (Environment & CSR) at IUCN Country Programme Office. A few presentations were made by the experts on the benefits of the drylands and threats faced by them. Mr. Javed Jabbar, global IUCN Vice President and Asia Regional Councilor informed the particpants that the World Day to Combat Desertification is observed every year on June 17th  all over the world. The aim of the United Nations in designating a day of observance is to sensitize the public and media to the increasing dangers of desertification, land degradation and drought.

This being the International Year on Forests, the World Day to Combat Desertification for 2011 will focus specifically on the forests in the drylands of the world, guided by the motto: ‘Forests keep drylands working’.

While presenting the overall view of IUCN, Mr. Javed Jabbar informed the media that IUCN is a democratic membership union with more than 1,000 government and NGO member organizations. In Pakistan,  IUCN has 29 members organisations which includes the state, seven government agencies and 21 NGOs.

Mr. Nadeem Mirbahar, Coordinator Lasebela, IUCN said that Pakistan is predominantly an arid country with 80% of its land area falling in arid or semi arid climate and has been deeply affected by land degradation and desertification in the recent years. He highlighted several factors contributing to it, including soil erosion, water logging and salinity, loss of soil fertility and crop productivity. He added that fast growth of population is one of the major reasons for degradation, which has put immense pressure on the cultiviable land, destroying its fertility and startying the process of desertification. Ultimately the land degradation has increased poverty and hunger.

Dr. Kella Lekhraj, Provinicial Coordinator SLMP informed the media that due to desertification the estimated annual global loss has come to US$ 42 billion and has increased the threat to the livelihood of one billion people in over 100 countries. He said Unsustainable Land Management Practices are a contributing factor to the loss of vegetative cover.

He said that destroying the guggul trees and other plant species is causing one of greatest loss to the ecology of the dryland areas. He recommended sustainble harvesting of guggul gum through community awareness and capacity building and its habitat’s projection and encourging it as a livelihood source for the poor local communities.

Mr. M.K. Marri, President Baanhn Beli gave an overview of Baanhh Beli’s Sustainable Land Management Project to combat desertification in Pakistan. He mentioned that during the project cultivation of Zeera, castor and Jatropha plants, which is also known as Diesel was undertaken on over 200 acres, which has helped in promoting angro-forestry in the region. He mentioned that kitchen gardening has also been introduced in around 100 houses, which can help the families to sustain during the dry season..

In his closing remarks Mr. Ghulam Qadir Shah talked about several factors that can be used to combat desertification include restoration of degraded areas and endemic flora and fauna, raising awareness and improving the socio-economic conditions in the affected areas.

As a signatory to the UNCDD, Pakistan has taken steps including the preparation of a National Action Programme to Combat Desertification in Pakistan and IUCN and a number of NGOS are active in implementing mitigation measures at ground level.

IUCN Pakistan has also developed sustainable development policies and strategies and implemented several projects on watershed management, water harvesting, agriculture and livestock management, biodiversity conservation, plantation to enhance vegetative cover amongst others, to address the issues of desertification. With government stakeholders, members and partners IUCN is working to combat desertification through a participatory and inclusive process involving the local communities.
IUCN’s vision for the world’s drylands is to ensure that they are “valued and equitably and sustainably managed to support the wellbeing of societies”

The Facts related to Drylands:

Over a 110 countries in the world have drylands that are potentially threatened by desertification, of which Africa, Asia and Latin America are the most gravely threatened.

Land degradation is attributed to both climatic conditions and human activities; the environmental impacts of desertification include erosion, high salinity, deforestation, grazing pressure, droughts, food insecurity and depletion of ecosystems based goods and services.

The multitude of functions goods and services are produced by dryland ecosystems including regulation of nutrients and pollutants, provision of habitats, production of genetic and medicinal resources, food, production of raw materials, and the production of aesthetic and recreational resources.

Drylands and their inhabitants are also precious sources of traditional knowledge and cultures that need to be conserved and protected. This holds true for Pakistan where residents of drylands are the custodians of rare medicinal knowledge, handicrafts, folklore, and cultural traditions. The populations living in arid lands are amongst the worlds poorest, and are both users and beneficiaries of natural resources, investment needs to be made in alternate sources of income and livelihoods as a measure to combat desertification.  As a signatory to the UNCDD Pakistan has taken steps including the preparation of a National Action Programme to Combat Desertification in Pakistan and NGOS have been active and successful in combating desertification in Pakistan.

For more information or to set up interviews, please contact:

Madiha Aijaz
Country Office. IUCN-Pakistan
1, Bath Island Road, Clifton, Karachi.
Phone: 021-35861540-2, Fax: 021-35861448
email address: madiha.aijaz@iucn.org

About IUCN

The world’s oldest and largest global environment network, IUCN, International Union for Conservation of Nature, envisions a just world that values and conserves nature. IUCN helps the world find pragmatic solutions to our most pressing environment and developmental challenges. It supports scientific research, manages field projects all over the world and brings governments, non-government organizations, United Nations agencies, companies and local communities together to develop and implement policy, laws and best practice. The Union’s headquarters are located in Gland, Switzerland.

IUCN Pakistan is part of the IUCN’s Asia Regional Programme based in Bangkok, Thailand. Established in 1985 to assist in the preparation of Pakistan’s National Conservation Strategy, IUCN Pakistan has grown to become the largest country programme of IUCN. Together with its partners and members, it is implementing several conservation initiatives across the country through institutional strengthening, policy advocacy and field work. Currently there are 27 active members of IUCN in Pakistan, including the Government of Pakistan as the state member, six government agencies and 20 NGOs. Over 100 volunteers from Pakistan work in IUCN’s six specialised commissions.