The Ministry of Environment's Pakistan Wetlands Programme( Compiled in July, 2005)

The Islamic Republic of Pakistan has demonstrated its commitment to the conservation of biodiversity in the areas under its jurisdiction by signing and ratifying the Convention on Biodiversity 1994 , publishing a National Conservation Strategy (1992), a Biodiversity Action Plan (2000) and implementing several major conservation initiatives such as the Protected Areas Management Project (GEF/World Bank) and the Mountain Areas Conservancy Project (GEF/UNDP).

Despite the generally arid nature of Pakistan 's climate, the region supports a diverse array of wetlands and in excess of 225 significant wetland resources are on record. Nineteen of these sites have been internationally recognised by the Ramsar Convention Bureau as being of global importance.

The diverse assortment of marine and fresh water wetlands that occur within the territorial boundaries of Pakistan support unique assemblages of biodiversity including globally important habitats species and genomes. The same resource, however, also sustains an estimated 130 million permanent human residents and 3 - 4 million of displaced persons from adjacent countries. The wetlands of the region are, therefore, generally degrading under a broad spectrum of anthropogenic threats most of which are a direct product of poverty but many of which are exacerbated by human ignorance and mismanagement.

The Ministry of Environment's $11.8 million Pakistan Wetlands Programme aims to promote the conservation of freshwater, wetlands and the associated globally important biodiversity.

The Programme which will be implemented by WWF-Pakistan has a strategy that is based on two sub-sets of objectives. The first addresses issues at the national level and the other deals with the management of four selected wetlands complexes, carefully chosen to broadly represent conditions in each of four wetlands eco-regions in the country.

National level objectives: The first national level objective will amplify the known information about the coastal and inland wetlands of the country by enhancing ongoing field survey work and refining the existing Geographic Information System database for wetlands. Working copies of this management resource will be disseminated to all key agencies engaged in wetlands conservation in Pakistan .

The second objective will upgrade the existing Wetlands Action Plan to the level of a National Wetlands Management Strategy, which is appropriately aligned with world norms and expectations.

The third objective consists of a broad-based, nationwide wetlands awareness and advocacy campaign aimed at substantially improving awareness at all levels in Pakistani society.

The fourth objective will address the dire need for enhanced capacity for wetlands conservation both in terms of human knowledge and skill levels and the physical means to do the necessary conservation work.

Area-based objectives : Each of the four area-based objectives will develop and implement sustainable management plans for each of the four representative model wetlands complexes.

As each of the selected sites in generally typical of a broader wetlands eco-region, it is anticipated that the Programme will have a high replicable value in a national environment in which both public awareness for and technical capacity to manage fresh water and wetlands will have been substantially enhanced.

Donors: A conservation initiative as far reaching and ambitious as the Wetlands Programme requires substantial financial support and this has come in the form of generous assistance from four sources: the GEF Programme ($3.33 million), UNDP – Pakistan ($1.5 million), WWF- Network ($1.2 million) and the Royal Netherlands Embassy, Islamabad ($4.03 million). In addition to this, the Pakistan Poverty Alleviation Fund has committed to parallel financing amounting to $2.06 million.

The relationship between the major components of the Pakistan Wetlands Programme .

The Programme embodies two interrelated immediate objectives :

•  The first consists of a suite of initiatives designed to create a national environment in Pakistan that will enable the mainstreaming of wetlands conservation. It will provide the required policy, institutional, technical and financial framework and generate positive public support essential for the sustainable conservation of globally significant biodiversity in naturally occurring wetlands.

•  The second objective involves the design and implementation of progressive, participatory management plans for four independent Demonstration Sites , each chosen to be representative of a broad eco-region in Pakistan . It includes specific mechanisms to enhance replication and proliferation of viable wetlands management interventions as part of a nation-wide, on-going wetlands conservation initiative.