Pakistan encourages community-based forest conservation, management: official

ISLAMABAD, Aug. 16 (Xinhua) — Romina Khurshid Alam, coordinator to the Pakistani prime minister on climate change and environmental coordination, said that the role of communities in tree plantation is vital for effective forest conservation and management.
“Since local communities often have traditional knowledge and practices that contribute to sustainable forest management, they can play an effective role in enforcing conservation, managing natural resources and protecting biodiversity,” the official said on Thursday here during an event.
She said that community-based forest management is being practiced in many Asian countries which has yielded desirable results, adding that communities, when strengthened with knowledge and ownership of resources, act as frontline defenders of forests against illegal activities such as logging, poaching and land grabbing.
Given the effectiveness of community-based forest management, Alam said that the Pakistani government has taken several initiatives and launched tree plantation campaigns at national and provincial levels to stimulate communities.
“A recent collaboration with the Benazir Income Support Program (BISP) is aimed at utilizing a large-scale nationwide network of BISP financial aid beneficiaries and engage them in various tree plantation activities across the country,” she added.
Alam believed that a large-scale involvement of people in tree plantation activities would help foster environmental stewardship and contribute to a greener Pakistan. ■