Balochistan Conservation Strategy
Covering nearly 44% of Pakistan’s total geographical area, Balochistan is the country’s largest province. By Pakistani standards, its population of 8 million is small. But the population has been growing at an estimated rate of 4% since 1981. The combined effect of this growth, coupled with the steady influx of people from rural areas to towns and cities, has led to approximately 40% of the population being concentrated in Quetta, Sibi, Loralai, Jaffarabad, Khuzdar, Turbat, Bela, Uthal, Allah Yar and Hub.
This has severe repercussions on Balochistan’s urban environment. Its scarce water resources have been stretched to the limit. Municipal services have not kept up with the requirements of a growing populace. The fumes generated by the multitude of vehicles far exceed acceptable standards and continue to exact a staggering toll on people’s health.
The increased demand for land and fuel wood, has resulted in the clearing of the natural vegetation cover and, consequently, the depletion of native species of plants and animals. Meeting the food needs of a growing population has also led to the prevalence of unsustainable agricultural and grazing practices that pose a severe threat to Balochistan’s natural resource base.
Activities in other resource sectors, too, have an impact on the environment and the people. The pollution of coastal waters by industrial effluents, and untreated sewage, has led to the depletion of fish stock that has jeopardized the livelihoods of traditional fishing communities.
To address these and a host of other related issues, efforts were undertaken to develop a comprehensive sustainable development agenda under the title of the Balochistan Conservation Strategy (BCS).
The Balochistan Conservation Strategy Funded by the Royal Netherlands Embassy, the Balochistan Conservation Strategy was developed jointly by the Government of Balochistan’s Planning and Development Department and IUCN-The World Conservation Union, using a truly participative approach involving key stakeholders namely: government, media, NGOs, the private sector, academia and civil society.
The main objective of this project was to design and produce a policy framework, which will ensure that environmental concerns are incorporated into development planning. The BCS itself, as well as the processes used for formulating it, address the key issues of resource degradation by action planning; raising environmental awareness; building capacity for environmental planning and management; expanding cross sectoral linkages; promoting a consultative culture by involving interest groups and civil society in development planning; and initiating legislative and economic policies conducive to sustainable development.
The start of the BCS involved the establishment of an office, networking with partners and the preparation of a Plan of Operations that defined a framework for the project and identified eight key components, namely natural resource management, communication, education, NGOs, the private sector, legislation, training and demonstration projects. These were then integrated under three “strands” - natural resource management issues, social sector issues and institutional and governance issues - which will ultimately be brought together into a policy document.
Consultations were undertaken in in Mastung, Naseerabad, Pishin, Lasbela, Gwadar, Turbat, Zhob, Quetta and Ziarat. Sectoral and thematic sub-strategies were then developed and interest groups were established with the likelihood of transforming into formal roundtables.
For further details please visit BCS website.
