National Conservation Strategy
The Federal Cabinet’s approval of the CIDA-funded National Conservation Strategy (NCS) on 1 March 1992 was a major milestone in Pakistan’s environmental history. This 406-page document was prepared by a team of experts over a three-year period through a partnership between the Government of Pakistan and IUCN. It involved more than 3,000 people through workshops and direct and indirect consultations.
The NCS has three overriding objectives: conservation of natural resources, sustainable development, and improved efficiency in the use and management of resources. These, in turn, depend on three principles: achieving greater public partnership in development and environment management; merging environment and economics in decision-making; and focusing on durable improvements in the quality of life in Pakistan.
Besides the development of institutions such as the Environment Section in the Federal Planning and Development Division, and the Sustainable Development Policy Institute, there is substantive tangible evidence of the Strategy’s implementation. This includes the formulation of provincial and district conservation strategies, the establishment of Environment Protection Agencies at the federal and provincial levels and the addition of a regular chapter on the environment in the national five-year plans.
