The government on Monday demarcated an area of 28 acres for the first ever biodiversity park at Morgah in the outskirts of Rawalpindi at a cost of $155,000 for the preservation of natural beauty and promotion of sustainable livelihoods. It aims at promoting conservation of bio-diversity of the Potohar plateau of Pakistan including endangered and important flora and fauna of this region.
Minister of State for Economic Affairs Division, Hina Rabbani Khar, Executive Secretary and Under-secretary General of United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP), Dr Kim Hak Su, Chief Executive Officer of Attock Refinery Limited, M Raziuddin, District Nazim Rawalpindi, Raja Tariq Kiani and others attended the inaugural ceremony.
Speaking on the occasion, Hina Khar said that the government alone cannot promote sustainable development for alleviation of poverty.
Appreciating the public-private partnership, she said that the initiative of mobilising private sector would help in delivery of better basic services to the people with less budgetary constraints.
"We hope that the establishment of the Morgah Biodiversity Park in partnership with linked institutions will act as a major launching pad not only for conservation of species but also to create awareness regarding protection of biodiversity resources in general and Potohar region in particular," Hina Khar added.
The minister said the income generation activities created through development of compost from organic waste and development of community gardens would go a long way in improving the income and environment of the two large villages, Morgah and Kotha Kalan, inhabited by 40,000 people.
Expressing his views, UNESCAP official Kim Hak Su said that the conservation of biodiversity has assumed renewed importance in Asia after the recent Tsunami disaster, which destroyed considerable parts of the region's reserves such as forests, fish stocks, coral reefs and mangroves.
"Efforts like the one in Morgah can serve as models for restoring the biodiversity of devastated countries and would help in preventing further loss of the sustainable livelihoods of the people," he added.
Kim Hak Su said that Morgah Biodiversity Park would bring together participants from the private sector, national and local governments, and the local community.
"A part of UNESCAP's pro-public private partnership for poverty reduction, it is a follow-up of the World Summit on Sustainable Development, held in Johannesburg in 2002," he further informed the gathering.
He was hopeful that experiences from this UNESCAP project would make very important contribution in achieving the objectives of Pakistan's National Environmental Action Plan to safeguard public health and promote sustainable livelihoods.
"I believe projects such as these are key to meeting the target of reversing losses of environmental resources by 2015, as set out in the UN Millenium Development Goals," the UNESCAP official said.
Addressing the gathering, Attock Refinery Limited CEO said that biodiversity conservation is both good business and solid contribution to nation building by giving poor people access to basic services.
Acknowledging the effort of Netherlands government, Raziuddin said that the project was made possible by the generous financial support of the Royal Government of the Netherlands.
It is hoped that Morgah Bio-Diversity Park would produce a sustained source of income to poor households in the community through income generation activities related to the core of the Park.
The main roles of the communities are to protect biodiversity in the project area and to create overall awareness on biodiversity protection and conservation.