The Ministry of Environment has prepared a new project 'Sustainable Land Management for Combating Desertification in Pakistan', which will undertake in-depth analysis of causes and effects of land degradation with the total cost of $17.040 million during the next seven years.
According to a study report, Pakistan is a predominantly dryland country with 80 percent of its land area consisting of arid and semi-arid regions. Hence, the majority of people depend on dryland areas to support their livelihoods.
Deforestation coupled with unsustainable management of natural resources is causing enormous environmental problems, including land degradation, loss of soil fertility, flash floods, loss of biodiversity, reduction in land productivity, soil erosion and many other associated problems.
Dryland areas are suffering from heavy water erosion, mainly because of unsustainable land management practices. Similarly, desert areas are subject to acute problems of shifting sand, whereas fairly large proportions of irrigated land of the Indus River basin are affected by waterlogging and salinity.
According to project report, the land degradation and sustainable land management (SLM) issues can only be addressed through mainstreaming and harmonising SLM within the national development priorities and integration of desertification and deforestation prevention and control measures into national development programmes.
This requires participatory and cross-sectoral approaches for creating an enabling environment and undertaking on-the-ground investments for SLM and conservation of natural resources that take into account the ecological, economic, and social dimensions, while addressing land degradation and desertification issues.
Overall objective of the proposed full-scale Global Environment Facility (GEF) project is to combat desertification and deforestation by strengthening institutional capacity and creating an enabling environment for sustainable land use management and implementation of integrated interventions on the ground.
The proposed project will be developed within the context of sustainable development and poverty alleviation in the country with the involvement of key-stakeholders, relevant government departments, local communities, NGOs, private sector, bi-lateral and multi-lateral agencies.
The final set of project outcomes and outputs will be based on the participatory planning of the full-scale project during PDF-B, and will be informed by the results of special studies, and well-defined criteria to be developed during the PDF-B.
Anticipated project outcomes include, creating an enabling policy environment, strengthening institutional capacity and generating knowledge for promoting sustainable land management practices and strengthening institutional capacity at local, provincial and national levels.
The Ministry sources said, the 25-year Forestry Sector Master Plan (FSMP) adopted in 1992 addressed the policy issues and highlights needs for SLM, protecting environmental values and alleviating poverty from rural areas.
FSMP provides strategies for conserving soil and water resources, protecting watersheds, improving rangelands and involving local communities in natural resources management. It also outlines a programme for sand dune stabilisation and strengthening research in these areas.
Pakistan has prepared provincial conservation strategies for NWFP and Balochistan provinces and Northern Areas strategy for sustainable development. These strategies highlighted issues of desertification and deforestation and proposed measures for sustainable management of land resources, including controlling deforestation and desertification. Provincial governments of Sindh and Punjab are also considering preparation of their own conservation strategies.
In 2001, the government adopted the National Environmental Action Plan (NEAP) with a focus on clean air, clean water, solid waste management, and ecosystem management. To address the poverty-environment nexus, a NEAP-Support Programme has been launched, which proposes a wide range of technical, institutional, regulatory, social and economic interventions.
The government realises that natural resources conservation and land degradation issues can not be tackled effectively unless local communities are involved in project planning, implementation and decision making. There is a considerable change in the attitude of land managers.
Now most of the agriculture, forestry, livestock and irrigation projects encourage participation of local communities in the project activities. As result rural communities are being mobilised to take the responsibility at the grassroots level.
The government has also taken steps towards affirmative action against gender inequality and is encouraging women's participation in the sustainable land management activities to ensure sustainability of initiatives. These include social empowerment- access to education, health and justice- economic improvement and political empowerment, involving women in power and decision making by enhancing their representation in the district, provincial and national assemblies.
The recently formulated Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP) also emphasises the need to address issues of land degradation, soil erosion, desertification, and excessive use of pesticides and to minimise impact of these on local livelihoods and environment.
The strategies relevant to land management include improving access of the poor to cultivable lands, reclamation of waterlogged and saline lands, and providing opportunities to rural poor for sustainable management of natural resources such as forests, rangelands and water.
The provinces have also initiated the preparation of PRSPs to identify priority steps for providing alternative economic opportunities for the rural poor focusing on agriculture, livestock and rangeland development.