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SCMP Reporter

A HIGH-powered body has been formed to help save Pakistan's environment, with Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto underlining the urgency by appointing her husband to tackle the task.

 Asif Zardari, a member of the National Assembly, has been named chairman of the new Environment Protection Council.

 Environmentalists say the formation of the council has not come a minute too soon.

  Over the past decade, Pakistan has witnessed relentless deforestation, desertification and a worrying deterioration of urban environments.

  In the Suleiman Range, which was named after the biblical sage King Solomon, both the ancient practice of prospective grooms paying a dowry of 125 trees for a bride and logging for fuel and cash to support a local population of 19,000 have stripped the Chilghoza forests.

  These woodlands are home to the endangered Suleiman markhor - a species that has dwindled dramatically. About 100 survive.

  Also on the verge of extinction is the Himalayan ibex, a victim of excessive hunting and disappearing habitat in the Bar Valley, which nestles between Hunza and Nagar.

  In the Chitral region, migratory birds - especially waterfowl and falcons - have fallen victim to indiscriminate trapping and poaching.

   The Siberian crane has all but disappeared. The decline of the Houbara bustard in Pakistan's deserts, a popular target for generations of hunters, has also alarmed environmentalists.

  In Khunjerab National Park, home to some of the country's richest wildlife, the population of Marco Polo's sheep is down to about 50.

  Pakistan's branch of the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) has brokered a historic agreement with park residents to try to save the sheep from the brink of extinction but some people believe it may already be too late.

  Several environmental initiatives are now underway to stop the rot.

  One immediate project of the Environment Protection Council has been to encourage imports of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) and set up an elaborate distribution network - the idea being that trees no longer need to be cut down for firewood if alternative sources of fuel are widely available.

  In Baluchistan, where the world's biggest juniper forest was under threat, and in other mountain areas, the arrival of LPG is expected to protect trees.

  Thermal power plants are being developed throughout Pakistan in the hope they will improve the future of the forests.

  WWF-Pakistan has persuaded forest owners in the Suleiman Range to stop logging in a small reserve set aside for the markhor.

  A big community project is underway in the Bar Valley to protect the ibex: a new route has been chosen for the 1,500-kilometre Indus Highway to skirt Kirthar National Park in Sindh, rather than dissect it, to protect the ibex and other wildlife from human incursion.

  In Chitral, waterfowl refuges are being created and bag limits have been introduced during a restricted hunting season.

  Meanwhile, chemical plants and tanneries that for two decades had pumped by-products, toxic chemicals and effluent into rivers and the Arabian Sea are now prevented from doing so by law.

  Environment commentator Shahid-Ur-Rehman said: 'Environmental protection and safety is a new concept in Pakistan. But the new emphasis is already forcing planners and developers to amend their projects and protect the environment.'   In the meantime, WWF-Pakistan has targeted the country's youth in an education programme designed to increase environmental awareness.

   A 'Nature Club' network of youth groups extends to 25 cities and towns. Last year, the organisation was involved in 36 projects.

  'An ecological and resource survey has also been initiated to identify areas rich in biological diversity that are under threat of destruction or being degraded by exploitation,' a WWF-Pakistan spokesman said.

  'This survey will provide Pakistan with a much-needed database on our natural resources and identify the associated problems of surrounding populations.'   Ultimately, environmental strategies would be developed in collaboration with residents 'for the protection of our valuable national heritage', he said.



Bhutto moves swiftly to ensure green future