Pakistan Wetland Program

The Pakistan Wetlands Programme (PWP) aims to promote the sustainable conservation of freshwater and marine wetlands and their associated globally important biodiversity in Pakistan. The programme strategy is based on two sub-sets of objectives. The first will provide the required policy, institutional, technical and financial framework and generate positive public support essential for the mainstreaming of wetlands conservation. The second involves the design and implementation of Sustainable, participatory management plans for four independent Demonstration Sites, each chosen to be representative of a broad eco-region in Pakistan.

It includes specific mechanisms to secure financial sustainability and enhanced replication and proliferation of viable wetlands management interventions in a nation-wide, on-going wetlands conservation initiative. Despite the generally arid nature of Pakistan’s climate, the region supports an estimated 780,000 ha of wetlands that cover 9. 7% of the total surface area of the country. In excess of 225 significant wetlands sites are on record in the prototype Pakistan Wetlands GIS Database developed during the PDF (B) Phase of this Project.

Nineteen of these have been internationally recognised by the Ramsar Convention Bureau as being of global importance. The diverse assortment of natural freshwater and marine wetlands that occur within Pakistan support unique combinations of biodiversity. The same resource, however, also sustains an estimated 144 million permanent human residents and 3-4 million displaced persons from adjacent countries. The wetlands of the region are, therefore, generally degrading under a broad spectrum of anthropogenic threats that are mainly rooted in poverty but exacerbated by lack of knowledge and mismanagement.

Global Significance

Pakistan’s permanent and ephemeral wetlands are globally significant in two ways; i) In terms of the intrinsic value of their indigenous biodiversity, ii) As an acute example of the poverty/subsistence-use nexus that constitutes one of the most fundamental worldwide. The high global significance of Pakistan’s wetlands is attributable to the diversity of species that they support. In all, eighteen threatened species of wetlands dependent mammals are found in the country including the endemic Punjab Urial (Ovis vignei punjabiensis) and Indus River Dolphin (Plantanista minor).

Further, twenty threatened bird species are supported by Pakistan’s wetlands in addition to twelve reptiles and two endemic species of amphibians. Pakistan’s wetlands also support between 191-198 indigenous freshwater fish species, including fifteen endemics and a total of 788 marine and estuarine fish species. The high altitude wetlands, characterised by sites such as Karumbar Lake, situated at an elevation of 4, 150m, and Saucher Lake, at 4,250m on the Deosai Plains, represent a relatively unique category of alpine wetlands that is confined to the Himalaya, Hindukush and Karakoram mountain cordilleras.

Objectives

To promote the sustainable conservation of freshwater and marine wetlands and their associated globally important biodiversity in Pakistan.

Key Achievements

Implementation on the recommendations of the previous Mid-Term Review underway. Draft Exit Strategy for Pakistan Wetlands Program prepared. iii)Institutional setup established under the program with management of Pakistan’s wetlands after completion of the project in 2012. iv)Field assessments completed and GIS models at the federal and provincial levels operational.

GIS database being used as a decision making tool for the management of selected wetlands in four sites. v)Overall information of 225 wetlands of Pakistan available in GIS database.National Wetlands Policy approved. Planned trainings completed. 3000 participants from communities, Govt. institutions and academia benefited from these trainings. The project and government personnel have benefited from study abroad component of this programme. A number of customized materials such as a brochure on Uchhali Complex, awareness raising posters in Urdu and English for World Wetlands Day; tree plantation and hunting ethics flyers and promos; documentaries on Water Fowl In Pakistan; Broghil and on Balochistan Coast were produced and disseminated nation-wide. This has led to recognition of three additional wetlands sites under the Global Convention on Wetlands. The implementation of conservation plans at the four wetlands sites in process in collaboration with local village communities.

Main Donors

The main donors are Royal Netherland Embassy (RNE), UNDP Pakistan, Global Environment Facility (GEF), Pakistan Poverty Alleviation Fund (PPAF), EU and WWF International . Aims The programme aims at the creation of an enabling environment at the national level through capacity-building and training, awareness raising, communication and environmental assessments; developing replicable models in the four wetlands eco-regions of the country including the Makran Coastal Wetlands Complex (MCWC), Central Indus Wetlands Complex (CIWC), Salt Range Wetlands Complex (SRWC) and Northern Alpine Wetlands Complex (NAWC).

Coverage Area

Despite the generally arid nature of Pakistan’s climate, the region supports an estimated 780,000 ha of wetlands that cover 9. 7% of the total surface area of the country. In excess of 225 significant wetlands sites are on record in the prototype Pakistan Wetlands GIS Database developed during the PDF (B) Phase of this Project. Nineteen of these have been internationally recognized by the Ramsar Convention Bureau as being of global importance. The diverse assortment of natural freshwater and marine wetlands that occur within Pakistan support unique combinations of biodiversity.