Proactive governance urged for ecosystems restoration

Islamabad : Speaking at a regional webinar on Sunday, the experts urged for governance reforms and integrated regional approaches towards identifying the challenges and threats confronting the ecosystems of the region from mountains to the coastal areas and deserts.

They said the governments have to increase public funding into the conservation and repair of the ecosystem of the degradation done. We need to tag a price to the ecosystem services so that the people who are the actual beneficiaries should know how valuable the ecosystems are for human life on earth.

They urged the citizens to change their lifestyle and reduce consumption of everything in their use as the production of every product cost a lot of natural resources. Population control is the other element that has to be controlled with immediate effect.

Carbon emissions are the third factor contributing to the degradation of the environmental resources. With changes to everyday lifestyle, we can help protect the planet and its ecosystems.

Reduce or eliminate the use of household chemicals and pesticides that can hurt the environment. Harsh chemicals in typical store bought cleaners can get into the water supply and leak into ecosystems when disposed of.

The Development Communications Network (Devcom-Pakistan) and DTN organised the regional webinar on the subject ‘Ecosystem Restoration -- learning from the case studies’ on Sunday. The panel of experts included Senior Scientific Advisor EVK2CNR Ashiq Ahmad Khan, ICIMOD (Nepal) Regional Programme Manager Dr. Ghulam Rasul, World Resources Institute (India) Chief Economist Dr. Madhu Verma, biodiversity expert from Maldives Selvam Rabindranath, Devcom-Pakistan Executive Director Munir Ahmed, and Research Fellow Desert Resource Centre (India) Tatsama Motilal. Devcom-Pakistan Executive Director Munir Ahmed while introducing the subject said that Environmental degradation is unchecked in Pakistan that has turned to be a graveyard of policies sans implementation.

It is indeed a great movement that Pakistan hosted the international event of the World Environment Day while climate impact is rising and environmental degradation. Deforestation, change of land-use and implementation of policies and governance reforms. Countries need to look into the causes and community-based governance models for ecosystems.

Dr. Ghulam Rasul said the climate change is fast impacting the mountain resources and habitats. Communities in mountain regions face unique challenges, including a fragile ecology, natural disasters, and long distances to markets, educational facilities, and healthcare as well as unemployment. Tourism brings benefits and potentially novel risks. Many communities have aging populations with out-migration of youth. Communities adapt to these challenges with diverse strategies, including engagement with traditional ecological knowledge, history, and narratives valuing landscape and social relationships. Ashiq Ahmad Khan said that we need dedicated professionals and bureaucrats to work on it. We need to enhance understanding of mountain ecosystems and the conservation of its biological and cultural diversity, and sustainable development. Ensuring that mountain ecosystems are understood in relation to the communities who rely on them. For the ecosystems' restoration, we need to generate knowledge and guidance that is respectful of existing traditional ecological knowledge systems and which emphasizes the centrality of local communities to successful ecosystem management.