Implementing Agency:
Department For International Development (PAND)

Managing Institute:
Birdlife International

Contractor:
Birdlife International

Project Code: No Mis Code

Start Date: 01/01/1996

End Date: 31/12/2000

Status: Current

Type of Funding: Multilateral

Project Background:
Palas contains Pakistan's most important remaining tract of natural west Himalayan forest, recognised as a global priority for biodiversity conservation. However, the forest and biodiversity of Palas are seriously threatened by unsustainable commercial timber harvesting. Poverty and the need for income is an important contributing factor in the unsustainability of logging - Palas lies in the least developed tehsil in North West Frontier Province (NWFP) and one of the least developed Districts in all Pakistan.

The PCDP addresses key national and provincial policy objectives concerning natural resource management and poverty alleviation, notably those of the NCS (National Conservation Strategy), Forestry Sector Master Plan , SPCS (Sashad Provincial Conservation Strategy) and Social Action Programme. The PCDP will also help Pakistan to meet its obligations under the Biodiversity Convention which Pakistan has ratified.

The Sarhad Provincial Conservation Strategy (SPCS) Inception Report cites the Himalayan Jungle Project (HJP; JFS 664) as an example of the commitment of the Govenment of NWFP towards resource conservation and sustainable development, providing "experience in new approaches to working with local people and to achieve the treatment of wildlife populations on a sustainable basis". The SPCS proposes extension of HJP to cover more of the eastern portion of NWFP, and calls for "the preparation and implementation of integrated development projects for those areas of NWFP (such as Kohistan) which have not yet benefitted from this kind of work".

Provincial forest policy prioritises the kind of participatory and integrated approach to natural resource management proposed in the PCDP. In NWFP, and elsewhere in Pakistan's uplands, there are a number of ongoing projects pursuing related goals, and testing similar approaches.