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Grand
launch of the Festival
By Shahid Malik
Islamabad,
Oct 02: Formal launching
of the Mountain Festival took
place in the Jinnah Convention
Centre at 15:30. Malik Amin
Aslam, Minister of State for
Environment was the chief
guest. Two lovely kids presented
flowers to the chief guest
on his arrival. The session
started with recitation of
verses from the Holy Quran
by Qari Mehboob.
Gul Najam Jamy, Head Islamabad
Office of IUCNP, welcomed
the chief guest Malik Amin
Aslam, Resident representative
of UNDP, Mr. Haoliang XU,
Syed Motahir Shah Sec forest,
Dr. Mumtaz Malik, Chief Conservator
Forests N.W.F.P, Malik Amirzada
MPA, Fauzia Aslam and all
others.
Abdul Latif Rao, Country Representative
of IUCNP shared information
about the MACP and showed
images of the Project area
through various slides. He
termed Natural resources of
the Mountain areas very important.
He said over exploitation
was a major cause of depletion
of natural resources.
Resident representative
of UNDP, Mr. Haoliang XU
said the Mountain Festival
was very important for the
UNDP. He said MACP organized
the community and achieved
conservation through development.
He said Project success
needs to be upscaled and
UNDP will support any step
which would be taken to
upscale the project initiatives.
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(Malik Amin Aslam, Minister
of State of Environment at
the ribbon cutting ceremony)
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Syed
Motahir Shah, Secretary Finance
and Forests of N.W.F.P, in
his address said, MACP was
unique partnership of Government,
International Organizations
and Community to conserve
the Mountains.
Dr. Mumtaz
Malik said government took
the right step of conserving
mountain resources by involving
the very communities who live
there. He suggested making
MACP a Programme rather than
a project so that it does
not end within few years.
He thanked GEF and UNDP for
providing funds for the conservation
and also thanked IUCN for
taking the lead role in providing
a platform fro bringing all
the stake holders on board.
Malik Amin Aslam, Minister
of State for Environment,
said mountains of Pakistan
were very important due to
their cultural diversity,
biodiversity and natural resources.
He said MACP is one of the
success stories of Ministry
of Environment and valley
conservancy fund was step
toward sustaining this success
story. He said MACP will surely
present soft image of Pakistan
and congratulated the organizers
for arranging the festival.
Raja Attaullah,
National project manager of
MACP thanked the minister
for traveling to the Northern
Areas to see the MACP activities
and to meet the communities.
He also thanked UNDP and IUCNP
for their continued support.
The Festival
and the Sights of Heights
was formally opened by Malik
Amin Aslam in a ribbon cutting
ceremony. |
(Kids with
flowers: welcoming the chief
guest)
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The
Film Festival and the Photo Exhibition
By Shahid Malik
Islamabad,
Oct 02: The Mountain
Festival 2005 opened for the
general public on Sunday at
11:00 a.m. at the Jinnah Convention
Centre in Islamabad. Documentaries
produced by MACP, IUCN-P,
WWF-P, AKRSP, HWF, UNESCO
were displayed on the occasion
to showcase Pakistan’s
Mountain treasures. A colourful
open air exhibition was also
arranged where stalls were
setup to provide information
and entertainment to the visitors.
Photo exhibition of Mountain
areas’ pictures was
also arranged inside the convention
centre. Large number of people
from various walks of life
attended the launching session.
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(Young viewers at the photo
exhibition) |
MACP
Night – Transcending the Heights
By Shahid Malik
Islamabad, Oct
02: MACP documentary
was launched in the MACP
Night held on the first
day of the Mountain Festival
at the Islamabad Club. The
Programme was started with
recitation of verses from
the Holy Quran.
Abdul Latif Rao, Country
Representative of IUCN Pakistan,
welcomed Minister of state
for Environment, Malik Amin
Aslam, Resident Representative
of UNDP, Haoliang XU, Malik
Ameerzada and all the other
dignitaries and the participants
on behalf of IUCN.
Haoliang XU, Resident Representative
of UNDP, said Mountains
were source of livelihoods,
water and forests. He said
people would suffer if Mountains
resources were not protected.
MACP Documentary, Islands
in the Sky, was formally
launched and was screened
on the occasion. The documentary
received encouraging response
from the audience and was
appreciated by people present
there.
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(Cultural performance from
Northern Areas)
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Students from Szabist Islamabad
Campus presented a thought
provoking drama on the importance
of conservation. They were
followed by artists from Northern
Areas and N.W.F.P who presented
their cultural heritage which
included their traditional
dresses, folk songs and sword
dances.
Raja Attaullah
Khan, National Project Director
of MACP, in his address thanked
the chief guest, Malik Amin
Aslam, Minister of State for
Environment, Haoliang XU,
Resident Representative of
UNDP, students, civil society
representatives, artists of
N.W.F.P and Northern Areas
and large number of community
members who attended MACP
night. |
(Students of
Szabist advocating Conservation) |
Scientific Seminar: Mountain Ecosystem
in Pakistan
By Iftikhar Hussain
and Shahid Malik
Islamabad, Oct
03, 2005: IUCN-The
World Conservation Union
in partnership with government
of Pakistan, United Nation
Development Programme (UNDP),
Agha Khan Rural Support
Programme (AKRSP), Global
Environmental Facility (GEF)
and World wide Fund for
Nature WWF arranged a three-day
mountain festival at Jinnah
Convention Centre under
its Mountain Area Conservation
Project (MACP) to reinvigorate
the conservation of mountain
ecosystems in Pakistan.
On the second day of the
festival, several interesting
events took place including
the Scientific Seminar.
The NWFP Minister for Environment,
Sha Raz Khan, was the chief
guest in this session.
World renowned environmentalist
Dr. Steve Edwards, while
presenting his paper ‘Global
Significance of Ecosystems’,
said many people came together
to make MACP a success.
He showed images of important
species of Pakistan. He
presented in detail the
ecosystem services and briefed
about Global status of ecosystem
services . He said Ecosystem
services provide products
of national interest like
water, energy, minerals
in Pakistan.He informed
the
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Shah Raz Khan, N.W.F.P Minister
for Environment.
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participants that MACP covers
population of 210000 in 67
valleys and an area of 16,365
sq. miles.
Nikhat Sattar of IUCN Asia
Region, in her presentation
‘The Fall of Water’,
said these mountains provide
important resources but they
are facing some problems.
She said there is need to
bring more and more land under
protected areas to conserve
our biodiversity. She said
unplanned development has
undermined the mountain resources.
While quoting IUCN-UNEP report
which covers China, Nepal
and Pakistan, she said,"
170 million people in Asia
live in mountain areas and
draw their livelihood directly
or indirectly from the mountains.
She said degeneration of mountain
resources causes desertification,
floods, deforestation and
pollution. She said according
to the report, unplanned development
has affected 46% per cent
of biodiversity in Asia and
it’s estimated that
it would increase to 70% by
2030.
Mumtaz Malik, NWFP chief
Conservator, stressed the
need for conservation of
environment through community
participation. "We
need to improve mountain
areas community livelihood
for conservation of mountain
resources". It is
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World renowned
environmentalist, Steve Edwards |
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imperative to link all efforts
in this regard to protect
our biodiversity", he
said. He said under the Convention
of International Trade of
Endangered Species Pakistan
has been granted a quota of
12 species for trophy hunting
with $40,000 per permit. Out
of the total income of these
trophy hunting, 80% goes to
community development, he
elaborated. Ibrahim, head
of WWF Sarhad, talked about
a study carried out by WWF
to evaluate impact assessment
of tourism in N.W.F.P.
Sha Raz Khan, the NWFP Minister
for Environment, while speaking
on the occasion informed the
participants that environmental
impact knows no frontiers
and the world needs to join
hands for its conservation.
He underlined the need for
an integrated approach towards
conservation of biodiversity,
saying "we need to improve
the livelihood of community
living in the mountain areas
to reduce their dependency
on natural resources".
He said there is a need for
creating awareness among the
public about the conservation
of environment. He appreciated
Steve Edwards and all other
people involved in conservation
efforts.
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Mystical Myths – Cultural
performances by academic institutions
By Shahid Malik
IIslamabad, Oct
03, 2005: On the
second day of the Mountain
Festival, students from
various institutions and
artists from NAs presented
a cultural show. The session
began with recitation of
verses from the Holy Quran
by Muhammad Usman from Elementary
High School Talhar. Dr.
Mumtaz Malik, Raja Attaullah,
Sajjad Bhutta, Wazir Ghulam
Mehdi, Students from various
Educational institutions
and community members attended
the session. Sadiq Hasan,
Federal Secretary Education,
was the chief guest on the
occasion.
Abdul Latif Rao, Country
Representative of IUCNP,
opened the session by welcoming
all the guests and the participants.
He introduced Mountain Festival
and informed the guests
about the MACP.
Students from Fatimah Jinnah
University, Islamabad presented
an impressive drama show
casing an educated woman
who loved her area and who
wanted to preserve its natural
resources and beauty.
Artists from Hunza welcomed
the chief guest and others
by singing a folk mystical
song which is usually sung
to praise the guests and
to pray for their long lives.
They also presented traditional
dances of Northern Areas
including dance with swords
and a song by Ali Aman.
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 (Fed.
Education Sec, Sajid Hasan)
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Famous singer from Northern
Areas, Jan Ali, who is also
associated with Radio Pakistan
Gilgit and who has got Gold
Medal from Govt. of Pakistan
also performed before the
audience and received huge
applause.
Dr, Mumtaz Malik thanked
the guests and appreciated
all the performers especially
students of Fatimah Jinnah
University.
Chief Guest, Sajid Hassan,
thanked IUCN for inviting
him to the festival and
praised all the artists
who performed there.
He appreciated the fact
that culture of NAs is still
preserved in the age of
globalization and praised
IUCN and Govt. of Pakistan
for their efforts in supporting
the community. He said large
number of Pakistani live
in the Mountains and stressed
on conserving biodiversity
and forests of these areas.
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(Folk mystic
song from Hunza) |
Later, a group of artists from
Baltistan presented a folk dance
which is performed on the occasion
of Jash ne Noroz (Spring Festival).
Artists from Kailash Valley,
who were dressed in traditional
black dresses, presented their
famous traditional dance. People
who belonged to various walks
of life attended the cultural
show and were enthralled to
see culture of NAs and live
performance by artists who had
come from one of the remotest
areas of Pakistan. |
Glimpses of Grandeur –
Meet the heroes, organizations, climbers
and conservation leaders from the
mountains in Northern Areas
By Shahid Malik
Islamabad, Oct
03: On the second
day of the Mountain Festival,
a special session was held
to honour the heroes of
the mountains - the brave
climbers, mountaineers and
the dedicated community
leaders, in the Jinnah Convention
Centre Islamabad. Various
interesting and informative
documentaries including
Snow Leopard by WWF, Road
to Hushay by IUCNP, The
Karakoram Highway by Gabreela
Neuhans & Angelo Scudeletili,
Contour of Wilderness and
MACP clips were screened
on the occasion.
Among others, were present
Senator Fauzia Fakhruzaman
from Islamabad, Muhammad
Iqbal, Member NALC, A.L.
Rao, CR IUCNP, Muhammad
Ibrahim from WWF-P, Raja
Attaullah Khan, National
Project Manager of MACP
and Dr. Ihsanullah Mir.
Syeda Fauzia Saleem, Joint
Sec, was the chief guest
on the occasion.
Ibrahim Khan of WWF-P,
in his inaugural speech,
welcomed the guests and
said NAs were not only rich
in biodiversity but also
in cultural heritage. He
praised IUCN-MACP for blending
conservation with culture
in NAs.
Information about MACP was
presented though various
slides before the audience.
Pictures about the flora
and fauna, medicinal plants,
Peaks, Glaciers, lakes,
landscape, forests of NAs
was also shown and audience
was told about the steps
taken by MACP to create
awareness in the communities
for adopting sustainable
use practices, eco tourism
and trophy hunting.
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 (Guests
on the stage)
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Heroes of Mountain from N.W.F.P
and Northern Areas were introduced
to the audience. They included
Mountaineers including Rajab
Shah who conquered K2 and
other major peaks, Community
leaders, conservationists,
trainers, philanthropists,
artists and religious leaders.
Chief Guest and all others
gave 1 minute standing applause
to honour all the heroes.
Senator, Fauzia Fakhruzaman,
in her address praised the
heroes and said Northern
Area was Pride of Pakistan.
She talked about importance
of conservation and biodiversity.
Syeda Fauzia Saleem, while
expressing her opinion,
appreciated IUCNP for bringing
people from various areas
of N.W.F.P and NA together
and unity showed by people.
She thanked IUCN for arranging
such a colourful event.
Dr. Ihsanullah Mir, thanked
donors and the participants
for supporting the event.
Later, Chitral music and
dance group presented a
colourful work of art which
provided entertainment and
information to the audience.
Groups from Diamer and Baltistan
and artists from Astore
and Hunza also presented
cultural performances.
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(Heroes of
the Mountains receiving standing
applause) |
MACP briefing for the donors
By Shahid Malik
Islamabad, Oct 04, 2005:
MACP briefing for donors was organized
by UNDP in the board room of the
Jinnah Convention Centre, Islamabad.
All the stakeholders i.e. Officials
from the Govt. of Pakistan &
Govt. of N.W.F.P, donors, community
representatives and representatives
of IUCN attended the briefing.
Resident representative of UNDP,
Mr. Haoliang XU opened the session
and welcomed the participants. He
said purpose of the meeting was
to highlight the achievements of
the project and to discuss the issues.
After the introduction of the participants,
Mr. XU invited A.L. Rao, CR of IUCNP
to introduce MACP. The CR of IUCNP
gave a detailed presentation about
the project. He explained, with
the help of various slides, the
biodiversity and landscape situation
of the Gojal, Nangaparbat, Trichmir,
and Qashqar conservancies.
Gul Najam Jamy, Head IPO of IUCNP,
briefed the session about the lessons
learned from the project. He said,
though the Mountain are rich and
majestic yet people living around
are very poor. He said socio economic
development in the area could be
driven by natural resources but
development through natural resource
was a gigantic task and suggested
to link infrastructure development
with natural resources to produce
desire results.
MACP clips were displayed. Mr.
XU said these clips could be used
for communicating MACP success story.
Dr. Bashir Wani, I.G. Forests introduced
Mountain Areas Conservancies Fund
(MACF). He and Dr. M. Khurshid,
Sec MACF explained objectives of
the MACF. It was informed that fund
had already raised US$ 3 million
out of which GEF provided US$ 1.5
mn, UNDP provided US$ 0.75 mn, GoP
provided US$ 0.25 mn, GoNWFP provided
US$ 0.25 mn and communities provided
US$ 0.25 mn, however the requirement
was US$ 5 million so donors were
requested to provide US$ 2 million
to fulfill the endowment fund requirement.
It was informed that MACF was a
‘Company limited by Guarantee
and has institutional setup. It
is setup in Ministry of Environment
and has 15 members in its Board
of Directors. Fund is placed as
fixed term deposit in Bank Alfalah
and rupees 5 million have been earned
as yearly profit. It was further
informed that the legal manual for
the fund was also being developed.
The Mountain Festival:
Partner Together – Grand Closing
Ceremony
By Shahid Malik
Islamabad, Oct
04: The Mountain
Festival ended in a Grand
closing ceremony at the
Jinnah Convention Centre
which was attended by Malik
Ameerzada, MPA N.W.F.P,
Wazir Ghulam Mehdi, Secretary
NAs, Hafiz Muhammad Iqbal,
Member Northern Areas Legislative
Council, Abdul Latif Rao,
CR of IUCNP, representatives
of Himalaya Foundation and
WWF, community members and
large number of People.
Makhdoom Faisal Saleh Hayat,
Federal Minister for Kashmir
and Northern Areas, was
the chief guest on the occasion,
who upon his arrival, was
presented a bouquet by two
lovely kids. The event started
with recitation of verses
from the Holy Quran by Qari
Mehbool Elahi.
Abdul Latif Rao, CR of IUCNP,
welcomed the chief guest,
Parliamentarians, Govt.
officials, civil society
representatives, donors,
community members and students
and said Mountain Festival
had successfully profiled
Mountain of Pakistan. He
also introduced Northern
Areas strategy for Sustainable
Development (NASSD) and
said it was formed through
a consultative process.
He presented NASSD document
to the chief guest. Moving
Mountains – the NASSD
Documentary was also shown
on the occasion.
Shahzad Ahmad, Coordinator
Communication of IUCNP Islamabad
Office gave a detailed presentation
on the objectives of the
Mountain Festival. He said
the main objective of the
festival was to raise profile
of MACP, its key partners
and to orient the donors.
He briefed about the partner
organizations of the event
and showed glimpses of the
event with the help of slides.
Heroes of the Mountains
were introduced and invited
on stage and were given
shields by the chief guest.
They included Haji Ghulam
Rasool, Muhammad Siraj,
Sobedar Majeed, Muhammad
Aslam, Rajab Shah, Nisar,
Jan Ali, Aliar Khan, Shaheen
Baig, Sifat ud din, Younas
Shahzad, Muhammad Hussain,
Haji Naimutallah, Tariq,
Imran Nadeem and others.
Makhdoom Faisal Saleh Hayat,
in his address appreciated
IUCN for supporting MACP
and donors for financing
the project. MACP is in
interesting and unique partnership
between Government, IUCN
and the community, he remarked.
He reaffirmed commitment
of the Federal Government
for doing sustainable development
in Northern Areas and informed
that Development fund has
been raised to more than
250%. A new project has
been formed to provide safe
drinking water and rupees
20 crore will be spent on
uplift of tourism, he added.
He thanked IUCN and SDC
for providing support in
producing NASSD. He said
it would be officially launched
soon; however, he informally
launched it in the festival.
Traditional dresses of NAs
were presented to him by
the community members and
some artists from the NAs
performed folk dances.
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 (Chief
guest addressing the closing
ceremony)
(The chief guest receiving
NASSD Document from CR of
IUCNP)
(Shahzad Ahmad receiving shield
from the chief guest)
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Gul Najam Jamy, Head of
Islamabad Office of IUCNP
thanked the Minister for
attending the closing ceremony.
He also thanked guests from
NAs, N.W.F.P, Govt. Officials,
UNDP, AKRSP, Himalaya Pakistan
Foundation, WWF, artists,
community members and representatives,
stall holders, photographers,
Click Art, media managers,
donors, IUCN Staff especially
Shahzad and his team and
the guests and closed the
festival.
A.L. Rao presented memento
to the chief guest. Later,
the chief guest visited
the Photo Exhibition and
appreciated the work displayed
there.
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