Sir: I am a student of management sciences at the Air University Islamabad. I would like to compliment Haroon Mustafa Janjua on his article ‘Conserving biodiversity in KP’ (Daily Times, February 24, 2014). It is a highly informative article. In fact, it is a wake-up call for all of us, and particularly for the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government. Mr Janjua has rightly pointed out that biodiversity not only affects our day-to-day lives, it is essentially considered the backbone of a country’s economy. In view of the importance of biodiversity’s conservation and the meagre resources we allocate to forestry and wildlife, it is high time we maintain a right ecological balance through right allocation of resources. We can increase the forest area through a national plantation programme at the federal and provincial levels. Growers should be incentivised monetarily to plant more and more trees. And most important we need proper policies followed by legislation to protect the forests and wildlife. There should be a complete ban on illegal tree cutting. Programmes should be introduced at school, college and university levels to develop interest in nature reserves. On wildlife conservation, I beg to differ with the writer for introducing trophy hunting programmes in Pakistan. Such programmes in a country like ours would result in depleting whatever is left in the name of wildlife. Similarly a ban should be imposed on the killing, poaching and unfair trading of animals. Endangered species should be kept away from human intervention. Forest protection departments at the federal and provincial levels having a key role to play in this regard, should be strengthened further. As a nation we need to join hands for capacity building, introducing new policies/laws for biodiversity conservation in line with best international practices. Better enforcement of laws through honest and capable human resource and elimination of corrupt practices is the need of the hour. AAMNA SHAHID Islamabad