KARACHI: Senator Saleem Zia on Monday emphasised that concerted efforts on local, provincial, national and regional levels are required to prepare and implement an effective strategy for the protection and conservation of vultures as a part of fighting against environmental degradation.
Addressing a regional symposium on Conservation and Protection of Vultures in South Asia, he said that the regional countries needed to learn from experiences of each other to save the precious species from extinction, which was must to check environmental degradation caused by rotting of corpses (dead animals).
He appreciated efforts of the BaanhnBeli and IUCN for strongly endorsing stringent actions against the use of diclofenac that was said to have been a major contributor to the steep decline in vulture population. The IUCN Pakistan and BaanhnBeli in collaboration with the Ministry of Climate Change organised a regional symposium on conservation of vultures.
The symposium was organized under the Vultures Conservation Project being implemented jointly by BaanhnBeli and IUCN under a USAID funded Small Grants and Ambassador Fund project. Representatives of the government, media and academia, as well as local and regional species and vulture experts from India, Bangladesh, Thailand and Nepal also attended the symposium.
The purpose of the symposium was to bring together regional vulture experts to learn from their experiences and knowledge of conservation of these essential birds in the Asia region. In her opening remarks, IUCN Regional Director Aban Marker Kabraji said that IUCN as an international organisation with a mix of state, government agencies and NGO members, brings together a wide range of stakeholders on issues of mutual interest on neutral ground.
In this capacity, the IUCN will continue promoting dialogues on natural resource issues between people from various fields, sectors and government tiers. She appreciated the efforts of the governments that they have recognised the need to scale up conservation breeding and reintroduction programmes, and highlighted the urgent need for trans-boundary vulture safe zones to conserve vulture populations in the wild.
In his opening remarks, Climate Change Secretary Syed Abu Ahmad Akif mentioned that the research conducted on the vanishing of vultures and its verification by regional countries, revealed that diclofenac sodium (a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug) administered in the livestock was the main cause of this sudden decline in the population of vultures in South Asia.
He said that the government realising the importance of species responded quickly and banned diclofenac production and its use in Pakistan. IUCN Pakistan Country Representative Mahmood Akhtar Cheema gave an overview of efforts towards species conservation, especially with respect to vulture conservation, and highlighted the role the organisation had been playing in sustainable development, through its membership, commission members and collaborations with governments.
Forests Inspector General Syed Mahmood Nasir reiterated that many threats vultures were facing which included shortage of dead animals on which they feed, encroachment by humans in their habitats. Technical sessions included presentations by regional experts who shared their experiences in vulture conservation and suggested measures that could be adopted to further speed up efforts towards arresting the decline.
Dr Syed Ali Ghalib and Dr Fehmida Firdous, who had conducted a baseline on vultures in Nagarparkar in Sindh, reported their findings during the event and pinpointed areas where specific vulture populations were still to be found.