ROLE OF LOCAL BODIES IN IMPLEMENTING THE UN CONVENTION TO COMBAT DESERTIFICATION IN PAKISTAN

• Main Authors: Farooq Ahmad, Zulfiqar Ali, Sameera Farooq
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Editora da Universidade Federal de Uberlândia 2005-05-01
• Series: Revista Sociedade & Natureza
• Subjects: Desertification; Local bodies; Pakistan
• Online Access: http://www.sociedadenatureza.ig.ufu.br/include/getdoc.php?id=1531&article=778&mode=pdf

Pakistan is a tropical country with vast semi-arid and arid tracks of land spread over 68million hectares with the population of 145.5 million people in 2002 as against 130.58 millionin 1998 showing an average growth rate of 2.1 percent. All of its provinces possess largeshare of land with valuable natural resources, which are being degraded at very high rate i.e.,Punjab 119,310 Km2, Sindh 134,896 Km2, Baluchistan 149,467 Km2 and its proportion isincreasing because of over-exploitation of under-developed meadows beyond quickrehabilitation (Ahmad, 1999). Disturbance of the natural equilibrium ultimately results ineconomical losses, social problems and general moral decline of the society. Degradation ofnatural and agricultural ecosystem has led to a deep environmental crisis.The government is indeed, striving hard for the development of the country but thisdevelopment will be meaningless unless we first resolve the basic and fundamental problemscaused due to environmental degradation, which threaten the survival of the growingpopulation of the country.Government of Pakistan has adopted the Convention on April 22, 1997. The former federalminister for food and agriculture Syeda Abida Hussain said that concerted efforts at grassrootslevel are essential to combat the environmental problems. She said, “The Convention comesas a ray of hope for more than one billion people around the world whose lives are threatenedby the adverse impacts of drought and desertification” (Associated Press of Pakistan, 1997).