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Pakistan’s protected areas: Nearness matters, misuse shatters

11:32 AM | 7 Dec, 2022
Pakistan’s protected areas: Nearness matters, misuse shatters

Few places in Pakistan are truly spellbinding, such as K2, Chitral Gol, Khunjerab Shandur-Hundrup, and Deosai National Parks. Most of these mesmerizing places are designated as protected areas—sites preserved for nature—and include parks, managed forests, game reserves, wetlands, lakes, and wildlife sanctuaries. These areas benefit us in many ways by supplying a potpourri of ecosystem services, ranging from food and water to regulation of floods and heat waves to recreational and spiritual services. Thus far, little was known about which protected areas are giving the most or fewest benefits.

I recently analyzed 140 protected areas of Pakistan for their ecosystem services supply and use in connection with other spatial variables such as closeness to urban centres, number of visitors, and size of the protected area. The study is entitled “Terrestrial protected areas: Understanding the spatial variation of potential and realized ecosystem services” and has recently been published in the Journal of Environmental Management.

 

 The results show that the smaller the protected area, the higher the benefits it supplies. This relationship suggests that small protected areas (≤ 5000 hectares) are, perhaps, better managed than large protected areas. Because of their size, large protected areas become difficult to manage efficiently. 

Irrespective of the size, all protected areas closer to urban centres are producing more benefits than those farther away. This outcome elevates the compelling need to protect those protected areas located close to urban centres because these areas are often directly subjected to developmental pressures. Moreover, future expansion of protected areas close to densely populated (urban) centres can yield better societal outcomes. But, since the land close to urban areas is usually very expensive and big swaths of land are not easily available, small-sized nature reserves can be an option for the future outspread of these areas.

The protected areas far from the urban centres yield lesser benefits than those closer to cities. The major reason for this is the weak environmental institutions responsible to look after these areas. Sometimes local people illegally exploit remote protected areas for livelihood, timber harvesting, and grazing. Illegal wood harvest from Pakistan’s forests is four times higher than that of the legal harvest!

Another reason for providing fewer benefits is that rural populations are more reliant on the direct use of natural resources from protected areas for their livelihoods than urban populations making it quite difficult for officials responsible for effectively managing protected areas located in the backcountry. Therefore, increasing the benefits from remote protected areas can be a herculean undertaking. Other issues can also hamper the production of services such as terrain (desert) and cost of maintenance. For instance, the Cholistan game reserve generates fewer services because of its desert terrain with a shortage of water.

The protected areas located close to urban centres show an increase in the benefits compared with those located in the backcountry. At the same time, the protected areas nearer / closer to urban centres face increased developmental pressures that lead to a decline in the environmental or ecosystem services they can provide. Awareness-raising about these protected areas calls for a fuller accounting of their societal benefits. It becomes more essential in places like Pakistan where powerful institutions join forces to encroach on these protected areas in the name of economic development. Therefore, more stringent environmental management of protected areas closer to urban areas may help further increase their benefits supply in comparison to that of remote protected areas.

Trotting out the protection of existing protected areas is more momentous

There is a global call to step up the number of protected areas until at least 30% of the Earth’s surface is protected by 2030 (also called 30x30). But, right now, today, stronger protection and better management of our existing protected areas must remain top of mind despite obstacles like terrain (desert), maintenance costs, or rainfall trends that may hamper the production of ecosystem services from certain protected areas. We really do need to take good care of the protected areas we have!  

Because the future expansion of protected areas is not a fully sure-footed move, better protection of existing protected areas is more momentous. Earmarking swaths of land as protected areas is not enough. In Pakistan, there must be legislation for protected areas to make sure that they are not taken over by commercial interests or powerful institutions in the future. 

Though this research has been done in Pakistan, the methodology is easily replicable in other parts of the world to see the spatial variation in the benefits of protected areas. The two major contributions of my study are: 1) fostering a preliminary understanding of variations in the services of protected areas with respect to the influence of spatial variables, 2) stimulating further research to look into the relationships between protected areas and other latent variables that influence their services.

The work done by international organizations, such as the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), to promote and protect national parks in Pakistan is commendable. However, it is primarily the local administration that can ensure protection on the ground and enhance a suite of environmental and social benefits from these areas. 

The recently held COP27 is echoing everywhere, especially setting up the “Loss and Damage” fund is making us jubilant; but, the real question is how will this money be used. Will the fund go to a few deep pockets in climate-hit countries to further international agendas not necessarily in lockstep with what's needed on the ground or will those monies truly be spent on countering environmental catastrophes is the multi-million-dollar question? Given the weak and incapacitated administrations in most Third World countries, the donors must think of involving internationally reputed organizations and institutions to do the job. To this end, environmental and climate projects should be advertised to attract international and local partnerships for the allocation of funds. More importantly, the Loss and Damage fund allocations must target protected areas as keystone places to fight climate calamities striking poor nations.

The author works as an environmental scientist in a leading-edge water organization in Canada and can be reached at: tariq.aziz@uwaterloo.ca

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Pakistani rupee exchange rate to US dollar, Euro, Pound, Dirham, and Riyal - 4 Dec  2023

Pakistani rupee's value remained stable against US dollar, Euro, Pound, Dirham, Riyal and other currencies in the open market.

Dollar Rate in Pakistan Today

On Monday, the US dollar was being quoted at 285.15 for buying and 287.95 for selling.

Euro rate stands at 309.9 for buying and 310.5 for selling. British Pound GBP rate stands at 359.4 for buying, and 360.05 for selling.

UAE Dirham AED currently hovers around 77.45 while rate of Saudi Riyal stands at 75.82.

Today’s currency exchange rates in Pakistan – 4 December 2023

Currency Symbol Buying Selling
US Dollar USD 285.15  287.95 
Euro EUR 309.9  310.5 
UK Pound Sterling GBP 359.4  360.05 
U.A.E Dirham AED 77.45 77.6
Saudi Riyal SAR 75.82 75.97
Australian Dollar AUD 187.72 188.22
Bahrain Dinar BHD 759.94 767.94
Canadian Dollar CAD 209.99 210.49
China Yuan CNY 39.78 39.88
Danish Krone DKK 41.95 42.05
Hong Kong Dollar HKD 36.38 36.48
Indian Rupee INR 3.39 3.5
Japanese Yen JPY 1.49 1.56
Kuwaiti Dinar KWD 926.39 935.39
Malaysian Ringgit MYR 60.38 60.98
New Zealand Dollar NZD 173.44 175.44
Norwegians Krone NOK 26.25 26.55
Omani Riyal OMR 742.16 750.18
Qatari Riyal QAR 78.5 79.2
Singapore Dollar SGD 212.45 212.95
Swedish Korona SEK 27.09 27.19
Swiss Franc CHF 325.38 325.88
Thai Bhat THB 8.05 8.09

Gold prices in Pakistan move down despite positive global cues

The gold remained under pressure as the precious metal moved down despite an upward trend in the international market.

Gold Rates in Pakistan Today - 4 December 2023

On the first day of the week, the price of a single tola of 24-karat gold stands at Rs217,000 and 10 grams of 24k gold costs Rs186,043 

A single tola of 22-karat gold costs Rs170,539, while 21 karat rate for each tola is Rs. 192,325 and the price of 18k gold is Rs164,850.

In the global market, gold prices hover at around $2086, gaining $14.44 on Monday.

Today Gold Rate in Pakistan

City Gold Silver
Lahore PKR 217,000 PKR 2,720
Karachi PKR 217,000 PKR 2,720
Islamabad PKR 217,000 PKR 2,720
Peshawar PKR 217,000 PKR 2,720
Quetta PKR 217,000 PKR 2,720
Sialkot PKR 217,000 PKR 2,720
Attock PKR 217,000 PKR 2,720
Gujranwala PKR 217,000 PKR 2,720
Jehlum PKR 217,000 PKR 2,720
Multan PKR 217,000 PKR 2,720
Bahawalpur PKR 217,000 PKR 2,720
Gujrat PKR 217,000 PKR 2,720
Nawabshah PKR 217,000 PKR 2,720
Chakwal PKR 217,000 PKR 2,720
Hyderabad PKR 217,000 PKR 2,720
Nowshehra PKR 217,000 PKR 2,720
Sargodha PKR 217,000 PKR 2,720
Faisalabad PKR 217,000 PKR 2,720
Mirpur PKR 217,000 PKR 2,720

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