Call to boost traditional resource management system of Chitral

CHITRAL, Feb 14: The Lead Pakistan Chitral, under the “Project empowering community conserved areas for wildlife conservation in Chitral”, organized a three-day workshop for the newly-formed ICCA Network Chitral in order to boost the capability and erectness of the network for better management of the wildlife resources. The workshop was attended by representatives of the six projects besides wildlife officials and representatives of civil society. Mr. Imtiaz Husasain, Divisional Forest Officer, Wildlife Division Chitral, was chief guest on the occasion. He said Chitral was one of the remote and isolated areas in Hindukush region, where a strong social system survived and the old traditional resource management for conservation was still in practices and community conserved areas were playing a vital role in conservation and management of natural resources. The formation of the ICCA Network at the district level would give confidence to them. Later, Mr. Ajaz Ahmad, the project coordinator, shared that formation of ICCA Network was essential for the practical conservation of all Community conserved areas and this network will also helpful in promoting the appropriate recognition and support of Indigenous Peoples’ and Community Conserved Territories and Areas in different parts of Chitral. Commenting on ICCA, Mr. Iftikhar Hussain, a conservation planner associated with Mountain Society for Research and Development, said building capacity and sharing knowledge for indigenous peoples’ and community conserved territories in Chitral will give self-confidence to the indigenous people for effective conservation of natural resources and he appreciated the efforts of Lead Pakistan for formation of district level ICCA-Network at Chitral. A total 22 people participated in the workshop from the six project sites in Chitral.–Kashif Shahzad]]>