In 1982, an exploratory mission from the IUCN Headquarters laid the foundation for the IUCN Programme in Pakistan. In 1985, a one person IUCN Country Office was established in Karachi to initiate the implementation of the NCS. Since then IUCN Pakistan has grown into the largest country programme with five programme offices and a number of offices in the field.
IUCN’s mission is to influence, encourage and assist societies throughout the world to conserve the integrity and diversity of nature and to ensure that any use of natural resources is equitable and ecologically sustainable. To ensure sustainable development of Pakistan’s natural resources, IUCN Pakistan aims at:
- Integration of environment and development;
- Support to institutional and human resource development for environment;
- Facilitation for the creation of a supportive policy and legal framework; and
- Increasing popular support for the environment.
IUCN works closely with the government at the national and provincial levels as well as with civil society at large. Following a two-pronged approach, IUCN: advocates and technically assists the development of the conservation strategies; and, supports strategy implementation by providing assistance in policy and legislative reforms, capacity development, environmental assessment, awareness and education and selected field projects.
Pakistan Programme: A Diverse Portfolio
IUCN Pakistan’s key projects include the following:
- Balochistan Partnerships for Sustainable Development (BPSD)
- Building Coalitions for Change to Implement Pro-Poor Environmental Fiscal Reforms (EFR) in Pakistan
- Technical Advisory Panel on Climate Change
- Mainstreaming Biodiversity Conservation into Production Systems in the Juniper Forest
- Institutional Consolidation for the Coordinated and Integrated Monitoring of Natural Resources towards Sustainable Development and Environmental Conservation in the Hindu Kush-Karakoram-Himalayas Mountain Complex
- Improving livelihoods in Shigar through integrated planning and development of the cultural, natural and built environments
- Programme Support for Northern Pakistan (PSNP)
In addition, IUCN Pakistan maintains core capacity and services in the form of thematic programmes as part of the Country Office. They are organized under three groups: Pakistan Environment and Livelihoods Group; Education, Communication and Knowledge Management Unit (ECK). These programmes support various projects to ensure timely delivery of quality outputs, and serve to internalize learnings.
Organizational Structure
IUCN Pakistan is part of the Asia Regional Programme that is based in Bangkok, Thailand. IUCN Asia is the Union’s largest regional programme, boasting offices in nine countries, over 100 projects and a large roster of members comprising 12 per cent of the Union’s global membership.
Owing to its size and geographical span, the country programmes in IUCN Asia are in the process of being clustered under country groups to facilitate effective, hands-on management. Two country groups have already been institutionalised. Pakistan is part of Country Group II along with Nepal. In the near future, this group will also include Afghanistan and Bhutan.
The Pakistan Programme is headed by the Country Representative, who is based at the Country Office in Karachi. Given its extended portfolio, IUCN maintains programme offices and several field offices in other parts of Pakistan. These offices support and oversee projects in their respective geographical areas.
Members and Partners
IUCN Pakistan is a membership based organization. It believe in working very closely with its members. In Pakistan, IUCN's membership has grown from eight in 1990 to 26 today. This includes the Government of Pakistan as the state member, 5 government organisations and 20 NGO members. Over 100 volunteers from Pakistan work on the six networks of IUCN’s Commissions.
The collaboration includes participation in program planning; joint projects; correlating initiatives; collaborative advocacy for key issues, and support in fund raising. The relationship with the membership has further evolved following the formation of Pakistan National Committee (PNC). In addition to members, IUCN works with a variety of other partners. These include research and teaching institutions, government departments, chambers of commerce and industry, law networks, media, and NGOs.
Financing
A donor group namely, the IUCN Donor Coordination Group (IDCG) for IUCN’s work in Pakistan has also been functional for the last few years.
From the mountains of the north down to the coast in the south, IUCN Pakistan has programmes and multiple field offices across the country. Owing to this vast network, it has been the implementing agency of choice for major donors, including the Canadian International Development Agency, Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation, United Nations Development Programme, Global Environment Facility, Royal Netherlands Embassy, Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, Department for International Development, UK and the European Union.
Presently, IUCN Pakistan is the lead implementing agency for projects as diverse as Programme Support for Northern Pakistan, Building Coalitions for Change to Implement Pro-poor Environmental Fiscal Reforms, Himalaya, Karakoram, Hindukush: Decision Support System, Shigar Integrated Planning and Development, Balochistan Partnership for Sustainable Development, Mainstreaming Biodiversity in Juniper Ecosystem and hosting Technical Advisory Panel on Climate Change.
Progress and Direction
IUCN Pakistan’s (IUCN-P) most important contribution to the environmental movement of the country, has been the development of the National Conservation Strategy (NCS). IUCN-P has also contributed to the new Pakistan Environment Protection Act (PEPA) 1997 and has contributed to the development of all key environmental policies including the National Environmental Quality Standards. IUCNP has also co-designed and facilitated most of the post-NCS environmental projects; helped in developing the Biodiversity Action Plan for Pakistan, and has successfully advocated a greater space for civil society in public policy and decision making. IUCN-P’s work on district and local strategies offers insights into the debates and possibilities needed to be explored to address the issue of good governance. Following the NCS, geographically specific and contextually apt strategies have been developed for Abbotabad, Chitral, Sarhad, Northern Areas and Balochistan.
The IUCN Programme in Pakistan is characterized by a mix of policy and fieldwork at the federal, provincial and local levels bringing together government, civil society and private sector institutions. The Programme centers around several themes, various conservation strategies and select field projects including:
- Climate Change
- Environmental Economics
- Business and Biodiversity
- Environmental Impact Assessment
- Integrated Water Resource Management
- Integrated Coastal Zone Management
- Ecosystem & Livelihood.
As part of the NCS implementation, IUCN Pakistan supports various sub-national conservation strategies. These include the Sarhad Provincial Conservation Strategy, Balochistan Conservation Strategy, Northern Areas Strategy for Sustainable Develop, Sindh Strategyfor Sustianable Development. Besides, integrated development visions have also been developed for Chitral, Abbottabad, Badin, Dera Ismail Khan, Gwader and Killa Saifullah.
The strategies themselves are essentially capacity-building initiatives complemented by other capacity building and demonstration projects implemented by IUCN. Notable among these are Capitalizing on Capacities (extension of Pakistan Environment Programme - PEP), Environmental Rehabilitation in the NWFP and the Punjab (ERNP), Mountain Areas Conservancy Project (MACP), and Mangrove Forest Rehabilitation.
