In wildlife conservation initiative, northwestern Pakistan increases number of protected areas

Pakistan’s northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province has launched a major wildlife conservation project by designating several new sites in diverse ecological zones as protected areas, a provincial minister told Arab News.

The initiative comes as the UN has declared years 2021 through 2030 as the Decade on Ecosystem Restoration.
Given KP’s landmass, it will collectively take the size of these special zones from 10.22 percent to 14.91 percent.

“Our coverage of protected areas is around 15 percent but we intend to increase it to 17 percent in the coming year,” the provincial minister for forest, environment and wildlife, Syed Ishtiaq Urmar, said earlier this week.
“I am sure we will meet our ambitious target and achieve global standards by further increasing the volume of protected areas such as wetlands, national parks and wildlife reserves.”