Islamabad
Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Climate Change Malik Amin Aslam said the two new national parks for Gilgit Baltistan, announced by Prime Minister Imran Khan, would help promote eco-tourism in the region. In a statement issued here, he said the Himalaya National Park and the Nanga Parbat Park, announced under the prime minister’s ‘Protected Areas Initiative’, would span over 3,600 square kilometers, five per cent of the GB’s total area.
Comprising unique ecological areas with very high altitude biodiversity as well as precious flora and fauna of snow leopards, Himalyan brown bear, Ladakh urial, Ibex, Marco Polo sheep and blue sheep, the two parks would play a crucial role in promoting eco-tourism in the country, he added. The SAPM said the Protected Areas Initiative was aimed at ensuring the protection and preservation of the country’s natural assets through designation and management as national parks.
He said some 30 national parks had been announced only in papers during the last 70 years till 2018, but nothing practical was done on the ground. But now under the Protected Areas Initiative, the number of parks across all provinces was being increased by 45-50% in just eight months, with proper community-based management regimes put in place, he added.
The SAPM said the prime minister also approved the formation of GB’s first National Park Service, which would provide 5,000 green jobs to the youth in the province. The Park Service nighabaan (guards) would be trained to properly mange the parks as areas for biodiversity protection, safe habitats for wildlife preservation as well as for promotion of nature based eco-tourism, he added.
