Callousness towards our ecological heritage

Our present government has been trying to highlight the potential for developing eco-friendly tourism in Pakistan. Our northern areas receive special attention for their promise to lure in eco-tourists from far and wide. However, much still needs to be done to demonstrate our national commitment to preserving our natural heritage, and to in turn gain international recognition for Pakistan as ecological tourism destination.

This past summer we visited the famous Deosai Plains, and were taken aback by its immense beauty, but at the same time incensed by the signs of callousness which we witnessed there.

Located at the confluence of the Himalayan and Karakoram mountain ranges in northern Gilgit-Baltistan, the Deosai National Park is an alpine plateau of significant ecological value.

It is home to hundreds of species of medicinal and aromatic plants. Deosai and Sheosar Lake form one of the highest elevation freshwater wetlands in the world. The park is also a resting place and breeding ground for numerous bird species. Besides the Himalayan Brown Bear, which is unique to this part of the world, Himalayan Golden eagles, red foxes, white tigers, and marmots also find refuge here.

Deosai was officially designated a national park back in 1993. Pakistan has tried to get the Deosai included in the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco) list of world heritage sites. Presently, Pakistan has six World Heritage Sites (Harappa, Mohenjo-daro, Taxila, Makli, Takht-Bahi and Shalamar Gardens), whereas Deosai is amongst 26 other sites on a Unesco “tentative list”.

Pakistan has, however, dragged its feet in terms of submitting the necessary dossiers about these sites, and to demonstrate to Unesco that it can effectively protect these heritage sites while assuring ease of access and facilities for visitors from around the world. Doing all this remains a tall order, given the prevailing indifference towards many of our established sites of historical significance. Many of the sites protected by the 1975 Antiquities Act are grossly neglected and threatened by vandalism and encroachment.

Being placed on Unesco’s World Heritage Site is a status which must be earned, and then maintained. Recall how the accidental destruction of two of the three hydraulic works and related walls of the Shalimar Gardens in 1999 for widening the Grand Trunk Road significantly marred the integrity of the Gardens. While some remedial conservation efforts have been taken, there are still major problems with the preservation of this historic site.

It took pressure from an environmental NGO, the World Wildlife Fund-Pakistan (WWF), to dissuade the Gilgit-Baltistan government from holding a polo festival and jeep rally at Rama in Astore. Such activities were apparently aimed at reviving tourism in the area, but the haphazard manner in which they had been planned had left serious concerns about the ecological damage they could cause. The sanctity of Mohenjo-daro was similarly threatened some years ago by a Sindhi cultural festival.

Luckily, Deosai itself remains covered with snow for eight months. There is no permanent human habitation here, mostly due to the extreme weather conditions and remoteness. Tourism is limited in numbers, and it takes place only during the short summer season. However, the mess being made by this still very limited tourism is already glaring.

During our day-long visit to Deosai, we saw it thronged by people arriving there in diesel spurting vehicles. We saw numerous empty bottles and plastic wrappers littering the natural park. Most disconcerting perhaps was to see shopkeepers at the designated refreshment areas within the national park burning trash out in the open.

Clearly more must be done to protect the precious ecology of the Deosai Park and other precious ecological sites in our northern areas especially if they begin attracting more tourists. This will invariably happen, whether Deosai itself is designated a Unesco World Heritage site or not, given the breakneck speed with which CPEC road-building projects are taking place in the broader region.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 17^th, 2020.

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