Mountain communities remain underprivileged, say experts
There is a need to develop a mechanism to ensure the use of collective wisdom and a joint platform to work together for social development of mountain communities, speakers said at a webinar.
Though many people in mountainous regions remain deprived of access to health, education and many other civic amenities, women in particular lack equal rights as a person.
They said the mountain community leaders and political workers should come together beyond their political, ethnic and regional divide to voice against the exploitation of natural resources, social and livelihood challenges.
Being far away from the centres of decision-making, the mountain communities and the region in totality suffer from inadequate decision-making.
Illplanned infrastructure development and environmentally unfriendly interventions in the name of tourism promotion and livelihood are becoming nature hazards.
Climatic conditions are worsening and communities are on the verge of socioeconomic collapse despite. A fistful of experts, government aides and external elements are taking undue advantage of the mountain resources.
The webinar “working together to empower mountain communities” was organised by the Development Communications Network (Devcom-Pakistan) and DTN on Sunday.
Speaking on the occasion the nature conservation advisor at the Italian organization EvK2CNR Ashiq Ahmad Khan said unfortunately we don’t have the culture of working together though it is necessary for the sustainability of the development.
Well-known mountaineer Nazir Sabir said mountain areas lack basic amenities and social infrastructure which is the prerequisite for the empowerment of communities.
The respective government and civic bodies need to provide the basic facilities like health, education and access to staples to the mountain communities at their doorsteps. “Women in the mountain region are disadvantaged in many ways. They lack health, education and equal rights as a person,” he said.
Devcom-Pakistan Executive Director Munir Ahmed we need to look into the factors that why several nongovernmental organisations and donor-driven government projects could not come up with the desired results of community empowerment. The vulnerability of communities is increasing due to climate impact, indiscriminate deforestation, over exploitation of natural resources and shrinking livelihood options.
Baltistan Association of Tour Operators (BATO) Chairman said: “we have networks of travel and tourism organizations but they hardly join hands for collective promotions.” DNA
Published in The Express Tribune, February 8th, 2021.