Experts urge green businesses for Indus Delta

Say ecoregion can benefit from conservation, sustainable management

KARACHI:

To enhance the well-being and livelihoods of vulnerable communities in the Indus Delta ecoregion, there is a significant need to promote green businesses, biodiversity conservation and sustainable management of natural resources.

This was asserted by WWF-Pakistan Programmes Senior Director Rab Nawaz who said it was time to integrate conservation in businesses and forge alliances with the parts of the private sector willing to invest in bankable projects

Speaking at the launch of the Dutch Fund for Climate and Development (DFCD) Indus Delta Ecoregion Landscape Initiative (IDELI), he said the investment-based conservation model aims to implement innovative, self-sustaining, for-profit conservation models in the Indus Delta ecoregion. The fund will be jointly implemented by WWF-Pakistan and the Sindh Enterprise Development Fund (SEDF).

Nawaz added that the Indus Delta region ranks 40th amongst the most biologically rich G200 ecoregions of the world. He pointed out that it harbours riverine forests along the Indus, wetlands, mangrove forests in the coastal areas and desert ecosystems that occupy the periphery of the ecoregion.

Stressing on collaborative efforts, he urged the business community to support nature conservation and bring innovation for the sustainable management of natural resources. He said it was also important to diversify alternative livelihood opportunities for marginalised and climate-vulnerable communities across Sindh.

Sindh Investment Secretary Zahid Ali Abbasi said his department is keen to bolster the country's growth prospects. He said through the SEDF, the department has been supporting businesses in multiple sectors including fisheries, agriculture, livestock and energy.

He said all these sectors are linked to natural resource management and incredibly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. "Therefore, the department's mandate is very much aligned with the DFCD initiative to promote nature-based bankable projects/businesses," he said.

'We need to create synergies amongst key stakeholders and develop bankable projects with private sector entities and ensure conservatory outcomes, while simultaneously making a return on investment."

Landscape Finance Lab Market Advisor Raphaele Daeu virtually briefed the participants on the landscape approach. She said that to achieve sustainable landscapes and forests, multi-scale collaborations are essential among the stakeholders.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 24^th, 2021.