National Conservation Strategy Resource Center:

The Ministry of Environment has established the National Conservation Strategy Resource Center (NCS-RC) for developing phase two of the National Conservation Strategy (NCS), National Sustainable Development Strategy (NSDS) and Environmental Data-Base. The NCS-RC also supports the Ministry of Environment in mass awareness and other information material on environment. The NCS-RC is planning to issue an on line news bullions on environment.

National Conservation Strategy:

National Conservation Strategy (NCS), the Pakistan land mark environmental strategy and initial policy document was finalized in early nineties by adopting a multistakeholders and comprehensive consultative process with the technical and financial assistance of Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA). NCS was prepared by a team of experts over a three-year period through a partnership between the Government of Pakistan and the World Conservation Union (IUCN). It involved more than 3,000 people through workshops and direct and indirect consultations. NCS was approved by the Federal Cabinet of Pakistan on 1 March 1992.

Conservation of Natural Resources, Sustainable Development, and Improved Efficiency in the use and Management of Resources. These, in turn depend on three overarching principles: Achieving greater Public Partnership in Development and Environmental Management; Merging Environment and Economics in decision-making; and Focusing on Durable Improvements in the quality of life in Pakistan. Implementation of NCS proved to be very effective in creating environmental awareness in Pakistan.
The NCS has focused on the following fourteen priority areas for implementation:

1. Maintaining soils in croplands,
2. Increasing irrigation efficiency,
3. Protecting watersheds,
4. Supporting forestry and plantations,
5. Restoring rangelands,
6. Improving livestock,
7. Protecting wetlands,
8. Conserving biodiversity,
9. Increasing energy efficiency,
10. Developing & deploying renewable,
11. Managing urban wastes,
12. Supporting institutions,
13. Integrating population & environment and
    Preserving cultural heritage.

NCS Implementation in Pakistan

Besides the development of institutions such as the Environment Section in the Federal Planning and Development Division, and the Sustainable Development Policy Institute, there is substantive tangible evidence of the Strategy's implementation. This includes formulation of the Provincial and District Conservation Strategies, establishment of the Environment Protection Agencies at the Federal and Provincial levels and the addition of a regular chapter on the Environment in the National Five year development plans.

NCS attracted donors like the World Bank, CIDA, RNE and EU for funding the implementation of the ERNP, PEP and EPRC projects. These projects proved to be useful in implementing NCS in Pakistan.

Pakistan -presented -NCS at Rio in 1992 and pioneered among the developing countries in developing National Conservation Strategy. NCS was replicated by many developing countries during nineties.

Mid Term Review (MTR) of NCS:

A Mid-Term Review (MTR) of the NCS was completed in late 2000 by an independent review team, comprising local and foreign experts. The review revealed that the NCS was highly instrumental in creating awareness in environment and conservation, initiating a consultative process for achieving its goals at various levels, advocating priorities and putting in place the environmental institutional framework, however, great deal of efforts are still required to be done. The review emphasized on-improvement in implementation capacity and the need to reinvigorate these efforts with greater emphasis on poverty reduction and sustainable development. The main achievements of the NCS can be summarized as follow:

• Achievements under the NCS have been primarily awareness raising and institution building rather than actual improvements in the quality of life and natural resources.
• The NCS was not designed and is not adequately focused as a national sustainable development strategy.
• The NCS process has strengthened civil society institutions and their influence, and enhanced the capacity of public institutions.
• NCS implementation capacity requires much improvement.
• NCS continues to have a major catalytic role in furthering Pakistan’s sustainable development agenda. However, it needs refocusing and closer link to achievable development outcomes; this should constitute the agenda of the next phase of NCS, (NCS-2)
• If the NCS was both a process and a product, the product (i.e. the strategy document) rapidly took precedence over the process (i.e. the multistakeholder participatory processes, etc.) Over time, the document was less relevant to new opportunities and constraints, and implementation of many of the useful processes, or by lack of any effort to get rid of the factors constraining factors which are largely related to government attitudes and procedures. The on-going crisis of governance within Pakistan has made it nearly impossible to properly foster the kind of government –civil society relations that are needed to implement the NCS, forming a very basic and powerful underlying implementation constraint.

NCS-MTR RECOMMENDATIONS:

The NCS-MTR made the following six recommendations:

1. Ensure that the NCS is fully owned by government, the key partners and stakeholders, and by building on the concerns and needs of the people of Pakistan. Revitalize and recommit to the NCS at highest levels of the federal government with a focused, strategic approach that can lead to demonstrable environmental improvements in the coming year.
   Ensure that overall planning for devolution and for NCS district-level initiatives proceed together, with recognition of the need to incorporate a sustainable development approach within local level governance. NCS should be the instrument of choice for mainstreaming the environment into local development planning. Key NCS stakeholders should take stock of what they have individually and collectively accomplished under NCS and engage in a joint process to redefine and strengthen strategies that work. Revitalize and expand strategies for individual and community-level awareness building about NCS objectives. Focus much greater attention on incorporation the views and needs of poor people and communities, and on their direct participation in sustainable development goal setting and implementation. Establish a multi-stakeholder forum and strengthen partnerships among government, civil society, and the private sector.
2. Switch the NCS from top-down and supply- driven to a bottom- up demand- driven approach.
   Draw upon the existing MCS and provincial experience with local level planning and projects for application to the government’s devolution plans, and for application in future activities und4er the NCS and provincial conservation strategies. This bottom- up approach needs to be complemented by stronger abilities to deal with truly national and international issues. The NCS can help by fostering the development and strengthening of local institutions and the empowerment of user groups in ways that can help to build sustainability. Refocus NCS processes towards a demand- driven approach, with appropriate changes in priorities and how they are set, and with acceptance of adaptive management.
3. Prepare NCS- 2 to serve as Pakistan’s sustainable development strategy for 2002-2012, with a grater emphasis on poverty reduction and economic development in addition to environmental sustainability. Establish a transition team to design a revised National Conservation Strategy for sustainable development, reporting to the Chief Executive and Cabinet no more than 10 to 12 months after its establishment. The NCS should become one of the main instruments of development planning. Gender integration should be given a much more prominent role within all NCS activities, with achievable objectives that can be monitored and reported on. While this is a matter that should be acted upon within activities already underway or planned under the NCS and other strategies, it is vitally important that gender integration be featured within NCS-2.
4. Make government institutions work towards an” enabling framework “for sustainable development. Revamp the “macrostructure” for NCS administration management to improve policy, planning and implementation capacity, to increase effectiveness in working with the provinces and areas, and to facilitate activities not directly under the control of government.
   Ensure that reforms planned for the civil service are well- instituted within the NCS management system, with particular attention to capacity development. An effective framework for monitoring, reporting and evaluation (MRE) of the NCS should be put in place using the results of the MTR as a starting point. It should report ta a Cabinet Committee, and be supported by NCS steering committee in the MELGRD, comprising key stakeholders, with PEPS acting as its Secretariat since the NCS Unit has failed to perform this function. An adaptive MRE approach can start small and build credibility over time. In the early stages considerable effort should be devoted to establishing a baseline. Clarify rights, responsibilities, relationships and accountability for results on the part of each agency charged with implementing components of the NCS.
5. Expand the range and scale of financial mechanisms for meeting NCS objectives.
   Expand internal resource mobilization in support of the NCS and provincial conservation strategy initiatives. Develop innovative sources for funding and investment in environment and sustainable development. These would have the added benefit of acting as economic incentives for sustainable development by all businesses and by NGO and community organizations. A good start will be by removing environmentally perverse subsidies and by pricing environmental resources according to their scarcity value; promote strong linkages between user charges, cost recovery, and quality of service delivery.
6. For donors, demonstrate commitment to a renewed NCS through consistent and coordinated support. The Government of Pakistan should take the lead in establishing a donor coordination forum for the NCS, covering the existing and proposed range of initiatives in environment, natural resource management, and sustainable development and, as appropriate, linkages of these areas to other key donor themes, especially those for health and social action. Donors should seek ways of assisting both government and non- government implementers of the NCS as they develop a demand- driven approach for NCS-2.

NCS Workshop:

With a view to take stock of the NCS implementation and chalk out road map for its implementation in the future, the NCS-RC held a National Consultative Workshop on NCS implementation and data base development in June 2006 at Islamabad. The primary objective of the proposed workshop was to chalk out a way forward for the implementation of NCS MTR recommendations besides developing a data base for the NCS Resource Center. The workshop focused on the following thematic areas:

Theme-1:

National Conservation Strategy and Mid Term Review

Theme-2:

National Conservation Strategy and National Sustainable Development Strategy

Theme-3:

NCS and NSDS Data Base Development

National Sustainable Development Strategy:

As per provision of the Agenda-21 (chapter-40) and in line with the NCS-MTR and workshop recommendations, Pakistan is developing the National Sustainable Development Strategy (NSDS) with the assistance of the UNEP regional office for Asia and Pacific. Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI) is serving as the collaborative center for developing NSDS.