Islamabad:A virtual meeting of the 9th Regional Steering Committee of the South Asia Vulture Recovery Programme was organized here on Wednesday. Malik Amin Aslam, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Climate Change, graced the occasion as the chief guest.
Representatives of the South Asia Regional Steering committee member countries include Pakistan, India, Nepal, Bangladesh, and Cambodia. A large number of regional and international vulture experts, representatives of IUCN, WWF, Saving Asia’s Vultures from Extinction (SAVE), Sindh Engro Coal Mining Company and Baanhn Beli participated in the meeting.
In his remarks, Malik Amin Aslam said that the global extraordinary situation that “we are in today is because of the disturbance in the balance between nature and the development”. He assured full support of the Ministry of Climate Change, Government of Pakistan at the regional level towards conservation of vultures. He appreciated the efforts of IUCN, WWF, Baanhn Beli and Sindh Engro Coal Mining Company, Ministry of Climate Change, Sindh Wildlife Department and other Member countries and stakeholders towards vulture conservation.
Ms Aban Marker Kabraji, IUCN Regional Director Asia and Director – Regional Hub for Asia – Oceania appreciated the commitment of all the governments, and said that the key objective of setting up of the Regional Steering Committee was to increase the number of vultures in the region. She further said that Vultures “are one of the examples of nature based solutions as scavengers”. She appreciated the ban on the harmful drug in a number of countries. She also commended cooperation between NGOs, Private Sector and International Organizations. She hoped that with the progress underway, one could expect that in the future vulture will be back again.
Ms Naheed Shah Durrani, Federal Secretary, Ministry of Climate Change, Government of Pakistan, acknowledged participation of international and local organizations and corporate entities for an important work of recovery of vultures. She looked forward to an exchange of valuable work and way forward that has been prepared in collaboration with IUCN and Government of Pakistan.
She noted the enthusiasm in the member countries and the technical work that has been converted into a robust result with the participation of local communities. She especially lauded the work done by IUCN and SECMC in Thar, citing key findings from the recently completed baseline survey on vultures by IUCN. The number of vultures is increasing and habitats are being restored. She felt that all the partners still need to go a long way in terms of full recovery of the population of the vultures. She supported further containment of the harmful drugs and the need for promoting alternatives and sensitization of the local communities. She emphasized on the regional and international financing for which all the member countries need to make collective efforts. She appreciated IUCN’s efforts for organizing the meeting and assured full support of the Ministry of Climate Change.
Dr Scott Perkin, Head Natural Resources Group, IUCN Asia shared the action points of the meeting which included: change of the name of the South Asia Regional Committee to be changed to Asia Regional Steering Committee (RSC) as Cambodia has joined the Committee; follow-up with Bhutan for joining the RSC; to consider approaching GEF or another donor for vultures conservation; consider inviting Myanmar and Lao PDR for joining the RSC. Seek ban on drugs that are toxic to vultures and to continue to promote to increase the supply of safe alternative drugs; and expanding satellite tracking as a useful monitoring tool.
Syed Abul Fazal Rizvi, CEO Sindh Engro Coal Mining Company / Thar Foundation, said that SMEC is devoted to the energy needs of the country and also taking care of the stakeholders. The company is also mindful of environment and biodiversity of a very unique desert region and striking a right balance between environment and development. He said that it is the first initiative that aims to save the endangered vultures species with the support of communities.
He noted that recently an impressive work has been done by our partners i.e. IUCN and Baanhn Beli which includes: Baseline Survey of Vulture and Flora and Fauna in the Thar desert. SECMC has planted 850,000 trees comprising tree local species. He shared his delight on reporting of increase in the number of vulture which speaks of the commitment and support of SECMC.
Mahmood Akhtar Cheema in his welcome remarks said that the National Strategy on Vulture Conservation and the Baseline Survey of Vultures was conducted in collaboration with the Ministry of Climate Change, and Sind Wildlife Department. He appreciated the partnership with the Sindh Engro Coal Mining Company towards vulture conservation in Sindh and thanked the Ministry of Climate Change for its support and cooperation.
Representatives of Pakistan, India, Nepal, Bangladesh and Cambodia made presentation on the progress made in the member countries. All the member countries reported increase in the number of vultures their particular countries. Representative of SAVE also made a presentation with an international perspective on vulture conservation.
Senator (Retired) Javed Jabbar and former IUCN Global Vice President and IUCN Regional Councillor appreciated the dedication and resolve of the participants for pursuing the common goal during the unprecedented historical event with human causality and mortal threat. He proposed inter and intra cooperation among the institutions. He also lamented the pace of desertification and deforestation that continues in the remote Tharparkar.