The Indus Ecoregion Programme is an ambitious long-term (2005-2055) initiative of the World Wide Fund for Nature – Pakistan (WWF-P) and the Government of Sindh that will address poverty and natural resource degradation in the Indus Ecoregion. The failure of previous disconnected short-term poverty reduction and natural resource management projects has raised the need for a long-term vision and framework that integrates the existing efforts of all stakeholders and results in comprehensive solutions leading to sustainable management of the Indus Ecoregion. Development of the Indus Ecoregion Programme was funded by the Royal Netherlands Embassy (RNE), WWF’s Living Waters Programme (LWP) and WWF –International Asia-Pacific Programme. The global WWF Network is heavily involved in supporting Programmes globally and through out the Asia –Pacific Region.
WWF-Pakistan has been engaged in development of the Indus Ecoregion Conservation Programme through a continuous national and international consultative process.
2002,
The first consultative workshop was organized to assess the current situation of the Indus Ecoregion. The workshop resulted in identification of the boundary of the ecoregion, review of it ecological issues, identification of knowledge gaps, and identification of threats, problems and issues.
July 2004,
Fifty-six participants representing twenty-five conservation partners participated in a Biodiversity Visioning and Ecoregion Conservation Planning workshop for the Indus Ecoregion. The key outcomes of the workshop were:
50-year Biodiversity Vision articulated to inspire stakeholders for an environmentally sustainable Sindh.
Development of an integrated Ecoregion Action Plan
Identification of 15 Priority Areas of global, regional and ecoregional significance
Identification of 10 Conservation Targets (timeframe of 10-20 years) and 43 milestones (3-5 years) to gauge progress towards achieving the conservation targets
Formulation of an Indus Ecoregion Steering Committee under the Chairmanship of Additional Chief Secretary (Development) Government of Sindh
October-November 2004,
The Indus Ecoregion Plan underwent two international reviews at Monterey, California with the Nature Conservancy and Bangkok, Thailand with WWF’s Asia-Pacific Programme
September 2005,
A Partnership Workshop was organized to appraise partners of the Indus Ecoregion planning process and to identify partners’ roles against the expected results of the Indus for All Programme
July 2006,
Royal Netherlands Embassy signed an agreement with WWF-Pakistan for supporting the first six year phase (Indus for All Programme) of the Indus Ecoregion Programme
|
