Talking to Business Recorder, sources said that the National Council for Conservation of Wildlife (NCCW) has decided to discourage the commercial export of the wildlife and introduce new fee structure for import and export of various wildlife species.
Besides, considering the declining status of parrots/parakeets, Ministry of Environment has decided to slap ban on their exports. A few years back about 20,000-30,000 species of parakeets were annually exported, mainly from Karachi, they said. But after the spread of bird flu in the country, the Gulf countries stopped their imports from Pakistan. "However, the ban would have a minor effect on the cottage industry. But, may be in future, the effect would be more", added the officials.
Though, it is of deep concern that no wildlife export and import figures are available and the reason being told by the officials is that they do not take the pain of compiling data as little bit of it is being compiled at provincial level.
Sources said that the decision was taken in a meeting of NCCW held here on Tuesday under the chairmanship of the Federal Minister for Environment Hameed Ullah Jan Afridi.
The meeting was attended by the representatives of provincial wildlife authorities, representatives of International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), World Wildlife Fund-Pakistan (WWF-P) and World Pheasant Association. The meeting reviewed issues pertaining to conservation of wildlife and took policy decisions.
Reviewing the progress of trophy hunting programme, the meeting was informed that through community based trophy hunting programme, local communities are getting 80 percent of income as a reward for their conservation efforts.
This income is used for conservation of wildlife and social uplift of the local communities. Overall quota of 12 Markhor trophies had been successfully utilised by the provinces of NWFP, Balochistan and Northern Areas. However, due to law and order situation and inaccessible remote areas, some hunts of Himalayan Ibex could not be marketed at the approved fee. It was decided that local hunters may also be encouraged to avail the allocated quota and for this purpose, minimum fee for Himalayan Ibex was reduced.
Trophy hunting of Punjab Urial and other species also came under discussion. After reviewing the progress of trophy hunting programme, quota for 2008-2009 hunting season was decided by the council. The minister for environment stressed the need for transparent utilisation of trophy hunting income and evolving a proper mechanism in this connection.
The meeting also discussed the declining status of Houbara bustard and decided to take appropriate action in this regard which also includes formulation of a policy for sustainable hunting in future.
The meeting also decided to discourage the commercial export of wildlife and particularly the CITES listed species. A new fee structure for importers and exporters was carved which will be applicable with immediate effect. The trade in big cats also came under discussion and it was decided to constitute a high level committee under the inspector general forests to propose a viable mechanism for setting up private zoos to control the illegal trade.
WWF Pakistan and IUCN also highlighted the need to conserve the wilderness and protected areas. It was noticed with grave concern that pristine habitats and protected areas had been converted for other uses, which is not good for nature.