Sustainable Resource Management - A Community Issue

By Dr. Rashid Qaisrani – Australia

Why the need?

It is becoming more and more apparent that the conditions of natural resources in Pakistan is in decline, through the impact of human use of land and water. For examples of obvious impacts, we need look no further than water-logging and salinity in irrigated land, poor water quality, loss of wetlands and disappearing of vegetation in the Barani areas where it is mostly needed, over extraction of groundwater (aquifer being dried up in Balochistan), over grazing, no training and lack of information to the community. The community should be kept well informed of the planning, they should rather be encouraged to participate in the planning phase which at the moment is against the agenda of bureaucratic planning approach.

Evidence such as this lays no doubt on the sustainability of present resource use. Not only are remedies needed for current issues, but also better management is needed for the future. Otherwise, we can expect gradual loss of natural resource base and the productive capacity. Professionals are not the only one concerned, the broader community has started feeling the effect of natural resource degradation such as soil structure decline, salinity and waterlogging, depletion of groundwater aquifers, loss in productivity, drought and flooding, etc. throughout the country.


What to achieve?

Sustainability is a basic goal of natural resource management - the achieving of far greater integration of environmental, social and economic values in resource management. Government action alone will not be sufficient to surmount even existing problems. The more critical role will be with private organizations and individuals. Even more important will be marrying of government and private efforts and making the government expenditures apparent to the public. The government officers need to improve their image in the wider community rather than expecting the public to enter into their offices bare footed after waiting outside for hours if not days. Many practical measures could be taken are: 

Improved information, better understanding and better access to resource data. 

An agreed understanding of what community wants to achieve. 

Development and implementation of priority strategies for management, through the Total Catchment Management (TCM) initiative. 

Development of optimal management strategies. 

Expansion of restoration programs. 

Training for the official involved in these programs and much more.

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