Pakistan

In Pakistan, the Ministry of Environment, the Pakistan Forest Institute, the Provincial Forest & Wildlife Departments, NARC and international NGOs including WWF and IUCN celebrated IBD according to their own programmes on May 22, 2008.

A joint event was organized at Murree with two objectives, to:

1. Assess the available knowledge about biodiversity and to create awareness, and
2. Provide up-to-date information to the participants on biodiversity status and issues of Pakistan.

Institutions who participated in the event were:

• Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad
• Fatima Jinnah Women University Rawalpindi
• University of Arid Agriculture
• Government Degree College for Boys Dina (Jhelum)
• Government Degree College for Boys Sohawa (Jhelum)
• Government Postgraduate College for Women, Rawalpindi
• Government Gordon College, Rawalpindi
• Army Public School, Rawalpindi
• PAEC Model College, PINSTECH, Islamabad
• WWF-Pakistan, Islamabad
• Machiara National Park, AJK
• Punjab Forest Department, Rawalpindi Circle
• Pakistan Wetlands Program
• Safwan Education Foundation, Islamabad
• National Agriculture Research Center, Islamabad
• Pakistan Forest Institute, Peshawar

The event comprised three major activities:

1. Presentations by scientists
2. Speech and Quiz contests
3. A Walk on the Mall Murree

Presentations on Biodiversity

Dr. Naseem Akhtar (DG NARC) and Dr. Zahoor Ahmed (Dy. DG, PGRI, NARC) gave PowerPoint presentations to the participants which contained wealth of information on terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems of Pakistan.

Speech & Quiz Contests

Twelve contestants participated in the speech contest. They were assigned individual topics for the speech. The jury constituted to judge the event scored the speeches on their contents, expression and deliverance. Five teams participated in the Quiz contest. After very tough competition, PAEC Model College emerged as the Winner and Fatima Jinnah University stood as the Runner-up team. Raja Muhammad Fayyaz, MPA, gave away prizes to the winning teams.

Walk on Biodiversity

Following the event at Ghoragali, a walk was held at the Mall Murree to invoke awareness among general public on the importance and issues of biodiversity. The walk was also attended by local people and forest officials.

Photographs of the event are available here.