Stone crushing, tree cutting squeezes natural habitat of Margalla Hills Park
Stone crushing, tree cutting squeezes natural habitat of Margalla Hills Park
City reporterWednesday, January 23, 2013 - Islamabad—The Margalla Hills National Park is facing many threats, including stone crushing, forest fires and tree cutting, which is squeezing the actual core habitat and concentration of animal and birds in certain pockets. Ever-increasing human settlements, mining, fuel wood extraction, wildlife hunting, livestock grazing, road construction, air, noise and water pollution, and recently installed lights on the Daman-e-Koh Road are the main problems in the park area. Pakistan Museum of Natural History (PMNH) Zoology Department Director Dr Muhammad Rafique said that such hurdles in habitat and resource partitioning would lead to competition among the species, resulting in drastic changes in species composition and their associations. He said the park is important, as it “forms the southern most distributional limit for many Himalayan animal species and the northern most limits for many species of the plain areas in the south”. “This park provides a refuge to many indigenous species locally migrating from northern parts of the country when those areas are packed with snow during the winters. It also serves as a transit place for many species of birds migrating from northern hemisphere, and also serving as an important recreational place for the people of Rawalpindi and Islamabad.”
He said the park also provides an excellent spot for bird watchers, as many people in Islamabad enjoy this hobby. Dr Rafique said the park is unique in the sense that it has a remarkable variety of microhabitats, which is an indicator of high species diversity. As a result of a series of faunal survey of the park, 54 species of butterflies, 37 of fish, nine of amphibians, 20 of reptiles, 380 of birds, 21 of small mammals and 15 species of large mammals were recorded. He said that the need was to chalk out a comprehensive management plan for the future sustainability of the park and to convert it up to the level of world-class national parks.
Quote of the Day
The concessions of the weak are the concessions of fear. Edmund Burke British politicianPast Observances of World Habitat Day
World Habitat Day
Background
Designation
In 1985 the United Nations
designated the first Monday of October every year as World Habitat Day. The idea is to reflect on the state of our towns and cities and the basic right of all to adequate shelter. It is also intended to remind the world of its collective responsibility for the future of the human habitat.
World Habitat Day was first celebrated in 1986 with the theme “Shelter is My Right”. Nairobi was the host city for the observance that year. Other
have included: “Shelter for the Homeless” (1987, New York); “Shelter and Urbanization” (1990, London); “Future Cities” (1997, Bonn); “Safer Cities” (1998, Dubai); “Women in Urban Governance” (2000, Jamaica); “Cities without Slums” (2001, Fukuoka), “Water and Sanitation for Cities” (2003, Rio de Janeiro),
&Planning our Urban Future& (2009, Washington, D.C.),
&Better City,
Better Life& (2010, Shanghai, China) and Cities and Climate Change (2011, Aguascalientes, Mexico).
Scroll of Honour
The Habitat
award was launched by the United Nations Human
Settlements Programme in 1989. It is currently the most prestigious human
settlements award in the world. Its aim is to acknowledge initiatives which have
made outstanding contributions in various fields such as shelter provision,
highlighting the plight of the homeless, leadership in post conflict
reconstruction, and developing and improving the human settlements and the
quality of urban life. The award, a plaque engraved with the name of the winner and their
achievement is presented to the
during the Global Observance of
World Habitat Day.
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