Chair: Mr. Nuzrat Khan, HEC Professor of Sustainability Science, Sustainable Development Study Center, Government College University, Lahore, Pakistan
Discussant: Mr. Mohammad Khurshid, Biodiversity Specialist/Conservancy Program Coordinator, Mountain Areas Conservancy Project, Ministry of Environment, Govt. of Pakistan, Islamabad, Pakistan
Panel Organizers: Dr. Abid Qaiyum Suleri, Executive Director (Interim), SDPI, and Dr. Babar Shahbaz, Visiting Fellow, SDPI, Islamabad, Pakistan
Dr. Babar Shahbaz, Assistant Professor University of Agriculture, Faisalabad, and Visiting Fellow at SDPI delivered the paper on “Development Interventions and Stakeholders: The Case of Forest Governance in NWFP” and presented an exploratory analysis of the stakeholders’ characteristics, power relations and conflicts in the context of interventions in the forestry sector of NWFP. He stressed that on the one hand, the state as well as donor led interventions do not really engage in a meaningful dialogue with the local stakeholders and institutions, and on the other hand these entities themselves are not in a position to initiate a change in local resource use. Thus, he recommended a way forward by fostering relationships of trust among key stakeholders through dialogues moderated by independent social groups like researchers. Key stakeholders identified included state authorities (provincial government, the NWFP Forest Department, Forest Development Corporation, and local governments); the local people living close to the forests, Guzara forest owners, right-holders, and non right-holder forest users, especially those of the Malakand and Hazara divisions), civil society (NGOs, CBOs, jirgas and religious groups), and the private sector (contractors, wood based industry and the timber mafia).
Mr. Abrar Kazi, a political analyst and technocrat and Mr. Zulfiqar Halepoto, a water and environmental columnist, from Karachi, Pakistan, gave their presentation on “Environmental Law in Pakistan: International Obligations and the Lower Riparian, Sindh”. Differences between Sindh and Punjab over water-sharing could lead to an inter-provincial conflict and even harm the federation if “heart-to-heart” talks were not held to resolve the issue, the authors warned. The differences, they said, were widening with time because the stand of Sindh was based on environmental concerns, while Punjab wanted to use every drop of available water to ensure food security for its people. According to them, at least four million people in Sindh were being directly hit by environmental degradation caused by lack of water, mainly due to policies formulated at the behest of Punjab. The war between water for food sovereignty and water for environmental security is being lost by the latter, because the upper riparian, Punjab, is more inclined towards its food sovereignty. The environmental laws in Pakistan are also heavily tilted in favor of the upper riparian Punjab since it is the most populous and powerful province of Pakistan. The presentation focused on the legal and constitutional position of the lower riparian rights in the national legal framework and environmental laws, vis-à-vis Pakistan’s commitment to international covenants to protect the environment. Environmental law in Pakistan and the inefficiency in the mechanism implementation were also critiqued.
Dr. Prakash C. Tiwari from the Kumaon University Nainital, Uttaranchal, India, read his paper on “Management of Common Pool Natural Resources for Rural Livelihood Improvement and Income Generation in Himalaya”. The sustainable development of rural ecosystem in Himalaya, particularly in the high population concentration zones like the Lesser Himalaya, largely depends on the comprehensive management of common pool wasteland, particularly by integrating wasteland development with environmental conservation and livelihood improvement. In order to ensure the effective implementation of the management framework and to attain the desired level of success in development and planning, a comprehensive common pool wasteland development approach needs to be adopted wherein ecological productive potential along with socio-economic parameters are taken in account after the detailed assessment of the developmental needs of local government departments and problems and priorities of local people. The paper highlighted a successful community and users oriented and watershed based action plan for the management of common pool wasteland for ecological restoration and livelihood improvement in a newly carved Himalayan State of Uttarakhand in India, with a view to help implementing various resource development and livelihood improvement schemes by government departments at district and sub-district levels. The rapid conversion of forests and productive lands into degraded and wasteland has contributed significantly to the decline of productivity of rural ecosystem and adversely affected livelihood securities of rural poor. But, it has been observed that most of the common pool wasteland categories in the region have very high potential for their productive rehabilitation and sustainable development, he said. “However, community consensus and involvement, and participation of local government agencies are prerequisite for evolving socially acceptable, economically viable and environmentally sustainable framework for the management of wasteland,” he concluded.
Dr. Peter Lund-Thomsen, Assistant Professor at the Copenhagen Business School and Visiting Fellow at SDPI, was unable to attend the Conference due to health problems. His paper presented in absentia on “Global Value Chains, Industrial Clusters and CSR: Identifying New Research and Policy Agenda,” was based on an initial theoretical exploration of the key linkages between the global value chain, industrial cluster and CSR literatures, outlining key themes for future research within this area. Dr. Lund also used the global tanning industry to explore the hypothesis of whether the structural changes in the global tanning industry have resulted in a race-to-bottom or a race-to-the-top in terms of securing higher incomes for leather producers, improving conditions, or reducing environmental pollution. He used the Pakistani leather tanning industry, particularly the cluster of Kasur, as a means of exploring whether such a race-to-the-top or bottom is occurring in the developing world. The paper concludes that in theoretical terms, it is still early days when it comes to the development of a coherent research agenda around the linkage between global value chains, industrial clusters, and corporate social responsibility. As for the races to the top and the bottom, his paper pointed out that both are simultaneously occurring in different localities. Races to the top have been witnessed in the European and North American tanning industries in terms of improving working conditions and reducing environmental pollution from tanning industries. At the same time however, the translocation of the global tanning industry to the developing world has reduced incomes for leather producers and forced most of them to close shop. This has provided space for many developing countries to expand their tanning industries generating much needed foreign currency for national governments while stimulating local employment. The downside of this development has been a substantial increase in environmental pollution in these localities, exposing tannery workers and local communities to severe health hazards. Almost unanimously, the experience of the developed and the developing world confirm the hypothesis that once wages increase and environmental regulations are tightened, the tanning industry is sufficiently footloose to be closed down in one location only to be expanded in other lower-wage areas where environmental regulations tend to be less strictly enforced. The case study of the Pakistan leather tanning industry, particularly the industrial cluster of Kasur, was used to illustrate this finding. “It is virtually impossible to create a win-win situation in terms of combining the economic, social, and environmental aspects of sustainability of the global industry tanning industry. Instead it appears as if there are inherent trade-offs between these variable in a global capitalist economy where the wealth of some is generated at the expense of others,” the paper concluded.
This session was chaired by Dr. Nuzrat Khan, HEC Professor of Sustainability Science, Sustainable Development Study Center, Government College University, Lahore, Pakistan. The discussant of this panel was Mr. Mohammad Khurshid, Biodiversity Specialist/Conservancy Program Coordinator, Mountain Areas Conservancy Project, Ministry of Environment, Govt. of Pakistan, Islamabad, Pakistan.
Reported by Ayesha Abdul Razzaq and Rehan Bashir
| Email Article |  |
Print Article | |
Next Article |
PDF Format
