E n v i r o n m e n t a l E d u c a t i o n

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1 IUCN Pakistan Prograe Northern Areas Strategy for Sustainable Developent Background Paper E n v i r o n e n t a l E d u c a t i o n Ghula Abbas Planning & Developent Dept., Northern Areas

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3 E n v i r o n e n t a l E d u c a t i o n Planning & Developent Dept., Northern Areas

4 The designation of geographical entities in this book, and the presentation of the aterial, do not iply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of IUCN concerning the legal status of any country, territory, or area, or of its authorities, or concerning the deliitation of its frontiers or boundaries. The views expressed in this publication do not necessarily reflect those of IUCN. Published by: IUCN, Northern Areas Prograe. Copyright: 2003 International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resourc e s. Reproduction of this publication for educational and other noncoercial purposes is authorised without prior perission fro the copyright holder, providing the source is fully acknowledged. Reproduction of the publication for resale or for other coercial purposes is prohibited without prior written perission fro the copyright holder. ii Citation: Ghula Abbas, NASSD Background Paper: Environental Education. IUCN Northern Areas Progae, Gilgit. x+27 pp. Series editor: Haid Sarfraz ISBN: Cover & layout design: Printed by: Available fro: Azhar Saeed, ECK Group, IUCN Pakistan. Hadard Press (Pvt) Ltd. Karachi. IUCN-The World Conservation Union Northern Areas Prograe Alpine Coplex, Jutial, Gilgit Tel.: Fax: Website:

5 TABLE OF CONTENTS List of Acronys Foreword Executive Suary vi vii ix 1. Introduction Education Status in the Northern Areas Environental Education 4 2. Issues and Trends Inadequate Teaching Syste Ineffective Follow-up/Monitoring & Evaluation Lack of Refresher/Tailor- Made Courses Lack of Teaching Material Diffused inforation about environental concerns in the Curriculu Environental Education Gender Integration with line departents Lack of Technical Expertise Resource Persons/Master Trainers Training Lack of Supportive Institutional Mechaniss Lack of coordination within the Education Sector Lack of Institutionalisation 8 3. Consequences of Inaction Current Initiatives Education Departent Indigenous Knowledge NGO Initiatives World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) Mountain Areas Conservancy Project (MACP) Aga Khan Education Services Pakistan (AKESP) Aga Khan Rural Support Prograe (AKRSP) Aga Khan Cultural Services Pakistan (AKCSP) Water and Sanitation Extension Prograe (WASEP) Building and Construction Iproveent Prograe (BACIP) Karakora Area Developent Organization Hunza Education Resource Project Hialayan Wildlife Project 15 iii

6 Balour Advisory and Social Developent Organisation (BASDO) NGO Networks Stakeholders Foral Education Sector Northern Areas Education Departent Northern Areas Education Project (NAEP) Aga Khan Education Services Pakistan Pakistan Education Council (Al-Mustafa Schools) Al-Azhar Model Schools Marafi Foundation Pakistan Religious Schools Teacher Education College of Education, Gilgit Other Teacher Education Colleges Non-Foral Education Sector Social Welfare Office Northern Areas Aga Khan Health Services Pakistan (AKHSP) Prie Minister s Prograe for Faily Planning and Priary Health Care Language Enhanceent and Achieveent Prograe (LEAP) Naunehal Developent Organization (NDO) Aga Khan Rural Support Prograe (AKRSP) Arts Councils 20 iv 6. The Way Ahead Ai Objectives and Strategic Interventions To enhance the role of the foral/non-foral education sector for conservation and sustainable developent: To incorporate environental aspects and sustainable developent approaches in the curriculu and training prograes: To build the capacity of stakeholders for effective ipleentation of the Environental Education Background Paper: To encourage and assist in building cross-sectoral linkages with all sector background papers of NACS: To ensure incorporation of gender related issues in all sectors of education: To ensure continuous support and input fro all stakeholders during the forulation and ipleentation of Environental Education Background Paper: Roles and Responsibilities Northern Areas Adinistration Planning and Developent Departent Departent of Education NGOs 25

7 EE Interest Group/Roundtable Non-Foral Sector Conclusion 27 v

8 LIST OF ACRONYMS vi AKCSP AKESP AKHSP AKRSP BACIP B.Ed CT DFID HERP EE FBT IED IUCN KADO LEAP MACP NA NAA NAEP NCS NACS NDO NEP NGO NRM PEC PTC SPCS SAP WWF WASEP Aga Khan Cultural Services Aga Khan Education Services Pakistan Aga Khan Health Services Pakistan Aga Khan Rural Support Pakistan Building and Construction Iproveent Prograe Bachelor of Education Certificated Teacher Departent for International Developent Hunza Education Resource Project Environental Education Field Based Training Institute of Educational Developent World Conservation Union Karakora Area Developent Organisation Language Enhanceent and Achieveent Prograe Mountain Areas Conservancy Project Northern Areas Northern Areas Adinistration Northern Areas Education Project National Conservation Strategy Northern Areas Conservation Strategy Naunehal Developent Organization National Education Project Non-Governental Organization Natural Resource Manageent Pakistan Education Council Priary Teaching Certificate Sarhad Provincial Conservation Strategy Social Action Prograe World Wide Fund for Nature Water and Sanitation Extension Prograe

9 FOREWORD The Northern Areas have a unique and critical role to play in the sustainable developent of Pakistan. Although they span a relatively sall geographical area, the Northern Areas serve as a vital catchent for the Indus River, upon which a ajority of Pakistan's irrigated agriculture and hydroelectricity depends. The Northern Areas also contain the nation's ost iportant natural forests, extensive ineral reserves, and a wealth of biodiversity. Draatic scenery, soe of the world's highest ountains, and a rich cultural and archaeological heritage ake the Northern Areas one of the ost visited tourist destinations in the country. Over the last several decades, however, any of the Northern Areas' natural resources have coe under increasing pressure, as a result of a growing huan population and the opening of the Karakora Highway. At the sae tie, it has becoe increasingly recognised that the isolated nature of any of the region s counities, coupled with the Northern A reas' high-altitude and fragile environent, poses special constraints and challenges to developent. Perhaps ore so than in any other part of Pakistan, there is a need in the Northern Areas to ensure that social and environental considerations are fully integrated into the developent process. In response to these concerns, the Northern Areas Adinistration began the preparation of a Northern Areas Strategy for Sustainable Developent in 1999, with the financial assistance of the Swiss Agency for Developent and Cooperation, and the Norwegian Agency for Developent Cooperation; technical support has been provided by IUCN The World Conservation Union. The Strategy addresses a broad range of social, econoic and environental issues, and seeks to provide a coprehensive policy fraework for the sustainable developent of the region. It responds directly to the provisions and recoendations of the National Conservation Strategy, adopted by the Governent of Pakistan in In parallel, The State of the Environent and Developent in the Northern Areas suarises in a single volue the key inforation gathered during the preparation of the NASSD. It is the first report of its kind to be produced for the Northern Areas, which provides a succinct, up-to-date and readily accessible analysis of the status of the ost iportant environent and developent sectors in the Northern Areas, including inforation on ajor trends and issues, the responses taken by both governent and civil society to date, and strategic options for the future. It also provides a baseline against which future change can be easured and establishes the context and foundations for the Northern Areas Strategy for Sustainable Developent. vii During early consultations at the tehsil level, and with key governental and nongovernental organizations 16 areas of intervention were identified as being critical for the NASSD. These include sectors like: water; agriculture; forestry; biodiversity; rangelands and livestock; the private sector; energy; urban

10 environent; and cultural heritage and sustainable touris. In addition, soe crosscutting thees were identified as crucial to each sector, including population, poverty and environent; counication for sustainable developent; e n v i ronental education; NGOs; gender, environent and developent; environental health; and governance. To address the needs of each of these areas, basic inforation was gathered through consultations and literature reviews. This data was analysed through background papers coissioned on each of the sectors and thees identified. The draft of each paper was shared with the larger counity of stakeholders of the NASSD as well as experts in the relevant field of knowledge. The papers follow a siilar forat: analysis of the current situation; issues; past and present initiatives in the sectors and theatic areas along with the lessons learnt; stakeholders; and recoended policy and action easures. The authors have also addressed cross-sectoral linkages and environental concerns for the sake of ore integration in planning for sustainable developent. There were constraints to developing these Background Papers and in soe cases these hurdles were only partially overcoe. These included the fragented and scattered nature of inforation, the prevalent culture of not sharing inforation, contradictory and unreliable data, lack of thinking on cross-sectoral linkages and integrated planning, and lack of expertise in developing linkages with the environent. Parts of the inforation of the papers were then incorporated into the State of the E n v i ronent and Developent (SoED) and the ain strategy, i.e., NASSD. However, since the Papers contain a wealth of extreely useful inforation, a decision was taken to produce a series of NASSD Background Papers. Considering the need and iportance of tiely sharing inforation with the stakeholders, these papers are being produced without extensive editing. The authors have sole responsibility for the views expressed and data presented. viii

11 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The Northern Areas are experiencing a nuber of social, environental and natural resource anageent probles, which are increasing steadily. Despite the initiatives taken by the NAAdinistration to address these issues, there reains a dire need for a strategic fraework to prioritise and guide activities, proote crosssectoral coordination and ensure the incorporation of environental considerations into the developent process. The NACS-Support Project ais to provide this strategic fraework in the for of the Northern Areas Conservation Strategy (NACS). Furtherore, background papers have been developed on the sectors identified during the public consultation process of the project. The background papers would contain current status, issues and trends, and recoendations for the specific sector. The processoriented developent of background papers ensures greater participation of stakeholders through extensive consultation. In this connection, the Environental Education Background Paper of NACS provides recoendations for capacity building and facilitates ainstreaing of environental concerns into the education processes. To develop this paper, the current status of foral and non-foral education sectors and current initiatives taken by the governent and non-governental agencies was analysed to identify gaps. This study showed that the existing environental education initiatives taken by various foral and non-foral sectors are activity based and there is a lack of coordination aong the organizations undertaking these initiatives. This situation identified a need to not only develop cohesion in the existing efforts but also to take environental education forward as a full-fledged prograe. To this end, exploratory eetings, scoping exercises and workshops were organized to ensure that a participatory approach is adopted by involving various stakeholders for their input into the design and forulation of the Paper. Furtherore, the Education/Counication Interest Group played an integral role in providing input for the identification of the objectives and strategic interventions. ix The EE Background Paper recoends the need for the integration of environental aspects into the curriculu/prograes of the foral and nonforal education sectors, developent of resource persons, capacity building of stakeholders and developent of aterial to suppleent the EE activities. Moreover, it draws upon the roles and responsibilities of key developent actors regarding its ipleentation. Since the strategy developent is an ongoing process it suggests a echanis to review it during both the forulation and ipleentation stages.

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13 1. INTRODUCTION The integration of environental concepts into the prograes of the foral and non-foral education sectors and the capacity building of stakeholders for its ipleentation need a fraework that could provide objectives and strategic interventions and identify roles & responsibilities. This paper gives the details of the Environental Education Strategy for the Northern Areas Education Sector. The Northern Areas (NA) directly adinistered by the Federal Governent occupy soe 72,500 square kiloetres of the northern part of Pakistan, bordering with China, Afghanistan and India. They are doinated by one of the ost ountainous landscapes on earth, with an ar of the Hindu Kush to the West, the lesser Hialayas to the South, the Karakora to the East and the Pair to the North. The Killer Mountain, Nanga Parbat and K2 are also located in the NA. Although the population is relatively sall (approxiately 1 illion according to the Social Action Prograe ), it is linguistically and ethnically diverse. There are at least 12 different language groups, reflecting a legacy of cultural change, igration and conquest over thousands of years. Religious doination varies in the for of different sects, fro the Sunni Muslis in Kohistan to Isailies in Hunza and Ghizer and Shias, Noorbakhshis in Baltistan and Nagar valleys. The copletion of the Karakora Highway in 1982 ended the physical isolation of the Northern A reas, but opened the region to an unprecedented influx of developers, iigrants, and tourists. This has resulted in accelerating the rate of socio-econoic probles; rapid population growth, increased need for health and education, rapid urbanization, and ecological changes such as deforestation, loss of biodiversity and degradation of water and soil quality. The Northern Areas Adinistration (NAA) and soe NGOs have been working to iprove the socio-econoic and ecological conditions of the areas. Despite this there is still a need for a strategic environental fraework, which can prioritise and guide activities, proote cross-sectoral coordination and ensure the incorporation of environental considerations into the developent planning process at an early stage. In order to address this need the NAAdinistration has taken the initiative in the for of the NACS - Support Project, with the technical assistance of IUCN - The World Conservation Union. 1 The goal of the NACS is to iprove the social, econoic, cultural and ecological well being of the people of the NA. To achieve this goal, the incorporation of environent into the developent process has been adopted as one of the ajor principles. For this purpose, it is essential that effective environental education prograes are put in place, which would not only foster awareness but would also lead to infored action.

14 1.1. Education Status in the Northern Areas The literacy rate in the Northern Areas is 33%. Apart fro the efforts ade by the Governent, NGOs such as the Aga Khan Education Services (AKES), Marafi Foundation and Pakistan Education Council (PEC) are also working in the education sector through a nuber of school networks. The AKES has set up 127 schools. It has also set up two prototype schools in order to enhance feale education in the NA. Siilarly the private sector has entered the education sector by setting up about 179 schools. The Ary is also supporting the efforts to iprove the education standards in the Northern Areas by setting up Ary Public Schools. The feale literacy rate is considered to be 100 percent in a few villages doinated by the Isaili sect. The ajor factor contributing to this is the awareness and prootion of feale education aong the counity ebers by their spiritual leader, late Sir Sultan Muhaad Shah. His contribution included setting up of a chain of Diaond Jubilee Schools in reote villages. Although there are soe areas in the southern part of Diaer district, which do not even have a single feale school, owing to traditional nors regarding woen s status in the society, the situation is slowly iproving because of the initiatives taken by soe local NGOs. Table 1: Suary of Schools ( ) Location Gender Mosque Counity Non-foral Priary Middle High Total A. GOVERNMENT Urban Boys Girls Mixed Total Rural Boys Girls Mixed Total ,262 G. Total ,370 2 B. PRIVATE Urban Boys Girls Mixed Total Rural Boys Girls Mixed Total G. Total Total (A+B) ,764 Source: Annual Census There are a total of 18 (governent, counity and private) inter/degree colleges in the Northern Areas. These include five girls colleges and five boys colleges in District Gilgit, four colleges, two for girls and two for boys in Skardu District, two

15 colleges for boys in Diaer District and one college each for boys in District Khaplu and Ghizer respectively. The nuber of ale and feale students in the colleges of the Northern Areas is approxiately There is no university in the area and therefore people tend to go to bigger cities for higher studies. Curriculu developent is a Federal responsibility, particularly in case of the Northern Areas, where only liited books on subjects such as social studies, geography and science are developed up to class five. However, there is growing awareness of the fact that unless environental concepts are incorporated into the existing curriculu, it cannot fulfil eerging needs. The Education Departent of the Northern Areas has taken lead in this process by redeveloping the priary level curriculu by incorporating environental issues, under the Northern Areas Education Project (NAEP). Boys participation rate for priary, iddle and high classes for the years was 80%, 63%, and 39% respectively, while, feale participation rate for the sae years was 56%, 28% and 17% for priary, iddle and high classes. The following table and chart describes the enrolent rate for boys and girls at the priary, iddle and high school levels for the year Table 2: Enrolent by Stage and Gender ( ) Stages Urban Rural Total Boys Girls Total Boys Girls Total Boys Girls Total Priary 11,348 8,661 20,009 66,323 41, ,679 77,671 50, ,688 Middle 4,342 2,860 7,202 15,468 6,804 22,272 19,810 9,664 29,474 High 2,454 1,308 3,762 5,178 1,955 7,133 7,632 3,263 10,895 Total 18,144 12,829 30,973 86,969 50, , ,113 62, ,057 Source: Annual Census Figure 1: Enrolent Rate ( ) 120, ,000 80, ,000 40,000 20,000 0 Source: Annual Census Priary Middle High Total Boys 77,671 19,810 7, ,113 Girls 50,017 9,664 3,263 62,944 The average dropout rate for both boys and girls was 8.5% at the priary level and 16.6% at the secondary level (Source: Annual School Census ).

16 Table 3: Average Dropout Rate at the Priary Level ( ) Grade 1 Grade 2 Grade 3 Grade 4 Grade 5 Avg. Total 15.6% 9.0% 8.5% 9.4% 0.0% 8.5% Source: Annual School Census Table 4: Average Droput Rate at the Secondary Level ( ) Grade 6 Grade 7 Grade 8 Grade 9 Avg. Total 14.6% 13.0% 22.3% 93.0% 16.6% Source: Annual Census Environental Education The significance of awareness raising and education to bring about "attitudinal change" of huan beings towards the environent eerged when the world counity becae aware of the fact that ajority of the factors contributing to environental degradation are caused by huan activities. Thus Environental education has been prooted as an effective tool to facilitate the process of fostering awareness and to encourage people to adopt environent friendly lifestyles in order to iniize environental depletion. The definition of environental education drawn up in a conference called by IUCN-The World Conservation Union in Nevada, is as follows: Environental education is the process of recognizing values and clarifying concepts in order to develop skills and attitudes necessary to understand and appreciate the inter-relatedness aong huans, their culture and biophysical surroundings. Environental education also entails practice in decisionaking and self-forulation of a code of behaviours about issues concerning environental quality (Neal Philip & Joy). 4 UNESCO also forulated the following definition of environental education in 1977: Environental education fosters clear awareness of and concern about econoic, social political and ecological interdependence in urban and rural area; provides every person with opportunities to acquire the knowledge, value, attitudes, coitent and skills needed to protect the environent; creates new patterns of behavior of individuals, groups and society as a whole towards the environent. An Intergovernental Conference on Environental Education was held at Tbilisi in The Tblisi Declaration is the basis of the educational coponent in Agenda 21, the global fraework for action adopted by the United Nations Conference on Environent and Developent, in According to Agenda 21: Education is critical for prooting sustainable developent and iproving the capacity of people to address environent and developent issues. It is

17 also critical for achieving environental and ethical awareness, values and attitudes, skills and behavior consistent with sustainable developent and for effective public participation in decision aking. Box 1: Approaches to Environental Education To fully understand the concept of environental education the following three approaches have been identified (Lucas 1979): Education in the environent describes any for of learning outside a traditional classroo-teaching situation. It can be thought of as learning via direct experience, and has strong links with outdoor education. Education about the environent is concerned with providing inforation on the e n v i ronent and environental issues. Such learning gives people a basic understanding of the environent and soe of the probles and solutions, which face us in aking decisions every day. Education for the environent develops attitudes and values. It ars us to ake choices, which will aintain and iprove the quality of the environent; it seeks to change our behaviour. Education for the environent should encourage people to participate and to believe that their efforts can have an ipact on the quality of the environent. A c c o rding to the Pakistan National Conservation Strategy, enviro n e n t a l education: Focuses on sustainable developent in the entire syste of foral education and at all levels Adopts a holistic perspective to environental education Centres sustainable developent education on practical probles relating to the student s iediate environent Ais at instilling an ethic of conservation Lets education on sustainable developent grow fro within the existing syste rather than be added to it Launches coprehensive non-foral education prograes to reach that segent of the population not now reached by education because of either poor access or literary probles Incorporates sustainable developent issues into all relevant non-foral education prograes. Box 2: Goals of Environental Education 5 The goals of environental education, adapted fro the Tblisi declaration are: To foster clear awareness of, and concern about, econoic, social, political and ecological interdependence in urban and rural areas. To provide every person with an opportunity to acquire the knowledge, values, attitudes, coitent and skills needed to protect and iprove the environent. To create new patterns of behaviour of individuals, groups and society as a whole towards the environent. To achieve the above goals and for the true success of the NACS Education Background Paper, the focus would be on involving all the stakeholders in the prootion of EE activities, thus educating, fostering awareness and enhancing capacity about the principles of sustainable developent. This will help the to

18 develop skills and attitudes necessary to understand and appreciate the interdependence of huans, their culture and biophysical surroundings. This Paper is distinctive in the sense that a participatory approach has been adopted. It has involved all stakeholders, partners and interediaries including the Education Departent, The Aga Khan Education Services, Northern A re a s Education Project, WWF, AKHS and the private sector at every step, through scoping exercises, workshops and discussions at forus such as interest groups and roundtables. The outline was presented to the Education/Counication Interest Group for detailed discussions. The input provided by the ebers was incorporated into the Paper. Moreover, teachers, students and parents too were involved in a nuber of activities to ensure their full participation. In order to seek expert opinion, the Interest Group fored an Education Core Group consisting of acadeicians and educationists both fro within the interest group and fro outside. These experts had been intensively involved in EE activities in their respective organizations, even before the initiation of IUCN activities in Northern Areas. Their experience and knowledge brought value addition to the entire process of consultations. This Core Group held a one-day workshop specifically to discuss the objectives and strategic interventions and gave their feedback, which has been incorporated accord i n g l y. A one-day re v i e w workshop was also organized involving all stakeholders as a final step to deliberate upon the Paper. During the workshop, the stakeholders theselves identified priority areas and their roles and responsibilities for ipleentation. In other words, the EE Background Paper is in reality, the reflection of the feedback of the stakeholders obtained through various activities. This two-track approach has resulted in aking its developent a dynaic process rather than siply producing a docuent. At the sae tie, the ipleentation of various activities through deo-projects is assessing the practicality of the Paper. As a future step NACS will facilitate the stakeholders in the developent of an action plan in light of their identified roles. 6

19 2. ISSUES AND TRENDS The issues identified through the consultative process were categorized into the following four broad areas Inadequate Teaching Syste Ineffective Follow-up/Monitoring & Evaluation Follow-up, onitoring and evaluation echaniss play a significant role in the effective ipleentation of any prograe or project. They help in course correction and tracking of activities resulting in the achieveent of the desired objectives. Unfortunately, in the education sector such echaniss have not been developed and therefore there are no eans of assessing the perforance of teachers and teaching approaches. Although, the annual school results are taken as perforance indicators, due to any flaws in the exaination syste these indicators are less reliable. As a consequence, the educators and teachers pay less attention towards learning and enhancing their teaching skills. This situation leads to ineffective teaching and gradual decline of the education standards Lack of Refresher/Tailor- Made Courses Training and capacity building are essential for the professional growth of individuals in an organization. This becoes ore iportant in the context of the teaching syste because increase in knowledge and inforation through research has caused rapid changes in approaches that professionals have to be equipped with, in order to discharge their duties effectively and efficiently. In the Education sector the process of learning is given low priority copared to other coponents such as exaination and developents of infra structure of the school. Educators and teachers are rarely exposed to short-ter refresher or tailor ade courses. There are few exceptions such as AKESP, which arranges short-ter courses for their teachers. However, in absence of an effective onitoring and evaluation syste training/courses do not show desired results Lack of Teaching Material Teachers in governent schools have no access to suppleentary teaching aterial in order to ake their teaching ore effective. The Education Departent has not prooted this ethod of teaching. Reference books and other related aterial are not available in governent schools. Also, teachers do not use audio visual aids and teaching odels, which are low cost and readily available to ake their lessons ore effective.

20 2.2. Diffused inforation about environental concerns in the Curriculu Environental Education In the existing curriculu there is plenty of basic inforation on the environent. This includes inforation on forests, agriculture and industries. However, no effort has been ade to link the environent and the effects of its degradation on the huan life. Due to this, the teachers are unable to inculcate environental concerns into their lesson plans. This situation creates a need for the incorporation of environental issues into the curriculu Gender The teaching aterial and textbooks are not gender sensitive. One of the causes of the persisting gender ibalances is because no effort is ade to address this issue in the education syste Integration with line departents Educators and teachers feel that though there are several subjects on natural resources the current teaching syste hardly has any link with the respective line departents. These departents undertake a lot of research in various fields, which needs to be shared or integrated with the teaching syste in order to increase the knowledge of the students. Moreover, integrated thinking will result in integrated planning, which is a prerequisite to attain the objectives of sustainable developent Lack of Technical Expertise Resource Persons/Master Trainers Since environental education is a relatively new subject in the NA education sector therefore, no resource person or aster trainer is available to give further training to the educators and teachers. The Aga Khan Education Services (AKES) took soe initiatives for providing training on environental education in Diaond Jubilee Schools but due to a dearth of resource persons it could not be furthered. Siilarly the Education Departent willing to take full-scale initiatives in environental education also faces the sae proble Training Special training is required in order to develop the capacity of aster trainers and resource persons in environental education. However, due to shortage of funds the Education Departent cannot arrange these Lack of Supportive Institutional Mechaniss Lack of coordination within the Education Sector During consultations an iportant issue identified was the lack of coordination aong various stakeholders of the education sector. In the Northern Areas a

21 nuber of interventions in the education sector have been ade by any international organizations, NGOs and by the private sector in addition to the Education Departent. Every organization has been pursuing its own objectives and andate without developing linkages with siilar ongoing initiatives. This has given rise to the possibility of duplication and wastage of resources. Keeping in view this gap, the organizations are striving to develop axiu coordination but in the absence of a "Coon Foru" that could facilitate coordination aong stakeholders, the desired results cannot be achieved Lack of Institutionalisation A potential barrier in taking forward the EE activities in the education sector is the lack of institutionalisation of systes that would facilitate the integration of environental education into the prograes, projects and activities of the Education Departent. For instance, a ajority of the educators and teachers coplained that although they realize the iportance of environental education and want to proote it in their respective schools, they are unable to do so due to a lack of support fro the anageent. Siilarly environental education has not been integrated into the co-curricular activities and prograes of the non-foral education sector. However, one institution, the College of Education Gilgit has ade environental education a part of the teaching syste and the subject is being taught once a week to the trainees of B.Ed, CT and PTC training courses. 9

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23 3. CONSEQUENCES OF INACTION Over the last decade, the Northern Areas have been experiencing a ultitude of socio-econoic and environental probles. A high population growth rate (3.8% annually according to Social Action Prograe), increasing poverty and lack of anageent have all resulted in increased pressure on the natural resources. If the current trend continues it is likely to have serious consequences on the population, as they are heavily dependent on these resources for their sustenance. Furtherore, a nuber of globally significant wildlife species such as usk deer, snow leopards, arkhors, Hialayan ibex, woolly flying squirrels, and brown bears are found in the Northern Areas. These are under threat owing to huan activities resulting in loss of their habitat, and excessive hunting by locals and outsiders (WWF Website Species of Special Concern). More iportantly, the consequences would not only be affecting the Northern Areas but would also have negative national ipact. The Indus River, which partly originates fro the NA is a source of freshwater and alluvial soil for the whole country. Pakistan having an agrarian econoy is wholly dependent on this River for agriculture. The depletion in and the pollution of its water supplies would adversely affect the entire agricultural syste and these effects would be felt both upstrea and downstrea of the River. In order to tackle these probles there is a need to create environental awareness at all levels in the society. 11

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25 4. CURRENT INITIATIVES 4.1. Education Departent The Education Departent of the Northern Areas is currently in the process of curriculu developent for priary classes under the Northern Areas Education Project (NAEP) funded by DFID and ipleented by the British Council. One of the prie objectives of the process is to incorporate environental aspects into the proposed curriculu. IUCNP extended its assistance by providing training to curriculu developers on developing environental education aterial to be incorporated into the existing curriculu. As a result, environental concerns have been successfully incorporated into the curriculu of classes fro 1 to 5. The College of Education, Gilgit has taken a lead in aking environental education an integral part of its training courses. ATeachers Manual (Learning for Life) was developed for this purpose. As a result EE has been introduced as a subject that is taught to pre-service and in- service trainee teachers. Siilarly, efforts a re underway to incorporate environental issues in Field Based Tr a i n i n g Prograe Indigenous Knowledge Due to the physical isolation of the Northern Areas, the local people have lacked access to the outside world for centuries. As a result they developed and adopted practices derived fro nature to sustain their liited natural resources. Their indigenous anageent practices and systes ensured sustainable use of natural resources and strict adoption of land use planning, keeping in view the scarcity of cultivable land. The construction of the Karakora Highway has opened the area to the outside world in recent years. Although this has led to a considerable decline in the traditional ethods in the urban areas, indigenous knowledge is still transferred fro generation to generation. This knowledge can be utilized in developing resource aterial for EE activities NGO Initiatives World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) WWF, an international NGO working for conservation of nature, initiated an environental education prograe in Since then, it has carried out various activities, involving students, teachers and counity activists. WWF is ipleenting a nuber of projects including a DFID funded project, Karaber Valley Project, Mountain Areas Conservancy Project and a European Union Project, ainly focused on conservation and environental education.

26 Soe of the activities undertaken under the projects include the following: Raising public awareness Teacher s training Provision of educational aids Training workshops for counities in conservation Suppleentary aterial for curriculu developent Mountain Areas Conservancy Project (MACP) The Mountain Areas Conservancy Project (MACP) funded by GEF, UNDP and the Governent of Pakistan, is intended to proote sustainable use of biodiversity in Pakistan's Karakora, Hindu Kush and Western Hialayas ountain ranges, through a counity based conservation approach. This prograe is based on the results of the Biodiversity Project, a GEF Pre-Investent Facility Project (PRIF) in Northern Areas. IUCN-The World Conservation Union is ipleenting the MACP project. The tasks to be copleted by MACP include: Involving woen in conservation Develop village, valley and conservancy level conservation plans Ipleenting a broadly based conservation awareness prograe Introducing sustainable use deonstration projects Enhancing scientific knowledge of biodiversity in the conservancies Revising current wildlife laws Developing conservancy level trust funds Enhancing the capacity of governent departents IUCN has sub-contracted the Conservation Education coponent of MACP to WWF for ipleentation. WWF is responsible for output 2 in which the following initiatives have been identified: Develop and ipleent a counication strategy Ipleent a Schools in Conservation Prograe Operationalise inforal conservation awareness prograe Enlist the support religious leaders in conservation activities 14 An EU funded project has also been developed to provide support to the conservation education activities of MACP. This coponent will launch education and awareness raising activities in three conservancies Aga Khan Education Services Pakistan (AKESP) The Aga Khan Education Services (AKES) has initiated soe EE activities including research studies, plantation drives, seinar and speech/essay writing contests. Siilarly, AKES is currently ipleenting the training coponent of the FBT Prograe, in which an environental coponent is being integrated with the assistance of the NACS-Support Project Aga Khan Rural Support Prograe (AKRSP) In 1992 the Forestry Section of AKRSP launched an awareness-raising prograe through nature clubs. For this purpose, IUCNP s Education Prograe in Karachi developed activity packs on water and soil through a consultative process and conducted an intensive training prograe for club leaders. In Baltistan, Adult

27 Literacy Centres have been launched and environent is being integrated into the curriculu. Now A K R S P, Gilgit has taken the initiative of enviro n e n t a l sensitisation of its valley foresters, by including a full-day session on environent Aga Khan Cultural Services Pakistan (AKCSP) AKCSP is endeavouring to preserve the cultural heritage of the area, for the prootion of ecotouris. For this purpose, apart fro using the existing forus, it has identified other interest groups including private copanies and local influential people, to otivate the to develop local foral institutions to undertake its initiatives. Currently, the NACS Support Project is working with AKCSP on a pilot project regarding land use planning in Shigar Valley of Baltistan Water and Sanitation Extension Prograe (WASEP) The overall objective of WASEP is to reduce water related diseases in the NA. For this purpose WASEP has adopted the strategic approach of integrating water supply, sanitation, health and hygiene education. It has a target of covering 108 villages (100,000 population) by the year Building and Construction Iproveent Prograe (BACIP) BACIP ais at developing and prooting easures that would enable the counities to ake sustainable iproveent in housing and to enhance their investent in the built environent Karakora Area Developent Organization The Karakora Area Developent Organization (KADO) is an NGO working in the Hunza region. It has a coponent on environent, under which it is effectively carrying out various activities including awareness raising pro g r a e s, Environent Day celebrations and installation of garbage bins in central Hunza Hunza Education Resource Project The Hunza Education Resource Project (HERP) has established Environental Clubs in ore than 16 English ediu schools in Hunza region. These clubs hold onthly eetings in which activities related to the environent are discussed and action plans are prepared for ipleentation in schools. A newsletter has also been launched Hialayan Wildlife Project The Hialayan Wildlife Project funded by GEF/UNDP Sall Grants Prograe started working to preserve the wildlife and to conduct research on the brown bear and other species in Deosai since The objective of the project is to establish a functional National Park in Deosai by 1998, with adinistrative and anageent systes that provide continued protection to the flora and fauna in Deosai with active participation of the local counities. For this purpose they are conducting a w a reness raising prograes in collaboration with MACP s Education Coponent.

28 Balour Advisory and Social Developent Organisation (BASDO) The Balour Advisory and Social Developent Organization (BASDO) is working for conservation and environent in Northern Areas. It provides support to the conservation and urban environent related activities of various large NGOs. BASDO is a eber of IUCN- The World Conservation Union NGO Networks Valley Based NGO Networks are active in fostering awareness about environental issues at grassroots level both in urban and rural areas. These networks can prove to be effective channels for disseination of inforation directly to the counities. Shishal Natural Trust in this regard has oved a step ahead by launching an organized awareness-raising prograe and carrying out activities by involving school children. Siilarly soe other sall NGOs including Al-Ain Foundation, Al-Khair, and Kasunar in Gilgit town, while, NGOs like Burchang social welfare Org, Waliul-Aser Org, SKIDO, HAWAOrg, Baltistan, NRM social welfare Org Gupis, Hatun Welfare Org, NSWA Hunza are actively involved in a nuber of activities related to the environent. The ipact assessent of current EE initiatives is difficult because the ipleentation has been activity based rather than focused on the developent of a coprehensive prograe on need basis. Nonetheless, these activities have succeeded in creating awareness within the organizations. Another reason for the low level of ipact is the lack of linkages between the existing initiatives. The NACS Education Background Paper is expected to address these gaps specifically by developing strong linkages between the existing initiatives and creating synergy in the efforts. 16

29 5. STAKEHOLDERS 5.1. Foral Education Sector Northern Areas Education Departent The Northern Areas Education Departent is striving hard to enhance the literacy rate and to proote quality education. It has set up priary, iddle and high schools in alost every village either by itself or has facilitated non-governental organizations and the private sector in doing so. The Education Departent is very conscious of the newly eerging needs in this sector such as teacher's training, environental education, curriculu developent, onitoring and evaluation. It has developed a echanis of building partnerships and collaborating with donor agencies and other organizations to develop projects, in order to build its capacity to address the new challenges. The Northern A reas Education Project (NAEP), which pro v i d e s assistance in the developent of new curriculu, training of teachers and a echanis for onitoring & evaluation, is one of the outcoes of this approach. The Education Departent has also worked in collaboration with the Aga Khan Education Services in Field Based Training (FBT) Prograe and IUCN-The World Conservation Union. The Education Departent also places a lot of ephasis on co-curricular activities. Boy scouts and girl guides are officially launched in every tehsil level high school. These provide a platfor to the students to participate in healthy social activities Northern Areas Education Project (NAEP) The Northern A reas Education Project (NAEP) is the British Governent s contribution to the larger, World Bank funded, Northern Education Project (NEP). NEP is in turn, part of the Pakistan Governent s Social Action Prograe (SAP). T h e re are 6 distinct coponents in the project including teachers training, iproving skills of teachers and trainers, upgrading textbooks and teaching aterial, testing and assessent, onitoring and evaluation and counity participation. The NACS-Support Project is working on the first three coponents with NAEP and further discussions will facilitate future collaboration for the rest of the coponents Aga Khan Education Services Pakistan The Aga Khan Education Services (AKES) has set up 124 schools at the priary and iddle level and 2 at the higher secondary level. Its ajor ongoing activities include operating foral schools, coaching centres, teachers training prograes, establishent of a Professional Developent Centre and a Feale Developent Prograe for higher education. It has also established prototype schools in order to enhance the quality of feale education in the Northern Areas. These schools

30 also concentrate on co-curricular and extra-curricular activities in addition to the curricular activities Pakistan Education Council (Al-Mustafa Schools) The Pakistan Education Council has set up a chain of schools called the Al-Mustafa Model schools. There are a total of 1038 students with a staff of 37 teachers Al-Azhar Model Schools The local counity established the Al-Azhar Priary School in June 1990 to eet the needs for an English ediu school in the Northern Areas, which has been upgraded, to higher secondary school. In 1997 a coerce college was also set up under the sae banner Marafi Foundation Pakistan The Marfi faily of Kuwait established the Marafi Foundation under which several p rojects are being operated. The ain projects of the Foundation include establishent of a hostel in Karachi, for students fro NA who intend to pursue their higher education in the city, provision of financial aid to professional students, establishent of vocational schools for woen in Khaplu, and training of idwives, doctors and dispensary staff Religious Schools In the Northern Areas every sect has its own syste of religious education. Soe religious institutions are run independently by Trusts, while others rely on donations. Soe institutions have a centralized syste and unifor syllabus throughout the country. Most significantly, they are present in the reotest areas where even the governent schools have not been set up. Although NACS has been careful in having too close a relationship with these institutions due to the sensitive situation created by counal tensions in the area, representation of these institutions has been ensured on the basis of sectoral interest groups and roundtables. 18 The representation of religious schools in the interest groups is very liited and will not be enough to provide an opportunity to these institutions to play their role as interediaries in fostering awareness about sustainable developent principles. There is a dire need to initiate linkages with religious institutions and the clergy in order to integrate environental concerns into their prograes. This can best be achieved by giving the the understanding that environental essages are not in contradiction with popular Islaic teaching but in fact are reflections of these Teacher Education College of Education, Gilgit The provision of proper training enables teachers to ake their teaching ore effective. For this purpose, the College of Education, Gilgit offers Certificated Teacher (CT) Prograe, Priary Teaching Certificate (PTC) and Bachelors in Education (B.Ed) courses to pre/in-service teachers. Another college was started in

31 1999, for feale teachers in Skardu district, under the Northern Areas Education Project (NAEP). Initially this College provided 8 onths training to senior feale teachers in order to develop the as aster trainers. Now, 24 feale in-service and pre-service teachers have copleted the PTC course. The College is currently being run in a hired building while construction of the capus is underway. The NA Education Departent ay consider replacing the CT and PTC courses with the Diploa in Education course being ipleented by the Punjab University Other Teacher Education Colleges The Aga Khan Education Services (AKES) also arranges training prograes for the teachers of Diaond Jubilee Schools. The Professional Developent Centre (PDC, an extension of the Institute for Educational Developent, (IED, AKU Karachi) is extending short ter training courses to the teachers Non-Foral Education Sector Social Welfare Office Northern Areas The Social Welfare Office is working in the field of adult education in addition to a nuber of other activities. It started an Adult Education Prograe in the Northern Areas in Presently, 2 peranent centres, one for ale and the other for feale are functioning there. Both centres have two teachers each Aga Khan Health Services Pakistan (AKHSP) The Aga Khan Health Services Pakistan, a renowned NGO working in the health sector started working in the Northern Areas in It developed a strong structure of extension workers including Counity Health Workers and Lady Health Visitors (LHV) at the grassroots level. Through these extension workers A K H S P p rootes health education by arranging special sessions at the counity s doorsteps. Further training prograes are being arranged interittently for senior LHVs and Field Directors Prie Minister s Prograe for Faily Planning and Priary Health Care This prograe was launched in 1994 and is presently being ipleented in all 5 districts of the Northern A reas. Its objectives are to address the Priary Healthcare needs of the counities, bring about counity participation, iprove the utilization of health facilities and expand Faily Planning Services. It has a total of 954 Lady Health Workers (LHW) working towards the achieveent of these objectives Language Enhanceent and Achieveent Prograe (LEAP) The Language Enhanceent and Achieveent Prograe (LEAP), a project of AKES provides short-ter training courses with special ephasis on the English language. For these short-ter courses both the Governent and AKES noinate in-service teachers.

32 Naunehal Developent Organization (NDO) The Naunehal Developent Organization (NDO) was established in 1985 to develop Health, Education and Environental Services in the Northern Areas. It provides funds for 6 schools and has established 11 Literacy Centres for the woen of Nagar valley to enhance the literacy rate of woen. Over 600 woen across Nagar are engaged in an adult literacy prograe at these literacy centres Aga Khan Rural Support Prograe (AKRSP) AKRSP works for the social and econoic developent of the counities. It plays a vital role in obilizing the counity at the grass-roots level. One of its achieveents is the obilizing of woen to participate in the social and econoic developent process through woen organizations (WO). The forestry section of AKRSP Baltistan has started Adult Literacy Centres for the woen of Baltistan. These centres provide education to hundreds of woen Arts Councils The Karakora Arts Council, Gilgit Arts Council and other literary circ l e s including Halqai Arbab-e-Zoq Gilgit attract a large nuber of people to stage shows and other entertainent prograes, providing fun and education siultaneously. 20

33 6. THE WAY AHEAD To address environental issues in the Northern Areas and to work towards the sustainable developent of its people and resources it is necessary to have a strategic fraework that outline interventions in this regard. The developent of the NACS is one step in this direction. Environental Education fors an essential part of the NACS as it is now understood that it plays an iportant role in raising awareness and changing people s attitudes towards the environent in addition to providing the with the capacity to take infored decisions. This Background Paper supports the overall sustainable developent initiatives in the NACS through identifying EE activities and interventions. The following ais objectives and roles & responsibilities have been identified for EE Ai To encourage infored participation and environentally responsible behaviour for the sustainable developent of the Northern A reas, by pro o t i n g environental awareness and education Objectives and Strategic Interventions To enhance the role of the foral/non-foral education sector for conservation and sustainable developent: Advocate and support the incorporation of environental aspects into the initiatives of the education sector. Support environental capacity building initiatives of the foral and nonforal education sectors. Support and encourage the education sector to develop follow-up echaniss to assess teachers and their ability in delivering the acquired environental knowledge to the target groups. Support the establishent of environent clubs, boy scouts and girl guides organisations in educational institutions of NA. Support and encourage environental extra/co-curricular activities in the foral and non-foral education sectors. Work with different forus (Arts Councils, literary circles etc) to develop awareness raising prograes with special reference to the environent. 21

34 6.2.2 To incorporate environental aspects and sustainable developent approaches in the curriculu and training prograes: Undertake advocacy with the Curriculu Wing of the Education Directorate under the Northern Area Education Project (NAEP) to ensure the incorporation of environental aspects into the curriculu Encourage and provide assistance to the Curriculu Wing and the private education sector in designing and developing suppleentary aterial for classroo teaching. Support textbook writers to develop EE aterial to be incorporated into the curriculu. Support the incorporation of environental education as a peranent teaching coponent in the College of Education Gilgit Encourage the education colleges to design short/long ter environental courses for pre-service and in service teachers. Support the Education Directorate and the NGOs working in the education sector in the developent of teaching aterial for pre-service and in-service trainee teachers e.g. PTC/CT/FBT/B.Ed. P roote integration of environental education into the curriculu and training p rograes of the private, non-foral sectors and religious institutions To build the capacity of stakeholders for effective ipleentation of the Environental Education Background Paper: Assist and encourage the developent of EE aster trainers in all educational sectors. Sensitise all key actors of the developent process (line agencies, elected bodies, private sector) in order to develop an understanding about environental concerns. Build the capacity of extension networks of line agencies and NGOs for disseination of EE to the grassroots level. Support the developent of linkages between environental and EE initiatives of NACS and other projects such as MACP To encourage and assist in building cross-sectoral linkages with all sector background papers of NACS: Facilitate all NACS background papers to incorporate EE as a cross-cutting thee in order to assist in awareness raising activities Ensure the flow of effective counication between all NACS roundtables and interest groups To ensure incorporation of gender related issues in all sectors of education: Ensure gender sensitivity in developing environental education aterial Ensure participation of woen in NACS fostered forus and in NACS related prograes on environental education.

35 To ensure continuous support and input fro all stakeholders during the forulation and ipleentation of Environental Education Background Paper: Establish and support the Environental Education Roundtable coprising of re p resentatives fro education, edia, NGOs, clerg y, acadeicians, educationists and fro other roundtables to discuss education and awareness raising issues Ensure flow of counication between the Roundtable and all stakeholders Support the developent of a onitoring and evaluation echanis for the Roundtable to ensure the effective ipleentation of the Background Paper. Assist the process of creating ownership for the Roundtable, between Governent and other partners Roles and Responsibilities Northern Areas Adinistration The NACS Support Project is the initiative of the Planning & Developent Departent (P&DD) of the Northern Areas Adinistration (NAA); therefore, the P&DD has a priary role in the process of strategy forulation and ipleentation. The continuous support and co-ordination of NAA will facilitate all relevant key players (line departents, NGOs, private sector etc.) to identify their responsibilities. It would also assist the to coordinate their efforts in the developent of an action plan for ipleentation, in light of the guidelines provided by the Education Background Paper (one of the coponents of NACS). In addition, the NACS Support Project has fostered a foru (Education and Counication Interest Group/Roundtable) to seek input fro stakeholders and to ensure their active participation in the forulation and ipleentation process. The Northern Areas Adinistration s acknowledgeent and support in ters of notification will develop ownership for the Roundtable aong all governental and non-governental agencies Planning and Developent Departent The P&D Departent is leading the strategy forulation and ipleentation p rocess. The responsibility of overall developent planning, financing and onitoring of the developental activities of the Northern Areas rests on the P&D Departent. In this scenario, it has to play a fundaental role in the integration of environental issues in the developent plans through the procedures of project screening and approvals of PC 1, 2, 3, and 4. Siilarly, it can ensure the adoption of the principles of sustainable developent in the projects recoended by the Northern Areas Council. 23 The Environent Section can assist all line departents in coordinating their efforts towards achieving the objective of sustainable developent of the Northern Areas by providing a continuous feedback fro the Education/Counication Roundtables.

36 Departent of Education The Education Departent of the Northern A reas is endeavouring to ipleent the Education Policy of the Governent. The new eerging concepts in developent education are being duly accoodated. The Education Departent has fored partnerships with various international organizations, as a result of which, the Northern Education Project has been launched. Through this p roject a nuber of initiatives including curriculu developent, teachers training and aterial developent have been undertaken. The NACS-Support P roject has extended assistance for the incorporation of environental issues into the pro j e c t. Although, the Education Departent is aware of the iportance of integrating newly eerging concepts in education, it has to work proactively to accoodate the at the policy level. Soe of the initiatives being taken by the Departent are as under: Integration of environental aspects into curriculu The priary class curriculu in the Northern Areas is being redeveloped on an experiental basis under the NAEP project. The Education Departent and the NACS Support Project have jointly arranged training workshops for curriculu developers so that environental education aterial can be incorporated in the curriculu. The task of the Education Departent now is to get this curriculu approved by the Federal Bureau of Curriculu, Islaabad. Another iportant step would be to institutionalise the integration echanis of environental aspects into the entire curriculu developent process. Likewise, another project can be developed to take forward the curriculu redevelopent process to higher secondary classes Integration of environental education in the College of Education The College of Education, Gilgit offers Priary Teachers Certificate (PTC), Certificated Teachers (CT) and Bachelor of Education (B. Ed) courses of one-year duration to pre - service and in-service teachers. Providing specific training in environental education to the instructors would directly benefit the trainees and ultiately their students. The Te a c h e r s Manual (jointly developed by IUCN Pakistan and the College of Education, Gilgit) has been introduced in the College on an experiental basis to facilitate the integration of environent into classroo teaching. The Teachers' Manual needs to be odified in order to ake it ore effective for instructors. Furtherore, a peranent follow up echanis is needed, which can be pursued during the teaching practice of the trainees. This exercise will help in assessing the perforance of the trainees, thus, providing feedback for further iproveents Integration of environental education with Field Based Training(FBT) Prograe About 80 aster trainers are based in all five districts of the Northern Areas who ipart training continuously to the teachers. This prograe is initiated under

37 NAEP; and AKES is collaborating in the training of the aster trainers. The integration of EE into the training prograes of aster trainers will not only facilitate the process of EE transission to the teachers, but will also coplient the parallel efforts in this respect Huan resource developent Since the last two years the Education Departent has initiated the process of developing resource persons within the Departent, in collaboration with NAEP, AKES and NACS-Support Project. These efforts to an extent have overcoe the proble of lack of aster trainers to deliver environental education. However, in the wake of the recently developed curriculu and keeping in view other activities entioned above, ore attention needs to be given to initiatives like Training of Teachers and Instructors of College of Education Gilgit NGOs All NGOs/organizations/projects such as AKES, The British Council and DFID working in the education sector would need to channel their efforts towards the integration of environental issues into their teaching and training prograes. The strength and resources of other organizations ust also be exained before ebarking upon any activity. The Steering Coittee for the Northern Education Project (NEP) can play a very iportant role in consolidating the EE initiatives taken by different organizations. This will help in efficient resource use, by avoiding duplication of activities WWF Pakistan WWF has broadened the scope of its EE activities in Northern A reas through DFID and EC projects. In addition, IUCN Pakistan has sub-contracted the Mountain A re a s Conservancy Project s (MACP) EE coponent to WWF Pakistan for ipleentation EE Interest Group/Roundtable The roundtable (introduced in NCS and SPCS) proved to be a good echanis for greater involveent of stakeholders in the forulation and ipleentation of the s t r a t e g y. Basically this foru works like a think-tank, giving policy level recoendations to governental/non-governental agencies and for conflict resolution. 25 The roundtable can identify, generate and obilize re s o u rces re q u i red to address the gaps/needs of the foral/non-foral education sectors re g a rding enviro n e n t a l education. It can ensure and oversee the integration of thees such as gender, in the p rograes of the education sector. Siilarly, it can onitor activities in order to bring cohesion into the efforts ade by diff e rent organizations towards the p rootion of environental education. More o v e r, counication with other roundtables will create a synergy in the activities. The interest group/roundtable can develop a echanis for onitoring and evaluation during the ipleentation of the Background Paper. This echanis will ensure the incorporation of feedback fro stakeholders and lessons learned into the Paper.

38 However, the effectiveness and recognition of the roundtable in concerned quarters will ainly depend upon the ebers involveent. One of the recoendations is to ake the coposition of the Roundtable coprise of high quality professionals. This is because a professionally developed foru can provide guidance and assistance not only to the foral and non-foral education sectors, but also to all organizations where the need arises. The quality output will also pave the way for the Governent s notification of the roundtable, binding all governental and non-governental organizations to consider the recoendations ade by it Non-Foral Sector The NGOs working in non-foral education sector contribute a lot in raising awareness in the NA. The effect of these efforts can be ultiplied by integrating environental aspects into their prograes. For this purpose the developent of proper linkages between the EE Roundtable and other initiatives and projects working in environental education would be needed, in order to seek professional input Print/Electronic Media As an inforal channel of education the edia would play a pivotal role in the ipleentation of the EE Background Paper. Its role would entail awareness raising, sensitisation and inforation disseination through various prograes such as talk shows and draas Private Sector The private sector, especially the industrial sector, in the Northern Areas is at a NAcent stage as copared to any other part of the country. The integration of environental concerns at this stage would help to prevent the depletion of natural resources and preserve the beauty of the NA fro the expected hazards of econoic activities Local Bodies Local bodies have gained prie iportance at the grassroots level in light of the Governent s devolution plan. These bodies would be responsible for proposing developent projects and therefore, would play an iportant role in ensuring that sustainable developent approaches are adopted in developing new projects Pakistan Ary Education Corps The Pakistan Ary is providing enorous support to the Governent s effort for increasing literacy and increasing the quality of education. It anages several Ary Public Schools in the Northern Areas that cater to hundred of students. Cocurricular activities are an iportant coponent of the education syste in these institutions and there f o re it is essential that environental education is incorporated in these Judiciary Judges have also been identified as potential ipleenters of the NACS particularly with respect to the urban environent. The developent of linkages

39 between the NACS Support Project and judiciary would help in facilitating its ipleentation Conclusion The local counities of the Northern Areas are heavily dependent on natural resources for their livelihood. As such the degradation of the environent is likely to have serious iplications for the. However, there is no quick or easy solution to his proble. It requires coprehensive long ter efforts and siultaneous actions on all fronts. Environental education and awareness raising prograes can play a ajor role in seeking appropriate solutions to environental probles and ensuring infored participation of the people for long-ter change. Keeping this in ind, the objective of the NACS EE Background Paper would be to raise awareness of the people regarding environental issues, build capacity of key stakeholders and develop linkages with on-going initiatives and other background papers. The overall goal is that the ainstreaing of environental issues, capacity building and stakeholders participation should ultiately lead towards the sustainable developent of the Northern Areas. 27

40 IUCN The World Conservation Union IUCN is a world leader in developing knowledge and understanding for effective conservation action. A unique worldwide partnership, IUCN brings together states, governent agencies and NGO ebers, and soe 10,000 scientists and experts fro 181 countries in a global web of networks to provide a neutral foru for dialogue & action on environent & sustainable developent issues. IUCN Pakistan has five prograe offices in cities fro the north to the south, ultiple field offices, a large portfolio of projects and a staff of 250. It is one of the 6 Country Offices of IUCN's Asia Prograe, covering 17 countries with a workforce of nearly 500. Planning & Developent Dept., Northern Areas