Research & Reviews: Journal of Zoological Sciences
Menue-ISSN: 2321-6190 p-ISSN: 2347-2294
e-ISSN: 2321-6190 p-ISSN: 2347-2294
Ahmad Zamirr, Arz Muhammad Umrani*, Muhammad Sajawal
Department of Zoology, University of Peshawar, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan
Received: 07-Nov-2022, Manuscript No. JZS-22-79222; Editor assigned: 10-Nov-2022, PreQC No. JZS-22-79222 (PQ); Reviewed: 24-Nov-2022, QC No. JZS-22-79222; Revised: 27-Jan-2023, Manuscript No. JZS-22-79222 (R); Published: 06-Feb-2023, DOI: 10.4172/2321-6190.11.1.002
Citation: Umrani AM, et al. Significance of the Balochistan (Wildlife Protection, Preservation, Conservation, and its Management) Act, 2014. RRJ Zool Sci. 2023;11:002.
Copyright: © 2023 Umrani AM, et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
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The purpose of this paper is to study the significance of Balochistan wildlife protection preservation conservation and management 2014. The province of Balochistan has rich biodiversity and natural heritage, especially wildlife that has unfortunately been degrading and depleting, mainly due to human activities. The department is mandated to implement, seek compliance and enforce the relevant provisions of this Act. It is a very detailed act for the conservation and management of the province’s wildlife. It was passed in March 2014. It has 96 articles and five schedules. It gives a short title, preamble, definitions, guiding principles, administration, preliminary protection of wild animals, hunting of game animals, possession and display of wild animals, wildlife trade and traffic, protected areas, ex-situ conservation, Multinational Environmental Agreements (MEAs), community participation, powers of the government and officers, indemnity removal of difficulties and punishment for offenses under the act, miscellaneous duties, trial of offence cases, penalties and punishment, repeals and savings there are five schedules to the act, game animals, lawful possession of wild animals, protected animals, ramsar sites in balochistan, penalties, and punishment.
Wildlife act; Multi-national environmental agreements; Game animals; protected animals; Ramsar sites; Penalties
Balochistan province is bordered by Afghanistan to the north and north-west, Iran to the south-west, the Arabian Sea to the south, Punjab and Sindh to the east, and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and federally administered tribal areas to the north-east. Quetta is the capital and largest city of Balochistan. By virtue of its large area, sparse human population, and diverse landscape, Balochistan province has the potential of wildernesses for diverse flora and fauna. The diverse climatic zones have contributed to a set of ecological zones resulting in unique faunal and floral biodiversity [1].
Arshad, et al., Azam, Balochistan forest and wildlife department, Begum, et al., Ghalib, et al., Ghalib and Hasnain, Gore, et al., Groombridge, Grimmett, et al., Iffat, Government of Balochistan and IUCN-Pakistan are some of the organizations that have previously studied the wildlife of Balochistan. The Balochistan forests and wildlife Department, at present, is managing notified one (01) biosphere reserves, three (03) national parks, fourteen (14) wildlife sanctuaries, eight (08) game reserves, five (05) RAMSAR sites, four (04) community game reserves, one (01) co-management area (Takatu state forest and Zawar Kan game reserve), one (01) Marine Protected Area (Astola MPA). important bird species of Balochistan are Houbara bustard, golden eagle, cranes sp, falcon (covers a big range of species), chucker partridge/rock partridge, finches, see-see partridge, magpie, black partridge. A variety of water fowls, grey partridge important reptiles of Balochistan, Turkistan rock gecko uncommon), reticulate desert lacerta (uncommon and endemic), sharp tailed spider gecko (rare and endemic), caspian desert lacerta (rare), lumsdeni gecko (very rare and endemic), chagai desert lacerta (Endemic), whip-tailed sand gecko (endemic), dark headed dwarf racer (rare), baloch spiny tailed lizard (rare), Tartary sand boa (rare), mountain dwarf gecko (rare), spotted desert racer (rare), short toed sand swimmer (extremely rare), dark headed gamma snake (rare), eastern dwarf skink (rare), maynard’s awl headed snake (rare and endemic), Indian desert monitor (endangered), important wild mammals of balochistan Suleiman markhor, wild cat, chiltan markhor (wild goat), common leopard, sindh ibex Asiatic jackal, afghan urial, hyena, chinkara gazelle, wolf, black bear, honey badger, etc [2].
The act has 16 chapters and 96 sections in all. I. preliminary; II. Administration; III. Preliminary wild animal protection; IV-game animal hunting; V-wildlife commerce and traffic; VI-wildlife possession and display; region VII-protected; Ex situ conservation, or X-community participation; IX-Multilateral Environmental Accords (MEAs); XI-government and officer powers; XII-immunity and the elimination of difficulty; XIII-other obligations; XIV-offense case trials; XV-sanctions and penalties; XVI-repeals and cost savings [3].
The government will create the Balochistan council for wildlife protection. Schedule list III's of wild creatures must be preserved. Except where clearly stated otherwise, these wild creatures may not be hunted, killed, caught, captured, exchanged, possessed, or kept as pets. In a strict nature reserve, wildlife sanctuary, national park, natural heritage site, and the core zone of a biosphere reserve, it is illegal to hunt, trap, or capture game animals. With a valid license or permission and subject to certain conditions, one may hunt a game animal. According to this Act, permits and other requirements are required for the import and export of wild animals [4].
The government may also limit or forbid the import, export, possession, and trade of wild animals and flora, as well as their components, by products, and derivatives, as specified in the CITES and Convention on Migratory Species of wild animals numerous appendices (CMS). It is forbidden to propagate invasive and foreign wild plant species as well as Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) or to breed invasive and alien wild animal species in captivity (Figure 1).
Figure 1: Wildlife of Balochistan.
The act also establishes rules for, among other things: The designation, management, and planning of protected areas; community game reserves and forest biodiversity reserves; the implementation of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the World Cultural and natural heritage convention (WHC), and the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD); local community participation; financial incentives and benefit sharing; and offences and penalties [5-11].
The principles of this act are to adopts modern concepts in implementing the environmental laws in Pakistan protection, preservation, promotion, conservation, management and sustainable development of wild animals as key component of biological diversity with due recognition of their social, cultural, economic and ecological significance for the present and future generations; promotion of social, economic, cultural and ecological wellbeing of local communities involved in conservation of wild animals and their habitats in conformity with the concerns of international community conformation of role and obligations of Government and concessions, rights and obligations of local communities strengthening the administration of the organization to effectively manage wildlife species and their habitats in pursuit of these guiding principles securing appropriately the goods and services produced from wildlife species and their habitats at the level of local communities and Province while continually improving the productivity of wildlife habitats fulfilling the obligations envisaged under the biodiversity related multilateral environmental agreements ratified by the Government of Pakistan promotion of public awareness and capacity building for proper appreciation of the environmental significance and socio-economic values of wildlife conservation of biological diversity and realization of its intrinsic and extrinsic values through sustainable use and community participation; and empowerment of community, community based organizations and nongovernmental organizations for conservation of biological diversity and their participation in its management for sustainable use. The department shall perform the following functions to achieve the objectives of this act assist the government in formulation of enabling policy, legislation and rules for conservation, sustainable management and development of biodiversity, especially wildlife and protected areas implement the wildlife, biodiversity and protected areas policy and enforce and seek compliance of this act, rules and regulations establish and manage protected areas in various management categories as provided for managing wildlife parks, captive breeding facilities, aviaries, zoological gardens, zoological museums, environmental education centers, rescue centers and any other facility under and for the purposes of this act improve and maintain the conservation status of resident and migratory species of wild fauna with in-situ and ex-situ conservation measures undertake or promote captive breeding of native wild animals which are endangered, endemic and rare, and which are threatened due to local and international trade, and other factors serve as technical and focal department for the government for the matters relating to biodiversity, especially wildlife, and protected areas undertake field surveys and inventory of wild animals; generate, manage, update and use wildlife data; and prepare state of the art reports for the government undertake conservation of protected areas, and of the measures needed for their protection and conservation action and awareness raising of importance of and protected areas development implement and monitor plans, programmers and projects, including management plans of protected areas, and species management and recovery plans implement the biodiversity related Multi lateral Environmental Agreements (MEAs) and programmed on behalf of the government of Pakistan develop human and other resources for promotion and sustainable management maintain and promote cooperation and collaboration with the wildlife, biodiversity and protected areas related national and international organizations operating in or permitted to operate in Pakistan by the government of Pakistan coordinate with the federal and other provincial governments for obtaining their support in conservation and management of wildlife; and promote collaboration with civil society organizations, and support the wildlife [12,13].
It is concluded that the province of Balochistan has a rich variety of wildlife. The Balochistan wildlife department has recently taken up prompt action to control the cases of illegal capture and the transportation of wildlife through Balochistan. Moreover, the government of Balochistan has also constituted a committee for the conservation of wildlife in Takatu, Chiltan Hazarganji and Hingol national parks. These are commendable wildlife conservation efforts. Balochistan is rich in biodiversity and huge number of species is present here, that’s why considered as the traditional zone between the oriental and palaearctic zoogeographical regions. Furthermore, from thousands of years people of Balochistan is supported by a variety of biological diversity. It has a natural habitat for a variety of unique flora and fauna. In this province, beautiful scenic places offers home to various idiosyncratic species of the world that’s why biodiversity of the province needs proper protection and conservation and this can be only possible by the cooperation of all organizations either private or governmental along with the participation of local community. Awareness is the key step towards sustainable use of biological resources. Since, Pakistan has ratified the convention on conservation of migratory species of wild animal, 1979, and is therefore, has to take steps in accordance with provisions of the said convention. The items in relation to the convention which requires legislation include protection of national parks, prohibition and regulation of hunting, fishing and fisheries, wild animals and birds, forests, wetlands, protection of rangelands and rivers. Pakistan is bound by the provisions of the Biological Diversity Convention (CBD) since its ratification in 1994.
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