US Ambassador to Pakistan Richard Olson on Wednesday underscored the United States’ strong commitment to wildlife conservation in Pakistan in his opening remarks at the Wildlife Conservation Day co-hosted by Quaid-i-Azam University. Around eighty students, activists, and government officials watched “Snow Leopard: Beyond the Myth,” a documentary filmed in Pakistan by Nisar Malik. They participated in a panel discussion with wildlife experts to discuss conservation, human-animal conflict, animal trafficking, and solutions to problems faced by wildlife.
Ambassador Olson said, “Wildlife trafficking affects all of us. Protecting wildlife means protecting our planet’s natural beauty for generations to come. But wildlife trafficking is also a national security issue, a public health issue, and an economic issue that is critical to countries and communities worldwide.”
He announced two additional sources of US funding for wildlife conservation in Pakistan. A new USAID funded programme with the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and the Snow Leopard Trust would improve cooperation among Bhutan, India, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Nepal, and Pakistan on snow leopard conservation and climate change adaptation in Asia’s high mountain landscapes. He said that the Ambassador’s fund would focus on wildlife conservation projects in local communities.
United States and Pakistan had a rich history of cooperation on wildlife conservation, including the transfer of an abandoned snow leopard cub from Pakistan to the Bronx Zoo in New York in 2006.
