The member organizations of International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) National Committee rallied in favor of trophy hunting in the country and acclaimed the practice as a policy tool for increasing the populations of threatened species in their natural habitants across countries and regions.
IUCN ‘helps the world find pragmatic solutions to our most pressing environment and development challenges’. The IUCN – Pakistan’s members’ organizations, comprising NGOs as well as government agencies, working for environment and sustainable development during a meeting on Saturday said the trophy hunting must not be confused with illegal poaching. The participants of the meeting elaborated that people who indulge in trophy hunting, sustain and reclaim ecosystems which are both conducive for reproduction and inhabitation by endangered species of animals and birds. The meeting was chaired by Indus Earth’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Shahid Sayeed and those in attendance expressed shock and grief over newspaper reports stating that the senate had decreed a ban of trophy hunting in Pakistan. The activists and their respective organizations also striving towards protection of natural resources, including threatened species, were of the view that the case of the trophy hunting must be explained to the parliamentarians, including senators in a comprehensive and transparent manner with substantive empirical proofs pointing towards its positive externalities. The participants also highlighted that “trophy hunting Programmers “were acknowledged as ‘great successes in the recent World Conservation Congress held in Jeju, South Korea. The congress decreed that “as a result of the trophy hunting programmes there has been a significant increase in a number of the threatened species in their natural habitats.
The national committee was of the opinion that the trophy hunting program had been confused with illegal poaching which is a totally different practice. The IUCN Members’ Committee unanimously decided to approach the senate body with substantive examples of its successes. IUCN Regional Director Asia Aban Marker Kabraji, on the occasion also briefed the members about the population of Vultures in South Asia. She told that 20 years ago the population of vultures in South Asia stood at around 100 million which has declined to approximately 20,000 in 2012. She said that Vultures are one of the fastest declining bird species in the world and added that vultures were nature’s sanitary officers who provide cleaning services free of cost. Aban Marker said that due to absence of vultures there has been a significant rise in diseases like rabies and anthrax in Nepal, Bangladesh, Pakistan and India and rotting carcasses also pollute the ground water.
