Peshawar: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government has notified 11 sites as ‘protected areas’ increasing the total coverage from 10.22 % to 14.91 %, news sources reported. The notified areas include three new national parks, five conservancies and four sites of special scientific interest.
According to official sources, the move will improve protected areas and encourage forest and animal protection. It was also highlighted the administration plans to establish six more national parks in the next months, increasing the province’s protected area coverage to 17% as per the UN Convention on Biological Diversity agreement. Under the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Wildlife and Biodiversity (Protection, Preservation, Conservation, and Management) Act, 2015, the government has designated land in Malakand, Hazara, Peshawar, and Kohat divisions as protected areas.
The three newly designated national parks are as follows:
A national park with an area of 5,236 hectares has been notified as a protected area in the Nizampur, Nowshera
A national park with an area of 19,971.76 acres has been established in the Mansehra district
A national park of 5,455.82 acres has been established in the Mansehra district’s Kamal Ban area
Additionally, the government has designated places as conservancies in Swat, Kalam, Terich Torkhow in Upper Chitral, Kumrat valley in Upper Dir, and Dir Kohistan in Upper Dir. In the districts of Buner, Swat, and Haripur, four sites of particular scientific interest have been recognized.
Nauman Ahmad is an imaginative Pisces whose love for literature and nature is unparalleled. When he's not reading or hiking, he's sleeping and eating, which gives him plenty of energy for his next adventure.
