Deepening the ties between Italy and Pakistan and Italy’s love for Pakistan’s mountains

Celina Ali

Islamabad; Since the times bilateral ties between Italy and Pakistan were established, they got only stronger over the years. The mountainous regions in north of Pakistan have benefitted especially from Italy’s continuous support in numerous fields.

Northern parts of the country are blessed with incredibly beautiful topographies, forests, cold deserts, snow-capped mountains, and a rich cultural legacy. However, the region faces challenges in dealing with the threats emerging from climate change. This signifies the role of international community, willing to support this region,and calls for a coping strategy with financial and technical assistance.

In this regard, the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation (AICS) has been of paramount support, with several projects in the region that led to substantial improvementin lives of the people. EvK2CNR, an Italian organization working in Pakistan for more than two decades, has been AICS’implementing partner for many projects in collaboration with the provincial government, local communities and other stakeholders.

The Italian Government’s support has proved to be vital for preserving the fragile environment, helping the vulnerable mountain communities -that capitalize on available natural resources such as agriculture and ecotourism for the improved livelihood-which leads to integrated sustainable development. EvK2CNR continues to realizeAICS’ projects in the northern areas, which are not only aligned with the development goals of the local government,but also in line with the SDGs. These projects are completed by combining research (and capacity building for intrinsic knowledge generation) with community development, and ecological management as fundamental aspect.

The project “Glaciers and Students” is a recent endowment to conserve the vulnerable glaciers ofthe area that are consideredthe third pole for their biggest glacial deposition. Executed by UNDP and implemented by EvK2CNR, this project upholds the legacy of the Italian government to support Pakistan, in particular the mountain communities of north. The overarching goal is to reduce the danger of hydrogeological hazards in Pakistan’s mountainous regions by building a system for assessing and monitoring mountain glaciers based on solid scientific data. Local universities will be actively involved in the project’s monitoring operations. A special training and capacity-building programwill be run for the students to guarantee the project’s long-term viability.

Through GIS-based applications, the knowledge created will be archived and disseminated for scientific reasons, awareness-raising, work planning, and policy-level decision-making. The same techniques will be applied to strengthen regional scientific institutions’ (universities) capacities, ensuring long-term sustainability.

The project seeks to install eight weather stations and create an inventory of Pakistan’s more than 7000 glaciers. One of the most important aspects of the project is the participation of students from several universities, including Karakoram International University and Baltistan University. Since sustainability has been a key priority of the project from the beginning, the Environmental Protection Agency has been onboardsince the inception of the project.

With support of the Italian government, EvK2CNR is committed to carry on its activities for bringing the people of two countries closer and protection of the most fragile glacier and mountain ecosystems in north, as well as uplifting of the local communities by improving their livelihood opportunities.