Community participation in conservation and development

The Interregional Project for Participatory Upland Conservation and Development (GCP/INT/542/ITA) has the overall development objective of promoting the active involvement of local communities in the management and development of upland catchments in accordance with the social, economic and production system re-quirements of the rural communities con-cerned. As such, the project is organized as an umbrella or coordinating mechanism of pilot projects in five countries: Bolivia, Burundi, Nepal, Pakistan and Tunisia. The idea is to use these five projects as outdoor laboratories to make conceptual and tangible progress in people's participation in upland conservation.

The project is funded by the Italian Government and implemented through FAO. The Pakistan pilot project, establish-ed in Mastung District in the subwatershed of Noza in the Kanak valley in 1992, is being implemented in partnership with the Balochistan Forestry and Wildlife Department.