Islamabad – The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations held an inception workshop for formulation of the Global Environment Facility funded “Range and livestock management” project, Punjab. The workshop was arranged in collaboration with the Ministry of Climate Change, Forest and Wildlife and Fisheries Department Punjab. The workshop was attended by key representatives from the government including forest and livestock department Punjab, National Agriculture Research Council (NARC) and FAO.
The objective of the workshop was to finalize the project areas, discuss and validate the proposed interventions and their targets.
Rangelands are major land use, which accounts for more than 60 percent area of Pakistan This is a resource that is providing livelihood to millions of poor people besides fulfilling their food security and nutritional requirements. The rangelands besides a major source of fodder also perform some key functions and services, which benefit the whole country. Unfortunately, rangelands have been degraded and the estimated current productivity in the majority of rangelands is around 30-40 percent of its potential. To restore the rangeland productivity, the Ministry of Climate Change, Provincial Forests Department with the technical support of FAO is formulating a GEF (Global Environment Fund) project, which will bring significant changes both the conservation and management of the range resources but will improve the local livelihoods. The project will be operative in three districts of Punjab, Attock, Chakwal, and Jehlum.

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