Speaking at a webinar, the experts urged for an inclusive and integrated winter sports strategy to attract tourism towards northern Pakistan.
The said the environment and climate change shall remain the main concern while devising any sports events for the winter season. Unplanned massive interventions are becoming hazards to the local environment and communities besides the biological diversity loss. They also showed their concerns on the unwise decisions of the Gilgit-Baltistan government to open Deosai National Park for the winter sports from March this year. They said millions of dollars have been spent on the conservation and protection of the wildlife habitats and biological diversity in the Deosai National Park that are being put on risk. The participants urged the Supreme Court of Pakistan, national and international development organizations to take notice of it.
The webinar was organized by the Development Communications Network (Devcom-Pakistan) and DTN to brainstorm on “Winter Sports – Scope, Opportunities and Challenges” on Sunday. The panelists included National Tourism Coordination Board (NTCB) member and sustainable tourism expert Aftab ur Rehman Rana, National Tourism Coordination Board convener on adventure sports Shahid Nadeem, WWf-Pakistan Senior Director Wildlife Rab Nawaz, another WWFS-Pakistan Senior Director Tahir Rasheed, EvK2CR Environment Conservation Expert Arif Hussain, Devcom-Pakistan Executive Director Munir Ahmed. Others who spoke on the occasion included RCCI travel and tourism expert Fouzia Qazi, The Adventure Club president Tahir Imran Khan, journalist Zubair Ayub, development experts Umme Kulsoom and Sabeena Hena Iqbal, Baltistan Association of Tour Operators (BATO) chairman Muhammad Iqbal, and Lion Sarfaraz Malik.
Aftab ur Rehman Rana said we have seen mushroom growth of winter sports in recent years without any planning and strategy. No one is really interested in taking care of nature, biodiversity and wildlife. Winter is the rest-time for nature and wildlife that descends from their original habitats but found no space for mating and hibernation downwards. Excessive winter sports are hazardous to nature and an undue pressure on the forest resources. Winter resorts meant for adventure sports are being shut worldwide to reduce pressure on nature and climatic conditions. We are unwisely supporting everything blindly.
