Plant Biodiversity, Conservation and Socio economic impact of Jinnah Park

Nowshera, Pakistan

Area Introduction
Nowshera is the name of the district which is combination of two words Now-Sheer means “new

city”. The district lies from 33⁰-41 to 34⁰-10 north latitudes and 71⁰-39 to 72⁰-16 east longitudes.

It is bounded on the east by district Attock of Punjab Province, on the west and to the north-west

side lie districts of Peshawar and Charsadda. On the northern side are the districts Mardan and

Swabi and on the south by Kohat district. The total area of the district is 1,748 squares kilometres.

Physically the district is largely barren with distant range of mountains in the background.

Nowshera is strategically important because it accomdates three big cantonments, one at Nowshera

proper, the second at risalpur and the third one is located at the scenic hills of Cherat. Climatically

district Nowshera is pleasant. The mean maximum temperature is 29.6 and minimum is 14.6 and

the annual precipitation is 597.6 milimeters while the relative humidity is 60.1 recorded. The rivers

in the district are Kabul river and Indus river and the chief stream is the Chipla Khwar. The distict

existing four famous parks, Manglod National Park, Botanical Garden Universiyt of Peshawar Aza

Khel, National Park Khairabad (Kund) and Jinnah Park Nowshera. Jinnah Park is rich in

Biodiversity which is providing ecotorism services and it is also help in socioeconomic uplift of

the residents of the area.

Justification
Previously no research has been carried out on Plant Biodiversity, Conservation and Socio

economic impact of Jinnah Park Nowshera. Therefore the present research is formulated to study

the Plant Biodiversity, Conservation and Socio economic impact of Jinnah Park Nowshera.
Objectives
1) To prepare a checklist of plant species growing in Jinnah Park Nowshera.

2) To carry out utilitarian studies of plant species in Jinnah Park Nowshera.

3) To assess conservation status of the plant biodiversity of Jinnah Park Nowshera.

4) To study and quantify socioeconomic impact of Jinnah Park Nowshera.

Human-driven land-use and climatic changes are perhaps the greatest threats to terrestrial

biodiversity ( Millinnium Ecosystem Assessment , 2005a; IPCC, 2007).

In spite of their significant contribution in national economy, the forest resources of Pakistan are
under severe threat of deforestation due to various reasons and are declining at an alarming rate
of 1.5% annually (Khan & Khan, 2009).
In every religion, there are some sacred places for which care is taken, sanctity given and kept
out from external disturbances. The Muslim graveyards are one of such places. The soil of
graveyards is fertile due to the decomposition of human bodies. The places are undisturbed as a
result; plant can grow at their will. The management and growing types of plants depends upon
the socio-economic pattern of the area (Rahman et al., 20070.
Since time immemorial there has been a strong bond among language, religion and knowledge
diversity and the biodiversity. This is an era of globalization and hitherto diminishing of
biodiversity and cultural diversity has lead scientists to ponder over and explore the phenomenon
of human relationship with environment (Harmon, 2002; Ahmad et al., 2008).
Biological diversity (BD) is the total number of organisms and germplasm present on the globe.
Presence of diverse indigenous cultures in an area is paramount for sustainably flourishing of
biodiversity on the globe and this is termed as cultural diversity (CD). BD is presence of all sorts
of life on land and hitherto more than 1.75 million species of plants, animals, bacteria, fungi and
other microbes have been reported. Biodiversity is not an object to be conserved but an integral
part of human existence, in which utilization is part of the celebration of life (Posey, 1999). In
the biodiversity, plants play pivotal role in establishment and sustainability of different
ecosystems. Cultural diversity (CD) has diverse definitions in the past and its origin connects
back with ancient times. The word “Culture” is Latin of origin and comes from “colelere” with
meaning of “care” or “look after” in term of agriculture. Pakistan is rich in plant resources
particularly the medicinal plants and many plants are directly or indirectly used in medicaments
and other daily life subsistence (Ishtiaq et al., 2007a; Ali et. al. 2001).
Native plants are key components of the global biodiversity, these plants are an integral part of
our
ecosystem in which they are facing multiple threats i.e. habitat loss and degradation, introduction
of alien species, pollution and diseases, over-exploitation and climate change (Khan et al., 2012);
Khan et al., 2013a). Plant biodiversity is also under tremendous pressure due to its population
explosion, unplanned urbanization, deforestation and over-exploitation of natural resources.
Unfortunately, very little work has been done on threatened plants of Pakistan and extremely
limited information is available on this subject (Khan, 2013).

Sher et al. (2014) demonstrated that MAPs cultivation could bring significant economic and
socio-economic benefits to inhabitants of district Swat in Pakistan.
Invasive alien organisms form one of the greatest threats to the region’s terrestrial biodiversity
(Richardson et al., 1997; Rouget et al., 2003a), and enormous expense is required to reverse this
trend (Frazee et al., 2003; Pence et al., 2003).
far greater area needs to be protected from existing threats if successful conservation of
biodiversity patterns and processes are to be achieved (Cowling et al., 2003).
This artificial landscape is loved by human residents and visitors from abroad. Many highly
valued species require disturbance, and leaving habitats unmanaged to allow natural succession
often results in dramatic loss of these species (Thomas 1991).