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April 27, 2014: The screening of ‘Deosai – the Last Sanctuary,’ a documentary film on the Himalayan Brown Bear and to cover the launching ceremony of ‘The Give Back Project,’ jointly organised by the US Embassy in Islamabad and Walkabout Films was held at National Art Gallery on Friday.
US Ambassador Richard Olson inaugurated the ceremony along with Pakistani natural history filmmaker Nisar Malik. In celebration of Earth Day 2014, Walkabout Films’ documentary, ‘Deosai – The Last Sanctuary’ about endangered Himalayan brown bears living on the Deosai plateau.
The US Embassy’s Ambassador’s Fund provided support for this project. The ‘Give Back Project’ works to improve the impact of nature and wildlife conservation initiatives by engaging with and educating local communities, as well as the wider public, through films focused on these issues. The audience included many high dignitaries from USAID, other international development partners, donors, tourism industry stakeholders and school children.
The screening of ‘Deosai – the Last Sanctuary’ was followed by a panel discussion with Pakistani wildlife experts discussing wildlife conservation as well as human-animal conflict and its solutions. As the title of the 40 minutes suggests, the brown bear is one of the endangered species living in Deosai National Park and their numbers have been decreasing every year. Currently there are about 42-45 only. This is happening because of the increasing tourists, livestock shepherds and lack of funds.
>During the panel discussion, it was mentioned that the Tourists numbers have increased in last few years due to increased accessibility of Deosai. The tourists leave back trash, which is harmful for the environment. It was suggested that tourists should be asked to avoid leaving waste in the beautiful valleys. It was also observed that livestock shepherds commonly known as ‘Gujjars’ come to these valleys along-with their herds and families. They burn the bushes, which are highly rare and a food source for endangered brown bears. The sheep/goats also graze the plants, which are again the main food. Due to lack of funds, the local communities have limited manpower to monitor unlawful activities. This should also improve and donors should come up and contribute with some funds.
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