Role of HERP

In the heat of the Pakistan sun, Mr. Rahatullah Baig, Ms. Shams un-Nahar, Ms. Shamin Ara, Mr. Nasar Shar and Mr. Ibrahim pause for a photo-stop beside their jeep. They’re on their way back from Murtazaabad, a village in the Hunza valley, deep in the Northern Areas of Pakistan. All five belong in some way to the Hunza Education Resources Project (HERP). At the time this picture was taken, Rahat was the manager of HERP whilst Shams was the Women’s Development Officer. They had all just been to a village school, Al-Murtaza Academy, to watch students perform a play about how the relationships between their families and themselves link to the local environment. The students proudly performed in front of their families, other community members and the HERP project team.

Under the guidance of their teacher Ms. Samina Nasir, students at Al-Murtaza Academy have been learning about a range of environmental issues confronting the growing population of the Hunza Valley. Samina is proud to be a founding member of the HERP Environmental Education Club. She is well known in Murtazaabad as a very dedicated teacher and a hard-working and trusted leader. She organises the HERP Environmental Education Club within the school - engaging in a range of activities aimed at raising awareness of the growing environmental problems facing the area and its communities. Samina has gained in confidence as a result of taking the lead in the environmental activities and she knows a lot about the problems the area faces. As a result of her efforts, her students, their families and many other members of the community have changed their approach to life and taken up new livelihoods. One of these people is Mr. Noor-ud Din.

Noor-ud Din’s son is in Samina’s class. Samina’s way of presenting the environmental concepts through drama, poems, speeches and artwork helped him to understand much more about environmental issues which otherwise seemed complicated and irrelevant to him. He was so moved by the beauty in the students’ performance that he decided to become more actively involved in environmental issues and he has since change d some of his own ways of doing things at home. Because of Samina’s efforts, Noor-ud Din now leads a healthier and cleaner life. He understands that health, hygiene and the environment are all linked. He doesn’t just keep his own house clean either, recently he helped in the organisation of a safe waste disposal site for the community. He’s much more prudent in using water, fuel wood and other resources and he’s planted indigenous fruit plants, which, because of the introduction of exotic species from outside the area, are in danger of being lost.

Until very recently, the Hunza valley was still quite isolated and virtually pollution-free. A combination of improvements in communications, transportation and health services have brought rapid changes to the region. The completion of the construction of the Karakoram Highway in the late 1970s, which connects the valley to China and to Pakistan’s capital, Islamabad, has brought an influx of tourists, trekkers and mountain climbers, all eager to enjoy the awe-inspiring beauty of the some world’s highest mountains. Overall, the growth of the eco-tourism industry has been a blessing for the residents of the Hunza. Employment has gone up and conservation efforts have been taken more seriously, despite the environmental stresses that the development has brought with it. But as the community’s health has improved and mortality rates have dropped, the population has grown unsustainably. Both water and fuel wood are fast disappearing.

The World Conservation Union (IUCN) is involved in developing a Strategy for Sustainable Development(NASSD) of the Northern

AKHSS schools and other private organizations are providing quality of education to students.