By Fazal Amin Beg
Introduction
It was back in june 2009 that Karakoram Area Development Organization (KADO), a distinguished regional civil society organization in the Northern Pakistan, requested me to write a concept paper for it on the emerging global theme of climate change issues contextually within Hunza valley and KADO’s area of intervention. Consequently, in a month’s period, after going thorugh various secondary sources and conceptual debates at internatioinal scales, on the one hand; and particularly getting data from the primary sources as well as based on my earlier fieldwork, on the other, I wrote a detailed concept paper for KADO (included more than 25 pages).
Here I’m going to share some key features of that study on this official website of mine. Hope the respective readers and stakeholders will get interst in it and will also provide their important reflections on the subject matter. It emphatically invites KADO’s management and Board of Directors as well as other concerned civil society organizations functional in the area to seriously reflect on their related interventions that what they could do or not do in almost a decades long period so far and look for more effective planning and implementation on the ground. on climate change issues in Hunza valley and/or its other geographical areas of interventions.
Climate change effects and physical environment of Hunza Valley
When we say that climate change is a global issue and not local or regional, then the mountain regions/highlands as a whole are of a particular significance. The mountain regions are metaphorically the oceans of snow, icescapes and permafrost and the gigantic treasures of water, that change their solidified forms as water and travel gradually through the rivers’ tributaries to the rivers and reach to their final destinations: the great seas and oceans.
Being a mountainous region enriched by and inherited with more than 60 long and medium size glaciers and nurtured by variety of biodiversities, the Hunza Valley (both Hunza & Nagar) in the Karakoram mountains are of no exception to escape the environmental risks, shift and crisis as the inhabitants have already been observing and experiencing severe and harsh weather conditions especially for the last three decades. It is significant to note that before the construction of the link-road upto Hunza (before 1957/58), Hunza had a totally different ecological phenomenon.
During the winter, there used to be a huge snowfall and the natives engaged with lightening their roofs in cleaning and dropping the snows. There used to be a high stock of snow in front or back of the houses. When the strong wind of the region was blowing, the snow covered the high walls of houses and terraces (fields). The water channels of the villages and rivers were iced thickly. For fetching water or giving water to the livestock, a person used to crack and break the water channel or the river hitting it with the help of strng stones. But presently, we don’t evidence such sort of phenomena.
Glaciers retreated and forwarded time and again in its history. Verzhrav Lake of Shimshal has had its awesome effects on the peoples’ minds. This lake (Verzhrav) of Shimshal did not destroy the local areas when it burst, but rather washed away parts of the settlements in the downstream and reached the Indus River.
In one of the historical accounts, as some respondents narrate, once the Hunza River blocked between Ayeenabad (Shishkat) and Sart in the second half of 1850s (more than 150 years ago) and formed a long lake of more than 30 km that went back to Sarmushk (a place near Khyber). At that time, Shishkat was not settled rather was a pasturage of Gulmit, the second capital of the former princely state. Half of the settlements of Gulmit drowned. The grave of Mir Silum Khan-III (died in 1824)—the first Shia Ismaili Mir of Hunza—was dug and his skeleton was taken up to the Ondra Fort (a small plateau-like place). The old settlement of Passu on the riverbed was washed away.
The Glacial Lake Outburst Flows (GLOFs) are being witnessed in recent years: GLOFs of Passsu glacier outburst in the winter season, and the GLOF of Ghulkin-Hussain glacier of 2008 are before us that destroyed parts of the settlements, though luckily no human loss came up because of timely anticipation. So, these are the climate change effects we are witnessing presently at least in the context of Hunza.
Hunza Valley before opening of the road-infrastructures
The inhabitants of Hunza valley were not aware of the name and types of vehicles and road-infrastructures rather travelled on-foot and on horses’ and yaks’ back. There were no fossil-fuels (gasoline/petrol, diesel, kerosene, natural gases) for combustion (which could emit GHGs) rather subsisted on lightening straws (at night) and burnt the fire-woods, and in the later phase using an plant-oil, called chirogh-e-tel, for lighting purpose at night . There was no awareness of any alternative toilette system besides their traditional ones which could produce manure for the crops. There was little literacy with few schools [a primary by the British Indian, and few Diamond Jubilee by the Aga Khan III] and no radio (except only one with the Mir of Hunza). There were no adequate iron agricultural tools, but few were made by the black smiths. Some iron tools of security (spears, spurs, swords and Russian guns were available, though not with all, rather with the martial-like peoples and hunters of the wildlife. There was no plastic materials like plastic bags etc rather thread-bags brought by Chinese caravans and bought by the well-off locals. There were few glass-utensils and instead wooden utensils were produced by the skilled persons. There were no modern/factory-made shoes of plastic, canvas, leather or others rather some native experts could make leathered long and semi-long shoes. There were no cash income and cash-businesses, rather barter-system within and out of Hunza; and almost all people were unaware of any money-notes, and few of would had seen the coins. There was little population and a small number of natural forest depletion (deforestation) especially at the alpine levels. There was a cold climate and no significant level of yields of crops esp. at the high altitude regions, which led to extreme level of poverty; but the natives were compliance and silent tax-givers to the princely state which further aggravated the poverty. There was politically a chiefdom system ruled by the chief at the top level assisted by his key-advisor called wazir and the headmen called arbob at the villages’ level and wuyum at the clan/tribe-level, and tax-collectors called trangpa [this politically hierarchy ran till the abolition of the state in 1974].
There were strong kinship bondages and support to each other and no disintegration as seen these days. There was abundance of biodiversities and a high conflict between the humans and the wildlife (predators notably snow-leopards, wolves and foxes) over hunting ibexes, blue sheep and others. In consequence, the predators took revenges in hunting and eating the livestock of the natives. There was no health facilities in the chiefdoms (both Hunza and Nagar) and peoples were dependent on the spiritual approach of healings through those religiously notables, shamans and visiting the shrines. On the other hand, there were very few wise and experienced notables who could give the patients scientific medication/healing in some fields . Thus, the rates of fertility, birth and mortality were high. There was no clean drinking-water system despite the fact there were springs (though the purity of this water could not be warranted or guaranteed) but away from the villages and the natives drank and used for food the muddy glaciers’ water [till the 1980s]. There was telephone system in place, established in 1912 during the British Indian period, at Mir’s houses in Baltit/Karimabad and Gulmit; and then, of course, in Misgar, having the borders’ significance (now replaced by Sost after construction of the KKH via Khunzhav).
Imagine what type of natural and cultural environments could it be at that time?
Hunza Valley after opening of the road-infrastructures
After the jeep-able link-road to Hunza (after 1957/8 & 1962) and more particularly the construction and opening of the Karakoram Highway (opened to the local community in 1970), the peoples started learning about different types of vehicles and related machines, saw the combustion of the fossil-fuels, effective tools of digging and cutting, land-leveling, and the like. The capable and cash-driven inhabitants of the valley—after abolition of the chiefdom in 1974 and formal opening of the KKH in 1978—started supplementing their traditional livelihoods’ approach (agro-pastoral) in buying vehicles such as jeeps, tractors (along with threshing and plowing machines), vans, buses, small lorries, and in the present context specially the non-customs paid (NCP) vehicles. Currently, the peoples of the valley alone have in an estimate more or less 2,000 vehicles that run mostly on diesels and then petrol. Besides the local communities, hundreds of different kinds of vehicles (large and small) do ply daily over on the Sino-Pak Friendship Highway (KKH) by emitting a large amount of greenhouse gases in the Earth’s atmosphere.
There is no doubt that the road-construction (KKH) broke the ice of old isolation of valley (the former princely states), but among other emerging negative impacts, the road-links also contributed to the intensified deforestation of the region—paving the way to intensify the peoples desires and greed through transportation of woods. Thus, a sizeable number of the local community members not only met their excessive need, but rather also furthered their greed in selling out the timbers within and out of the villages and the region. At present, we can see that the mountains have become bared which were once full of plants/trees of junipers, birches, willows and others, besides a dense occupation of the herbs and shrubs.
Before the intervention of the Aga Khan Rural Support Program (AKRSP), United Nations Development Program (UNDP) intervened in the valley by introducing potato-seeds to the farmers. The AKRSP intervened in development of the valley in 1983; and the natural resources management (NRM) was one of the key sectors of development. Although, AKRSP gave awareness campaign on natural resources preservation, but focused more on the management side down to the villages’ irrigation channels. However, it is noteworthy that the AKRSP enabled the environment for the World Conservation Union (IUCN) and in the first half of 1990s, the IUCN helped the local community of Gojal (Upper Hunza)—consisting of more than 80% of the total territorial occupation of Hunza—in conserving the biodiversities of the region above the irrigation channels of the villages. Within a decade, the IUCN—besides World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), which had its intervention in one village (Ghulkin) of Gojal—succeeded, apart from the village of Shishkat, in meeting greater number of its mandates.
Although, peoples of all walks of life and all organizations working for the development have their utmost stake in the environment, but it may be not be possible to talk about all those in this short paper. Among the AKDN agencies—besides AKRSP—, the roles and function of the Aga Khan Planning and Building Service (AKPBS) and Aga Khan Cultural Service (AKCSP) have are significant that contributed in conserving some facets of the cultural and natural environment of the region. Significant to note is the fuel-efficient stoves (FES) introduced by the Building and Construction Improvement Program (BACIP) and Water Extension Improvement Program within the AKPBS.
The second half of 1980s and the decade of 1990 could be termed as local organizational initiatives for the societal development in Hunza. Establishment of the English medium schools under their legal entities (Educational & Welfare Societies) and cultural forums within the social welfare act seem prominent in this period. For example, more than 17 English medium schools in the entire Hunza; and the Wakhi Tajik Cultural Association (WTCA). In the second half of the 1990s, besides Baltit Heritage Trust (BHT), local initiatives for development come in the scene in the shape of Handicraft Development Society (KHDS), later on the scope of function broadened along with the Karimabad Handicrafts Development Program (KHDP) and Karimabad Handicrafts Development Program (within AKCSP) were brought under the umbrella of Karakoram Area Development Organization (KADO) in 1998, which has its multidimensional development approach which links both the past (traditions) with the present and future needs of the peoples, especially the marginalized ones. Evidences could be seen in line with rug-weaving center (involvement, and capacity and competency enhancement of the special persons), carpet centers, handicrafts centers and marketing of all those products. Besides, in the modern perspective, establishment of the Information and Communication Technology for Development (ICT4D) as for the first time in the Northern Areas any local civil society organization initiated and launched the Internet Service Provider (ISP). Besides, KADO also established the computer centers. But above all these development projects of KADO is the formation of the Hunza Environmental Committee, which is sensitive towards the physical environment and is engaged with the management of the Solid Wastes in Central Hunza (<10% of the total geographical area of Hunza).
Let’s now revert to the IUCN’s Mountain Area Conservation Project (MACP) working in Upper Hunza to see further developments in the field. After a decade’s work, the project came to the end and the organizational and conservational development programs had to to be sustained. In this regard, formation of a regional umbrella organization was imperative. Therefore, a legal entity for conservation of the natural resources was brought into existence with the name of “Gojal Conservation and Development Association (GCDA) in 2006, in which all umbrella village development organizations, except for Shishkat, are members and form GCDA’s general body. Each umbrella village development organization (UVDO) nominates one member to the general body of the GCDA and general body members then elect/select their office bearers as chairman, vice chairman, general secretary and the like.
Since its inception, GCDA is engaged with its missions of broader conservation objectives. Representatives of this civil society organization (CSO) has been organizing programs on the occasion of the Environment Day, Water Day and other related programs, besides attending meetings, conferences and workshops in collaboration with Ministry of Environment (MOE), IUCN and other related organizations such as Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Forest Department, Northern Areas Administration (NAA) and the like in the Northern Areas (NAs).
Another important development in the regional context of Hunza valley is the formation of Local Support Organizations. Since 2005, the AKRSP initiated to establish the LSOs in the entire Northern Areas and Chitral (NAC) in order to play its effective role in development as a legal entity and intermediary between the village-based Village and Women Organizations (VWOs) along with their umbrella organizations (within a radius of union council); and that LSOs should work like mini-AKRSPs with a professional approach in bringing funding to their respective regions. Therefore, Hunza valley also saw the development of LSOs as the sub-regional and legal entities to cope with the emerging issues in their localities.
Identified and emerging Climate Change Issues in the Hunza Valley
On the basis of the above analysis, the following key findings and issues, for the time being, emerge vis-à-vis the environments and the climate change.
1. Peoples’ interactions in the valley after the road-linkages and infrastructures have not only increased but rather intensified at the local, regional and international levels. These intensified interactions accompanied with them intensifying environmental issues, both at the levels of physical and cultural environments.
2. After opening of the region, after the road-infrastructures in place, the rich natural forests of the valley were depleted. So, such worse phenomenon would lead to extinction of the natural carbon-sinks of the region, as it is being reported that on the high altitudes, above pasturelands, trees previously used for timber and fuels-woods have become unavailable.
3. After opening of the road-infrastructures, conservatively hundreds (if not in thousand) of vehicles of different sizes and types run within and through the valley to and from China leaving behind and in the air the greenhouses gases.
4. Different types of machines are involved in the expansion of the KKH within the valley that surely emit CO2 and other gases, if run on the fossil fuels.
5. Fuel-woods problem have come up in the region because of humans’ excessive usage (greed); thus, depleting the natural forests, and people now depend on their self-made forests. In addition, liquefied compressed gases (LCG) along with coals imported from China and mined within the valley are also in use and the latter has its own drawbacks regarding the environment.
a. Because of humans’ excessive economic desire, risks are being felt that the minerals of the valley would intensely be exploited like deforestation experience before us. Concrete examples coal mining could be found as it was being mined the Chipursan. This could also hold true to other areas in Hunza valley, too). We need to realize the coal has its worst and highest share in emitting the CO2 in the air leading to intense increase in the atmospheric greenhouse concentrations.
6. Because of population growth and small amount of landholdings (esp. fertile/cultivable) in the valley, peoples are forced to look for the alternative options. These include out-migration from their villages or valley , venturing for diverse enterprises/businesses; entering in employment sector and the like. This is good, but when they go to the new cultural environment, the entrants and the natives encounter right-based issues in different walks of life.
7. Instead of raising the livestock on professional and modern patterns and with a spirit of evergreen business perspective, a shift is seen in the cultural environment of the valley especially in the case of majority peoples of Gojal who tend to keep their livestock symbolically; and for the transhumance, their livestock are given to the people of Nagar.
8. After introduction of external seed-potatoes and chemical fertilizers by the UNDP, AKRSP and other agencies, the production in qualitative term increased most significantly and peoples had an adequate economic benefits out of potato enterprise. But the negative picture could be seen in terms of huge amount of usage of chemical fertilizers, especially those possessing nitrogen component (abandoning the livestock by many peoples that produced manures) has contributed to the water and soil pollutions. Thus, a trend is found among most of the peoples of the valley that they don’t rotate their lands (i.e, shift the crops) and consequently the soil has reportedly got diseases. Second, the traditional crops have also been lessened or abandoned as are the cases of faba-beans , which is also termed by some as buckwheat (baqla), barley, peas and even wheat.
9. There are still a considerable amount of barren-lands in the valley, especially in Gojal, but they require to be greened and there is no or lack of financial resources or otherwise to venture on the green-campaign and green-enterprise.
10. There is no scientific forum of the professionals of natural and social sciences plus other relevant discipline of knowledge at the entire Hunza and valley levels so that to oversee and evaluate the environmental degradation objectively and professionally.
11. It seems that there’s less or no specific or integrated environmental study on the entire Hunza and valley levels, which could pave the way for an adequate integrated environmental development program.
Conclusion and Recommendations
Conclusions
The bottom-line of this situations’ analysis ( situations before and after the road-communication system) is that when there was no road-infrastructures, there were no vehicles, no more greenhouse gas emissions; no other livelihood strategies other than agro-pastoralism, no usage of chemical fertilizers; little educational and health facilities, more fertility, more birth and more mortality rates; no more interactions with other worlds, no formal businesses, no cash system, no tourism influx; little democratic values, little part of women in decision making; no awareness of nature’s conservation and more hunting of the wildlife; small population size, little deforestation of the natural forests; little amount of landholdings in central and lower Hunza and more poverty; more landholdings in upper Hunza, more economic production units, more tax-payers and more poverty again. Furthermore, there was very little pollution with little opportunities with little population size, although deforestation was there. But after the construction of the road-link for the first time from Gilgit to Hunza in the 1950s, and more particularly the KKH in the 1970s and then the link-roads connecting the sub-valleys and villages to the KKH, there came up more organizational interventions, more economic opportunities, intensified or multiplications of human desires, reduced poverty; high literacy rate, more vehicular traffics, more rapid travels with high risks of life security, more greenhouse gas emissions, more deforestation, controlled mortality, controlled birth, reduced fertility and prolonged aging; more population and more resources utilization; more interaction, more tourism influx, more cash businesses; reduced livestock, reduced manure, reduced organic foods; reduced agro-pastoral activities; more education, high literacy late, more competition, more unemployment; banned hunting of the wildlife, more ibexes, more blues sheep and more predators (even seen on the KKH); little arrangement marriages, more love/understanding marriages, and the like.
In conclusion, keeping in view the analysis (comparative situations), Hunza valley is encountering and facing harsh environmental pressure never experienced in its history, both in terms of physical and cultural environments; and it is a high time for all stakeholders including communities, leaders, students and organizations to adequately address the this global issue of climate change through local initiatives and contribute their due roles to our mother, the Earth. If our roof (atmosphere) is being heated but rather I must say being burnt by ourselves, then we cannot expect for the prosperous future to us and our coming generations and the entire biodiversities.
Recommendations
If KADO could venture for the unique initiatives like bridging the indigenous knowledge to the modern in practical term, and could initiate for the ICT4D (and those projects proved to be landmarks at least in the whole Gilgit-Baltistan region), then it [KADO] can also take bold steps in addressing pressing the global environmental crisis at least in its own areas of jurisdiction.
However, on the basis of the above analysis, recommendations are made hereunder regarding the environment (both physical and cultural/human) and the climate change effects. By category and as a strategy, one is at soft level (hitting the human minds) in the target area; second is the at the hard or practical level (hitting the ground) in the target area; and third is at the procedural level to meet and mange the first and second category.
a) At soft level: building capacity and competency
Here soft level stands for “mind-to-mind relationships”, or “thoughts and words that hit the minds”. So, words and thoughts are the soft-forms in contrast with any physical or material shape. As a strategy, it would, therefore, be necessary to firstly spread full awareness and build capacities of the community members at different levels so that they should be sensitive and should learn that the climate change has become very dangerous—hampering upon their heads like a sharpened sword—to their and their generations’ lives; and to emphasize that the climate change has becomes so, because we (community members) are enemy of ourselves.
In brief, the following strategies would, however, need to be taken to address the subtle issues of the climate change.
1. Without any further delay, KADO, as a regionally professional organization, should intensely sensitize the environmental issues (causing the climate change) to the local communities by organizing a regional seminar/conference; and more particularly LSO-based workshops (of one-day each) in the entire Hunza.
2. Studies need to be carried out on the environmental shifts and effects of the climate change on the local population of Hunza valley so that to collect more in-depth indigenous knowledge and perspectives to combat the climate change effects.
3. All educational and health institutions in Hunza need to be target with regard to the environmental issues.
4. Annual Environmental Festivals (ideally on Environmental Day on June 5, or a day later or before) in broader context and in multiple media (all local languages along with Urdu and English) should be initiated and organized or sponsored by KADO in partnership with other local and regional civil society organizations such as Naunihal Development Organization (NDO), Gojal Conservation and Development Association, Wakhi Tajik Cultural Association, Hunza Arts and Cultural Forum and any umbrella organization of Shinaki (lower Hunza). Contents of the festivals could vary which could include environmental songs and poetical contests, debates, cartoons, drawings, skits, dramas, musical concerts and the like.
5. Organizational Partnerships on the Environment and Climate Change need to be established between KADO and other organizations out of Hunza valley. The organization on the issue could be the public sector, NGOs, private sector and especially UN agencies.
6. Awareness regarding travels need to be given that peoples prefer using more public transport than their personal or private vehicles.
7. Time to time capacity building programs need to be organized especially for the drivers’ community regarding the dangerous gases emissions by their vehicles. Likewise, targeting the commercial and residential centers is also very important.
b) At hard/physical & strategic level: build partnerships and hit the grounds
When the human minds (at soft-level) are prepared (fully awareness raised and capacity built), then more effective steps need to taken at physical or material level to hit the ground by addressing the environmental issues effecting the global climate change. In this regard, the following sustainable actions are imperative to be taken.
1. Aforestation and reforestation against deforestation is the need of the time without any further delay. The local communities, after building their capacity and competency, could be mobilized towards reforestation on the rangelands/highlands as well as down to the barren-lands. Those alpine plants/trees, which have been cut with the course of time, could be replanted such as juniper, birches, willows and the like.
2. Besides the indigenous alpine trees and plants, non-indigenous alpine plants and trees could also be introduced and experimented on the highlands.
3. There are many potential places/barren-lands in Gojal, the largest magistracy of Gilgit-Baltistan in geographical term, possessing more than 10,000 sq km of territorial domain and almost 88% of the total of Hunza. Therefore, water channels are compulsory to be constructed with the help of the international donor and environmental agencies. In doing so, great number of the mountain and barren-lands will be greened by alpine plantation (see sites of potential barren-lands for afroestaion and reforestation in the annex).
4. Gojal, being the backbone of Hunza, has potentiality in generating power as a renewable energy. Micro hydro-powers need to be constructed and KADO could venture in framing proposals on this subject. This will, on the one hand, fulfill the energy requirement of the region; and on the other, through motors, water could be lifted to the high altitude to water the reforested regions (see the annex for the potential sites of the hydro-powers).
5. Besides hydro-powers, there is also a great potential to opt for other renewable energy resources such as wind-energy, sunlight/solar energy and the like. It is very important that KADO should initiate in this sector.
6. A practical step needs to be taken to address the environmental pollutions in Gulmit, Sost and Passu because the physical and cultural environments in these places are under bitter pressure deteriorating mainly because of the Chinese workers and the Pakistani labor forces. The water pollution, air pollution, sound pollution, cultural pollution and the like are on the increase.
7. In collaboration with the leaders (political and civil society), professionals, government servants and other environmental activists, a bold step needs to be taken against the fossil fuel emissions.
a. Legal action and control over the worst emission of smokes released from the vehicles.
b. Chemical fertilizers, especially those emitting greenhouse gases and used by the farmers need to be discouraged.
c. Vehicles running on the petrol/gasoline must be discouraged within the valley; and also there should be restriction on the gasoline vehicles/cars entering in the Hunza valley.
d. Burning of coals in different parts of Hunza must be discouraged. Coal mining in Hunza and its import form China must be banned entering in the region. In this regard, KADO and NDO, being strong professional civil society organizations, could at least influence the local and regional governments in general, and the so-called political leaders in particular.
8. A commission/forum of the professionals on the Environment (both Physical and Cultural) at the level of entire Hunza valley (also including Nagar) need to be formed promptly in order to monitor and professionally asses the emerging environmental issues in the valley. For examples, this forum could be name as Hunza-Nagar Environmental Commission (HNEC) with a broad and powerful mandate.
9. Projects (long, medium and short term) should be designed after holding a series of workshops with the regional level CSOs and the LSOs. It would provide a more clear picture in devising the projects/programs.
10. Special partnership and collaboration would be required to be made with the AKRSP and other relevant but visionary organizations vis-à-vis the “Carbon Trading” and “Carbon Sink” Projects.
11. Special environmental partnership in the near future is need of the time on the environmental issues at the entire Hunza valley level between KADO and NDO being the regional level civil society organizations; and both these organizations (KADO and NDO) must prove themselves to be the umbrellas for the sub-regional level CSOs in having close coordination and collaboration with them.
12. Environmental Committees need to be made keeping in view the transport sector, commercial sector and residential sector. These committees could be also made within the VWOs and LSOs.
13. The software of International Council of Local Environmental Initiatives (ICLEIs) could be brought in use in order to collect and assess the environmental statuses (degradation or amelioration).
14. A baseline greenhouse inventory of the valley would be important to be conducted in the near future. In this regard, with the help of the technical peoples, a proposal should be written.
15. KADO needs to write an environmental strategy paper for development.
16. All those projects and programs that are on function, or those which are supposed to be proposed for the region, must contain adequate environmental risk calculation.
17. An experiment needs to done on pilot phase with regard to the electricity light by switching “from regular incandescent bulbs to compact fluorescent light (CFL) bulbs” which is “one of the most effective and easy ways to reduce CO2-equivalent emissions. The assumptions here are that 100 watt incandescent bulbs run for 10,000 hours and use 1,000 kWh, and that a CFL bulb of 23 watts (equivalent lighting) runs for 10,000 hours and uses 230 kWh, the actual energy savings over 10,000 hours (approximate lifetime of CFL) equals 770 kWh, and that the price of residential electricity is $0.0966 per kWh. Each 100 watt incandescent bulb that is replaced with an equivalently lighting 23 watt CFL thus results in 1 ton of CO2-equivalent emissions reduction”. Other reductions (Mark Lemon et al., n.d., Indiana: p.18).
18. The climate change is also a strong human right issue. Therefore, KADO and NDO in the Hunza Valley should play their invigorating and committed role in planning, designing, implementing/launching of, monitoring and evaluating the relevant programs and projects; and coordinate and collaborate with, advocate for and facilitate other CSOs to jointly combat this life-threatening issue with a holistic/integrated approach.
19. ONE of the most relevant and strong sub-regional level CSO is Gojal Conservation and Development Association (GCDA). KADO needs to development a very strong partnership with regard to the upcoming developmental projects/programs. If the conservancies in Gojal could in partnership with IUCN successfully bring the projects and programs in the region, then there is no point that GCDA, as an umbrella organization of the all conservancies, does not partner in successfully bringing to the end the projects/programs of KADO, which is in logic an umbrella for all CSOs in Hunza.
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