ABSTRACT
Over the last thirty years, almost 40 percent of the territory of the Northern Areas in Pakistan has been converted into government-owned protected areas, in the form of national parks, wildlife sanctuaries, game reserves, and hunting areas. Indeed, it is not unusual to hear that state authorities wish to transform the biodiversity-rich Northern Areas into a “living museum” for wildlife. Th is vision has been critically supported and shaped by international conservation NGOs, particularly the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), both of which have a major presence in the region.
