There are about 5,700 species of flowering plants reported, with almost 400 endemic species, found in the northern and western mountains of Pakistan. Among plant varieties, approximately 1,000 species of vascular plants are known to occur in the northern mountain regions alone. There is a great variation in light, elevation, climate, water, terrain and soil in the NAs, which creates a variety of micro-climates that support a tremendous diversity of flora. The rich plant diversity also contains ancestors of crops such as wild cumin, thyme, pine nuts, apricots, walnuts and a host of medicinal plants with potentially useful pharmaceutical values.

The potential of plant diversity in NA is yet to be fully explored. Therefore, discovery of new species of plants during field expeditions opens various opportunities. During a joint expedition of Oxford University Museum of Natural History, United Kingdom and the Pakistan Museum of Natural History (PMNH) to the upper Hunza during 2000, about 100 species of shrubs, trees and herbaceous plants were recorded. Twenty percent of these were new records to the PMNH’s collection.

The people of NAs depend on wild plants for a variety of uses, including fuel, food supplements, medicine, construction material, farm nutrients and livestock feed.

Medicinal and Aromatic Plants

Since old times, medicinal plants have been a source of cure for various ailments. It is estimated that around 80 percent of rural population in Pakistan depends on these medicinal plants used by unani (traditional medicine) hakims. Its use in modern medicines is also increasing with the passage of time. Amongst the 5,700 recorded species of plants, at least 600 species are considered to have medicinal value in homeopathic, allopathic and unani medicines. It is interesting to note that 300-400 such species have already been used in traditional medicines. Hosting of such a large number of medicinal plant varieties in NAs is due to its ecological landscape. Majority of NAs fall under dry temperate mountain forests and alpine and high altitude meadows that provide a suitable environment for natural growth of medicinal plants.

Agricultural Diversity

NAs has a variety in crop and fruit species as well as domesticated animals, which make up the agricultural biodiversity due to its close location with two major centers of agro biodiversity – Central Asia and China. In addition, diversity in farming systems/ cropping patterns, agro ecological zones and cultural diversity makes it a rich region in agricultural diversity. Particularly, it is famous for its varieties of nuts. The livelihood of people of NAs is dependent mainly on agricultural biodiversity. The genetic resources of crops and fruits in these areas are adaptable to the local environment such as extreme cold, heat, frost and drought. However, these indigenous species are slowly disappearing because of influx of fast growing invasive species. An example of this, is the introduction of about 33 new verities of apples imported from England and used as mother trees in eight government nurseries in NAs during 1983-84. These invasive species, however, are high yielding, have less genetic diversity, more susceptible to disease and require large area of land and plenty of fertilisers to give better yield. Therefore, these exotic verities are of little importance to farmers with small lands. In addition, livestock biodiversity also makes an important component of the agriculture biodiversity as people’s livelihoods depend on their products such as milk, meat, eggs, and compost/dung. The local species of livestock are also threatened due to a change in agriculture practices and replacement of the existing breeds with small selection of specialized improved breeds that are usually grown under less stressed and high input production environment.

Issues

The agricultural and fauna biodiversity has been threatened due to many reasons which are specific to these groups as well as some common reasons.

Destruction of habitat such as deforestation and denuding of land for agriculture and the drive to capitalize on cash crops and introduction of exotic fast growing species in many cases, has pushed many species of plants including the medicinal plants to the edge of extinction. Moreover, this has also affected the local livestock species, which are threatened due to change in agricultural patterns as well as through focus of farmers on limited amount of high yielding species of animals.

The fauna biodiversity is threatened due to loss of habitat, unsustainable use/ hunting of animals.