Topic:

Mountains of Northern Pakistan

Level:

Lower and Upper Secondary Classes (VI-X)

Time:

90 -120 minutes (three - four sessions of 30 minutes each)

Subject:

Social Studies/ English Language

Resource:

Material and photographs on this website, a movie on Moving
Mountains developed by IUCN Pakistan (teachers might want to refer to the popular version or the original version of Northern Areas Strategy for Sustainable Development (NASSD) developed by the Government of Pakistan with the technical assistance of IUCN Pakistan

Objectives

At the end of the lesson, the students would be able to:

Knowledge:

• Know various mountainous series in Pakistan, particularly in the Northern Areas (NAs)



• Get an insight on the flora and fauna in the mountains of Pakistan and its significance to the ecosystem and human beings.



• Identify various forms of environmental degradation and its consequences faced by the mountains in NAs of Pakistan such as local tourism etc.



• Discuss the impact of various environmental issues on people living in the mountains of Pakistan



• Highlight some examples of good work in mountainous regions.



• Analyse some factors that trigger unsustainable use of natural resources/environmental degradation in mountains based on individual/ group experiences.

Actions

• Collect information about various flora and fauna of mountains in NAs and communicate its significance to other colleagues



• Share experiences of tourism in NAs mountains (if some students/teachers/parents have visited them) and ask questions about its people, culture, resources, beauty and impact on the society as a whole. Ask high order questions about the effect of unplanned tourism in these mountains



• Research (from books and internet sources) about important factors that are causing environmental degradation in the mountains.



• Debate on issues related to developmental initiatives and its impact in the mountains of the NAs.

Feeling

• Appreciate the role of mountain's rich bio-physical resources in sustaining the social, ecological and economic fabric of that society



• Realise the richness of the resources in mountains of Pakistan and its benefits for human beings



• Become sensitive to the threats faced by animals, plant and human beings due to the environmental disasters in mountains.

Presentation of the Lesson

The teacher will begin the lesson by asking few questions regarding the places students have so far visited in Pakistan. Through this motivation s/he would pick up mountains as one of the tourist areas and start discussion with students about mountains in Northern Areas.

Development of Lesson

Teacher could continue the lesson by asking few questions such as:

• Can some students (particularly those who have visited/watched on TV and videos/read/got to know from others about the mountains in Northern Areas of Pakistan) highlight major features of these mountains?

At this moment, teacher can show part/whole of, "Moving Mountains" a documentary on the mountains of the NAs as desired or show various photographs available on the website to the students and then continue with the following questions:

• What are some of the peculiar features about its landscape (mountain height, minerals, and climate, scenic spots)?



• How do their people look like? What are their main professions and lifestyles (clothes, languages, food, customs and traditions)?



• What are some of their favourite mountain sports and what are its impacts on mountains ecosystem?



• Name some of the important animals and plants of this area? Some features that distinguish them from others?

After discussing above questions, teacher can start a brain storming session with students on the issues in mountains of NAs (based on students' personal experience as well as through video and photographs/ previous knowledge) and their classifications. Then teacher can pick up environmental issues from the list such as deforestation, hunting of animals, solid waste, water pollution, migrations from rural to urban areas, use of fertilisers and pesticides. S/he can then, ask students to make groups and look for information about the environmental issues from the web resources, books, documentaries and organisations working on these issues. Following table can be used to organise the information/content collected by students:

Students can present this work in the class and get feedback from their fellows and teachers. Teacher can facilitate this session and refer the unanswered questions to experts in various organisations or search web in this regard.

Moreover, teacher can initiate some debates in class about some important issues such as tourism in mountains of NAs and its impacts on economic, environment and social and cultural aspects of these mountains (refer to this website (article on tourism), NASSD, other website highlighting its good and not so good impacts), hunting of animals – benefits and losses

Conclusion of the Lesson

The teacher can sum up the lesson with a discussion on various aspects highlighted during the sessions. Moreover, teacher can highlight some of the good initiatives undertaken globally and nationally to promote sustainable use of natural resources in this area such as celebration of International Year for Mountains in 2003 and observance of International Mountain Day on December 11. Some other examples are the development of NASSD and awareness raising material on mountains developed globally and locally, trophy hunting of Sulemani Markhoor initiated in the NAs. Other initiatives include social mobilisation of mountainous communities and motivate students to think about the different ways in which they can work for environment and sustainable development if they are not living in proximity to mountains or areas where rich natural resources are available by the Aga Khan Rural Support Programme.

Home Fun

There are some small assignments that could be given to the students as homework. Teacher can encourage them to talk to their parents, neighbours, relatives, drivers, watchman and others in the community, having some idea about the mountains of Pakistan, particularly the NAs.

Those who belong to these areas to have their experience about the life in these areas. Students can be asked to identify few television programmes, particularly on channels such as National Geographic and Discovery about mountains (in the different parts of the world) and discuss them in the class. In this case, teacher might want to engage students in some comparative discussions, whereby they could find similarities and differences between the mountains of different regions and their potentials. This will help them appreciate the diversity of this landscape.