Pir Mehr Ali Shah Arid Agriculture University Rawalpindi hosted a seminar for International Mountain Day 2025 under the theme “Protecting Mountain Flora,” bringing together scientists, scholars and environmental experts in an event organised by the Department of Botany and the Office of Research, Innovation & Commercialization. The gathering emphasised practical steps to protect fragile highland ecosystems and to strengthen research and outreach on mountain flora.
Prof. Dr. Rahmatullah Qureshi, Dean of the Faculty of Sciences, noted that Pakistan’s mountain ecosystems hold the country’s richest concentration of endemic plants, with nearly 6,000 flowering plant species and roughly 500 endemics concentrated in the Himalayan, Karakoram and Hindu Kush ranges. He stressed that protecting mountain flora is essential to preserve genetic diversity and ecological services for future generations.
The Chief Guest, Prof. Dr. G. Raza Bhatti, former Vice Chancellor and former HEC member, warned that unsustainable human activities, habitat loss and climate change are eroding Earth’s life support systems. He highlighted the educational and conservation value of botanical gardens and herbaria across Pakistan’s varied ecological zones and urged universities to expand these resources as living laboratories for conserving mountain flora.
In his keynote address, Dr. Mahmood Nasir, former Inspector General of Forests, drew on decades of forestry experience to call for sustainable forest management, active community participation and consistency in environmental policy. He reaffirmed the Forest Department’s frontline role in conserving biodiversity and said coordinated action is needed to translate research on mountain flora into on-the-ground conservation measures.
Participants discussed innovative strategies for protecting mountain flora, including strengthened research collaborations, policy dialogue, and community-based conservation initiatives. The seminar concluded with a renewed commitment by PMAS-AAUR to advance research, awareness and practical solutions that support resilient mountain ecosystems and sustainable mountain development in Pakistan.
