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Detailed Ecological Assessment Report 2008 – Keenjhar Lake
• Education: About 60% population around the lake is illiterate; however
the ratio of primary education is reported as 30%, which is indicating that
primary schooling has been available there in recent years. Only 5%
people are educated up to middle and 3% up to matric and graduation
level, whereas female illiteracy is 88%. 63% villages have primary boy’s
schools with average 2 rooms building and two teachers for 83 students.
About 2.6 % villages have middle school facilities with 6 rooms building
and 4 teachers for average 50 students, there is no high school for boys
and girls in lake area. Thirty six percent villages have primary girl’s
schools with 2 rooms and 2 teachers, where as 2.6% villages have facility
for the girls middle school with 6 room building, but no female staff is
appointed yet for these girls’ middle schools.
• Health: Health and hygiene condition of the area is very pathetic.
Incidence of malaria, diarrhea, skin disease, typhoid and jaundice were
reported in all programme villages at Keenjhar Lake, but the incidence of
the skin disease and malaria was found at alarming level. There is dearth
of health infrastructure, only 3% villages have dispensaries and one
village has Basic Health Unit, no Rural Health Centre or hospital is
available in the program site, 60 % people are visiting private clinics. On
an average the private clinics and other health facilities are available at a
distance of 10 km from their villages. Professional maternity services are
also missing in the area and 87% births are being attended by local birth
attendants. Only 1% cases are being handled by the trained Lady Health
Visitors (LHVs) and about 12% cases are being handled at hospitals and
private clinics due to some complexities. Child and mother mortality rate is
reported 7 % and 1%, respectively
• Livelihood sources and poverty level: There is mix of four major
occupations around the lake, fishing, agriculture, stone mining and mat
making. However fishing is continued to be dominant occupation of the
programme area. About 44% community members are engaged with
fishing, followed by 22% as agriculture laborers and 8% engaged in stone
mining. Poverty has remained one of the most serious problems of the
area. Decline in fish catch, poor infrastructure, lack of employment
opportunities, lack of productive assets, inadequate technical capability
and use of inappropriate technology is the main factors responsible for
their poverty level. Using the poverty line of Rs. 1000 per capita income
(2004-5 national poverty line of Rs.878 and adding inflation rate of 7.5 per
year) about 62 % people around Lake are living below poverty line with
average per capita income of Rs. 971.
1.2 Rationale and Objectives
1.2.1 Large Mammals Survey
1.2.1.1 Rationale
The Indus Eco-region is one of the forty biologically richest eco-regions in the
world, as identified by WWF. The Indus Eco-region Programme (IEP) is a 50
years long (2005 - 2055) initiative of WWF - Pakistan and the Government of
Sindh that will address poverty and natural resource degradation in the Indus
eco-region. In the Biodiversity Visioning and Eco-region Conservation Planning
Workshop for the Indus Eco-region, held in Karachi in July 2004, participants
identified fifteen prioritized areas within the Indus eco-region (WWF – P 2008). An
Indus for All Programme of the IEP has been implemented on five out of fifteen
prioritized landscapes with support from Royal Netherlands Embassy (RNE) in
WWF Pakistan – Indus for All Programme Page 6 of 165