Executive Summary

Abbottabad district is home to an estimated 928,000 individuals, with the vast majority living in rural areas. Although just 18.6% of the districts residents currently make their home in the cities, deepening poverty is leading to increasing urbanisation. Spread over 178,401 ha of predominantly mountainous terrain, population density in the district is high, at 466 persons per km².

Forests cover an area of 39,395 ha, or a little over 20% of the district, accounting for 5.4% of the total forest resources of the North-West Frontier Province (NWFP). The majority of Abbottabads forested area is today so severely denuded that only 29% of forests support a density greater than 50%. Meanwhile, the gap between use and regenerative capacity continues to widen. 

Overall, some 48% of land in the district is under agriculture and land use intensity is high. Agriculture is the mainstay of the districts economy but the sector operates at a subsistence level. Of the 63,000 ha under cultivation, only 11% is irrigated. The remaining 56,000 ha of farm land depends exclusively on rain. As a result, per-hectare yields are low, and local demand for cereal crops such as maize and wheat is met through imports. Barring apples and potatoes, the district has few horticultural outputs.

Besides subsistence-level agriculture, modest additional income is generated through activities such as backyard poultry farming and livestock rearing. In their present state, the livestock and poultry sectors suffer as a result of poor extension services, inadequate marketing support, and substantial shortages of feed and fodder. Aggravating the scarcity of livestock feed is the fact that the development of rangelands, a major fodder source spread over an estimated 59% of the district, has largely escaped the attention of the concerned departments. Forest authorities have focused on policing while watershed projects have demonstrated a marked bias in favour of afforestation and agriculture. Fisheries have also been neglected, despite the existence of a large number of rivers and streams that are capable of supporting pisciculture.

Mining activity is limited, dominated by soap-stone and limestone despite the fact that significant deposits of other minerals have been reported. Virtually no other industrial activity takes place in the district. As a result,unemployment is as high as 32% while just 20% of the total population is classified as economically active. The public and private sectors account for more than 50% of total employment, 44% of the workforce is categorised as self-employed and a mere 9% of the districts workers are professionals.Some 46% of the work force is employed in agriculture, fisheries and elementary occupations.

With only limited employment opportunities available in the agriculture, forestry, mining and industrial sectors, it is surprising that microenterprise has not been developed as a means to mitigate poverty. It is only recently that banks, emulating non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in the field, have begun extending loans for income generation activities through community organisations. 

The district depends entirely on the national grid for electricity, which is used primarily for lighting. Wood is the main source of cooking fuel in rural areas, putting increasing pressure on local forests. A significant proportion of the urban population has access to natural gas for use in cooking but supply to rural areas is limited.

A large number of primary, secondary and high schools operate in the district. Enrolment ratios at the primary level may be impressive but numbers decline at higher levels of education. The high drop-out rate and high repeat ratio in the district suggest that serious problems exist both in terms of the quality of education of offer and the motivation of parents and students.

Health coverage in urban areas is good, largely as a result of the Ayub Medical College and Hospital Complex (AMC). Rural coverage, however, is patchy and inadequate. Close to 90% of the public-sector health budget goes to pay salaries, with scant resources remaining for basic supplies and facilities, let alone for expansion in the sector.

Although official figures claim that drinking water schemes now serve 85% of rural areasand 90% of the urban population, the distribution system is outdated, inefficient and unreliable. In addition, water losses are high, owing to both leakage and illegal connections, while the user charges currently in place are obsolete, leaving the authorities with a budget deficit as high as 80%. Water quality is also suspect, with contamination reported in many areas. This comes as no surprise, considering that waste management in the district is abysmal.

Across the district, the management of waste water and solid waste is far from adequate, aggravating pollution, adversely impacting the natural beauty of the area and leading to serious public health hazards. This situation is exacerbated by the absence of legislation governing land use and urban development. Encroachments and unauthorised construction in urban areas put additional pressure on already stretched municipal services.

Despite a roads network spanning some 464km, access to remote rural areas is difficult.The district is traversed by a number of major roads, including the Karakoram highway and the MurreeAbbottabad road. As aresult of its location at the crossroads of major highways, Abbottabad city is exposed to excessive pollution originating from transit traffic.

Of the 12 habitats identified in the NWFP (Roberts 1977), three are to be found in Abbottabad. The district is rich in biodiversity, supporting a wide variety of flora and fauna. Two protected areas, the Ayubia National Park and the Qalandarabad game reserve,have been designated. The natural beauty and breath taking landscape of the district make it an attractive destination for tourists. Even with its rich biodiversity, and the network of roads facilitating access, tourism has witnessed a steady decline in recent years. Instead, Abbottabad serves primarily as a transit point for other destinations, attracting mostly day visitors.

Cultural norms in the area are beginning to change, with significant shifts away from traditional values already evident, particularly in urban areas. At the same time, tribal affiliations have not been abandoned altogether. In this state of flux, women continue to be marginalised.

Development Initiatives

The district has been fortunate in that it has attracted significant support from donors,development projects and NGOs. The Barani Area Development Project (BADP) has under-taken small-scale infrastructure developmentin addition to income generation and human resource development schemes. The Projectfor Horticultural Promotion (PHP) and Potato Research Centre (PRC) have contributed to horticultural and agricultural development.The Natural Resource Conservation Project (NRCP) has worked in the areas of horticulture, fodder development and kitchen gardening, and set up a network of community-based organisations (CBOs). TheTarbela-Mangla Watershed Management Project carries out afforestation, while the Pak-German Siran Project is involved in a variety of natural resource conservation efforts.

The Sarhad Rural Support Programme (SRSP) and SUNGI Development Foundation are significant players in natural resource management activities as well as microenterprise development, improving roads in rural areas, working for forest protection and establishing CBOs. Other NGOs are active in social mobilisation and enterprise development, although their impact is confined to small areas.

Education, particularly at the primary level,has received considerable support from the World Bank, Asian Development Bank and United States Agency for International Development, in addition to funding from the federal governments Social Action Programme. The AMC, currently in the third phase of implementation, is a major federal government initiative in the health sector.Several drinking water schemes have been undertaken in the public sector and through donor initiatives, while provisions for sanitation are being incorporated in all new water supply schemes.

An attempt was made to address tourism development through the now-defunct Hazara Hill Tract Improvement Trust (HHTIT). Its responsibilities have been taken over by the Galliyat Development Authority (GDA). Beyond the construction of a chair lift facility at Ayubia, however, little has been achieved in this sector.

Microenterprise development has been addressed by the BADP, SRSP and SUNGI. More recently, banks have also entered the field, with the Bank of Khyber emerging as amajor lender for small enterprise. The Export Promotion Bureau (EPB) and Small Industries Development Board are attempting to promote larger business ventures.

Achievements and Shortfalls

While many indicators for development in the district show progress over recent years, with higher literacy, improved infrastructure and increased drinking water supply, there is still room for improvement in many areas. No simple solution or single sector can be highlighted as critical to achieving such improvement. In fact, development issues confronting the district are broad-based, cutting across sectoral boundaries as well as functional divisions. Improving governance, access to resources, developing capacity and diversifying income generation are a few such areas, where only a multi-sectoral approach has any hope of yielding positive and sustainable results. 

The district remains a significant importer of cereals and is capable of meeting barely 30% of its wheat needs locally. Although the economy is dominated by natural resource-based sectors and industries, coordination between green sector government departments is practically non-existent. Departmental performance is strait-jacketed by an outdated administrative outlook as well as myopia. The forest authorities focus almost exclusively on timber, while the agriculture departments activities are restricted to cursory extension activities. One immediate consequence of this narrow vision is the neglect of range lands and fodder supply issues. Watershed programmes have displayed a similar tunnel vision, resulting in chronic feed and fodder shortages. The scarcity of animal feed in turn restricts expansion of the poultry and livestock sectors. 

Expansion in the livestock, poultry and microenterprise sectors is particularly important for a district such as Abbottabad, where only incremental gains are possible in agriculture. These sectors can serve to alleviate poverty by creating alternative avenues of income generation. Diversifying the scope of economic activity can help to mitigate the pressure on natural resources as well. Despite the many advantages involved, these sectors have not received sufficient attention.

By creating opportunities for employment, education also serves as a critical component of poverty alleviation programmes. In Abbottabad, literacy has increased in recent years but participation rates are dismal, declining steadily at higher levels of education, particularly among females and in rural areas. Repeat ratios and drop-out rates are also high, with quality, accessibility and gender equity emerging as recurring problems at all levels. 

On paper, the districts health statistics seem impressive. Abbottabads position compared to the province as a whole is ahead on major indicators but the figures belie issues of access for the vast majority of rural residents. High investment in tertiary health care, at the expense of preventive efforts, and poor coverage are dominant concerns in this sector. Problems with regard to basic health units and rural health centres are rarely addressed.

Drinking water supply is another area where statistics are misleading. Although coverage has expanded, this has not been matched by an improvement in the quality of water supplied. Widespread contamination, owinglargely to poor waste management, is cause for serious concern. The obsolete supply system is difficult to upgrade, while irrational user charges make the current arrangement financially unviable.

High unemployment and a predominantly youthful population, coupled with population growth and increasing urbanisation, lead to intense competition for scarce resources. In the absence of much-needed regulation and enforcement mechanisms, current activities in a number of sectors are undertaken with no regard whatsoever for the long-term consequences. The districts fragile ecosystem is subjected to further strain in the form of haphazard and illegal construction, and pollution from transit traffic. To curb these trends, land use and zoning laws are urgently needed along with strict enforcement of the environmental impact assessment regime for all new projects. 

While environmental degradation is a serious concern in and of itself, pollution, congestionand unsanitary conditions also adversely impact a number of other sectors. Abbottabads potential as a tourist destination, for instance, suffers as a result. The tourism sector has also been subject to official neglect. The poor track record of the HHTIT and the administrative limbo in which the GDA is currently mired have contributed to a drastic decline in tourist numbers.

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