Pakistan had formulated its own "Agenda 21" well before the Rio Conference. Pakistan's Agenda 21 is the National Conservation Strategy (NCS), which was approved by the Government of Pakistan (GOP) on March 1, 1992. All reports regarding strategies, policies and programmes for sustainable development are to be drawn up on the basis of the NCS.

This paper presents information on Pakistan’s national sustainable development strategy through the NCS. It states that the fundamental objectives of the NCS are: conservation of natural resources; sustainable development; and improved efficiency in the use and management of resources. The structure of the strategy as well as its implementation draws heavily upon government and other agency involvement, as well as non-governmental organisations and the private sector. Government sponsored and other rural support programmes are being used in a concerted effort to involve rural communities in the planning and analysis process.

Following the approval of NCS’ programmes, the GoP established a cabinet level implementation committee, headed by the Minister for Environment and Urban Affairs, to co-ordinate the implementation of the strategy. The Plan of Action, 1993-98 (PoA) emerged out of the direction given by the cabinet committee. It formed the basis of the presentation to the donor conference on the implementation of the NCS in January 1993.

The implementation committee identified three cross-cutting areas where immediate action was called for: (1) institutional strengthening for the removal of structural weaknesses in the government infrastructure; (2) mass awareness, so that people understand and are able to integrate the NCS into their lives; and (3) regulatory legislation and economic incentives, so that the governmental programme is integrated into legislation, and economic incentives are used to engender voluntary compliance with these goals. The fourth area, namely implementation of pilot projects in NCS priority areas would help not only in meeting urgent needs, but also in building a consensus behind the plan of action.