PESHAWAR: Chief Minister Ali Amin Khan Gandapur stated on Sunday that the provincial government’s top priorities are water resource management, animal protection, and environmental conservation. Mr Gandapur said this in a meeting with a delegation of the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) Pakistan led by its chief executive officer Hammad Naqvi at the chief minister’s house, read an official notification issued from the chief minister’s secretariat. It stated that MNA Faisal Amin Gandapur, a KP member of the wildlife and biodiversity board, as well as senior government officials were in attendance. According to the statement, the meeting covered WWF’s current and planned environmental conservation initiatives for the province. It also mentioned that CM Gandapur assured the international organisations, working in these areas, his full support and instructed the officials concerned to work with WWF Pakistan to finalise an action plan for the programme’s implementation. The meeting focused on enhancing collaboration between the provincial government and WWF Pakistan to strengthen environmental protection, wildlife conservation, and water resource management. “Both parties agreed to expand mutual collaboration to mitigate flood damage and reached a principled decision to launch WWF’s Recharge Pakistan Programme (RPP) in KP,” the statement read. At an RPP briefing, it was explained that the seven-year programme would increase green infrastructure, protect agricultural land from flood damage, and implement various water conservation projects in the province. The statement also stated that the programme would raise groundwater levels and protect 10,000 hectares of land from flood risks. Mr Naqvi commended the KP government’s efforts to tackle environmental issues and climate change, emphasising that the projects had received recognition on a global scale. He reaffirmed WWF Pakistan’s dedication to working with the provincial administration to bolster these initiatives even more, the statement concluded.