The Balochistan Conservation Strategy is a strategic plan designed to define and address the issues affecting the socio-economic development of Balochistan, through the sustainable use of its natural resources. In many ways, it can be termed as a sustainable development agenda of the province that promises regeneration and sustainable use of ecological resources and continued economic development with active participation from the people of Balochistan. 

The need for developing the BCS arose because of, all the provinces of Pakistan, Balochistan has a high rate of depletion of resources. The conventional top-down development approaches with their command and control implementation have met with limited success. Institutional weaknesses have been predominant due to poor participatory planning and decision-making that has constrained appropriate prioritization of goals and the proper use of limited resources. 

Another major need was to take an integrated view of the main issues and to prepare a framework that did not compromise one solution at the cost of another. The BCS was developed through a robust participatory planning process spanning three years. It took as its baseline the National Conservation Strategy developed by the federal government, while building on the experiences of the Sarhad Provincial Conservation Strategy exercise undertaken by the NWFP government. The BCS aims to devise ways and means to weave environment and natural resource conservation with development and to recommend an institutional framework that will bring ownership, sustainability and efficiency in management of these vital endowments. 

The strategy is not carved in stone, rather, it is a living and evolutionary document. It will be important to learn lessons during implementation and capture them at mid term review of BCS implementation five years from now for refining direction and improving implementation. 

Given political will and the marrying of other major initiatives such as the Poverty Alleviation Strategy, the Social Action Programme and the Devolution Plan, the BCS offers a common platform for joint action towards a prosperous, healthy and economically viable Balochistan and eventually, Pakistan. Certainly, its implementation will enable Balochistanís resources to achieve a level of sustainability that can secure the future for many generations to come.