Before 1992, the local communities had rarely been involved in the protection and management of the wildlife and vegetation resources of the area. People only knew that the reserved forest near their villages had been declared as a "National Park and Game Reserve." They had not been taken into regarding as to the ways and means to achieve conservation objectives. However, since 1993, through the efforts of the Himalayan Brown Bear Project, of which Mr. Siddiqui was community coordinator, many villages in the Southern region of the Himalayan Mountains have initiated improvements for living in balance with their fragile ecosystem. Recognizing the need for further ecological awareness and local stewardship, Mr.Siddiqui founded ECHO.

A new species of moth, Owadaglaea siddiquii sp.n (discovered in 1998 by Hungarian Natural History Museum￿s Lepidopterologists Mr. Gabor Ronkay and Mr. Laszlo Ronkay) was named to Abdul Haleem Siddiqui in honored of his conservation work with communities and on Deosai National Park.

"My motivation arises from the fact that I am a native of the Himalayas, and have been working for the last 16 years in the field of wildlife conservation, management and promotion of community awareness in specific areas of northern Pakistan. Formerly there was not a sufficient degree of effective contact among the community people, herders, and hunters. The focus of ECHO will be to work directly with the local people in the wildlife habitat areas and to assist and inspire them to improve the quality of their lives while conserving their environment. I believe that so many individuals in the world leave their homelands in search of education, jobs and a better standard of living. Many of them never return to their native lands to improve the living situation of the people living there. Personally, it has always been my dream to acquire more knowledge and training, and then devote myself to the communities and their environmental concerns". ￿Abdul Haleem Siddiqui, Director of ECHO