Snow Leopard Conservation in Tajikistan

Snow Leopard Conservancy - Conservation Program

“We are proud of the nice things in our yurta which are well-made and valuable.”

2005-2006 Activities: Linking cultural conservation with community-based snow leopard and biodiversity stewardship

The Christensen Fund (www.christensenfund.org) provided SLC-US with a planning grant, “Mountain Cultures, Keystone Species: Exploring the Role of Cultural Keystone Species in Central Asia.” We explored relationships between nature and culture with a view to developing collaborative initiatives for supporting sustainable development in the Pamirs. The concept of cultural keystone species in the high mountain cultures, communities and environments of Gorno Badakhshan was also investigated.

Ecologists recognize that keynote or “umbrella” species, like snow leopard, Marco Polo sheep and some plants, play important roles in determining ecological functioning and promoting biodiversity conservation. Similarly, in human cultures, there are plants and animals that form the contextual underpinnings of a culture, as reflected in their roles in language, ceremonies, narratives, diet, and medicine. We focused on species firmly rooted within the local cultural and social context, and evaluated their potential for positively transforming tensions and conflicts between development and conservation, particularly in regions like Tajikistan that are undergoing fundamental social, political and economic change.

Read our Final Report (pdf 955 kb). You can also download the Executive summary in both Tajik and Russian: Tajik Language Version (pdf 142 kb); Russian Language Version (pdf 174 kb).

Nandita Jain and a women’s group from Ak-Kalama discussing pictures.

During the coming two years, and with continued funding from The Christensen Fund, SLC and its partners will be implementing highly participatory, community-driven activities aimed at fostering the stewardship of biological diversity in tandem with the development of sustainable livelihoods within several communities in the Pamir Mountains of Tajikistan and Afghanistan.

Our key partners are NPT (Nature Protection Team) and META (Murghab Ecotourism Association). Major activities include building the capacity of local organizations for integrative participatory planning and action, training in emerging planning tools like PhotoVoice and Appreciative Participatory Planning and Action (APPA), along with supporting at least two innovative, grass-roots community biodiversity conservation and livelihood initiatives to be implemented by local organizations in Year 2. Far-reaching partnerships will be developed in support of policy revisions aimed at reducing pressures on endemic wildlife and plants due to illegal poaching and unregulated harvesting.

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