Hazarajat Protected Areas Project

The Hazarajat comprises the western extension of the Hindu Kush and Koh-i-Baba Ranges in central Afghanistan.  The WCS Afghanistan Project is concentrating on creating two protected areas:  the Ajar Valley Wildlife Reserve and Band-i-Amir National Park. 

The Ajar Valley was protected for many decades as a royal hunting reserve.  This spectacular mountainous area once supported thousands of ibex as well as wolves, leopards, urial sheep and the endangered Bactrian deer.  Effective environmental protection ceased with the onset of war in 1979 and today only a few animals remain.  However, local people are eager to see wildlife protected and recovered.

Band-i-Amir’s six lakes, with their crystal-clear, azure water separated by natural travertine dams and surrounded by spectacular red cliffs, comprise one of the world’s most uniquely beautiful natural landscapes.  Band-i-Amir has long been a tourist destination, but has never received effective management.

The Human Aspect
The Hazarajat is one of the poorest areas in Afghanistan.  Local people eke out a meager living from high-altitude farming and grazing livestock, and there are few employment opportunities.  However, tourism can create opportunities for supplemental income and provides an incentive for villagers to preserve wildlife and ecosystems. 

Threats
The primary threats in the Ajar Valley are over-hunting, especially of ibex, rangeland deterioration from overgrazing, and exclusion of wildlife from the few springs in the area by disturbance from people and livestock.  Local people understand these problems and are eager to solve them. 

At Band-i-Amir, the major issue is lack of an effective protected area regime, which has led to ad hoc and unsightly tourist development, habitat destruction from dryland farming, and overgrazing. The result has been the elimination of the urial and ibex populations within the past 30 years.  

©G. Shank/WCS

WCS Activities
WCS is continuing work initiated 30 years ago by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN to establish the Ajar Valley Wildlife Reserve and Band-i-Amir National Park. WCS facilitates coordination among Provincial and Central Government authorities, environmental NGOs, UN agencies and local people.  WCS is also undertaking scientific surveys on the biodiversity of the Ajar Valley and Band-i-Amir, concentrating on ibex, small mammals, birds and fish.  As well, WCS provides technical backstopping for the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan in assisting with development of management documents, remote sensing and staff training. 

Important Next Steps
• WCS will continue to work with the authorities of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, local communities, and with other stakeholders to put into place an approved Preliminary Management Plans for Band-i-Amir National Park and the Ajar Valley Wildlife Reserve. 
• WCS will continue to work with the local and central governments on official designation of Ajar and Band-i-Amir as Afghanistan’s first fully and legally gazetted protected areas, and will be working to achieve international recognition of Band-i-Amir as Afghanistan’s first Natural World Heritage Site.
• WCS will assist Governmental authorities in training and properly equipping protection staff and helping put them in place.