Protected Areas

Two areas in Afghanistan are critical to biodiversity preservation: the Wakhan Corridor has some of the last relatively pristine wildlife habitats and wildlife populations left in Afghanistan, while the Hazarajat Plateau has some of the most important existing and potential protected areas in Afghanistan. Five locations in these two areas have been identified as critical to Afghanistan’s protected areas system.

• The Big Pamir extends over about 5,500 km2 of the Wakhan. A considerable part of the western Big Pamir was once included in the so-called Big Pamir Wildlife Reserve encompassing about 679 km2. Although designated a reserve, it has never been legally established, and between 1968 and 1977 has functioned as a hunting reserve for foreigners, managed by the Afghan Tourist Organization. Before that, part of the area was a royal hunting reserve of the former king Muhammad Zahir Shah.
• WCS Director of Science Dr. George Schaller, in a 2004 survey of wildlife in the Wakhan, recommended that the eastern tip of the Little Pamir should be designated a strictly protected area (about 250 km2). This area is at present not used by herders, and thus the habitat is in excellent condition and does not conflict with human use patterns. There is also no barrier between it and the proposed Shaymak Reserve in Tajikistan, enabling Marco Polo sheep to move freely back and forth.
• The eastern tip of the Waghjir Valley (about 300 km2), is at present uninhabited and used only for yak grazing in winter. There Marco Polo sheep cross the Yuli Pass between China and Afghanistan in winter. Previous WCS surveys led Dr. Schaller to recommend that this area should be designated a reserve with yak grazing allowed to continue but other activities prohibited.
• In the Hazarajat Plateau region, Band-e-Amir is often described, and appropriately so, as one of the great wonders of the world. Consisting of six crystal blue lakes separated by a series of natural white travertine dams in a unique step-like lock system, Band-e-Amir deserves protection as a major source of future revenue from international ecotourism for the country of Afghanistan. Even today Band-e-Amir is regularly visited by groups of Afghanis on holiday. Alongside the natural beauty of the lakes of Band-e-Amir there is also a shrine dedicated to the Caliph Ali, son-in-law to the prophet Mohammad. Band-e-Amir has been identified as containing appropriate components to qualify as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, yet while it was identified as a National Park in 1973 it still has no formal legal status for protection.
• Finally, the Ajar Valley is a long gorge created by the Ajar River and the sheer-sided Jawzari Canyon. The area has long been known as a location containing good populations of ibex, urial, Bactrian deer and other wildlife, and for many years it was a royal hunting reserve. Although Ajar was gazetted as a wildlife reserve in 1977, there is only a preliminary management plan that has never been implemented, and no recent accurate border assessment, wildlife surveys, socioeconomic surveys, or enforcement has taken place.

The Human Aspect/Threats
At the present time there is no formal system for protection of wildlife or wild lands in the Pamir region of Afghanistan. With pressure on wildlife and rangelands increasing, there is a need for development of a protected area system that will identify and protect important parts of this ecosystem while incorporating local communities into the management process. For Band-e-Amir, threats include uncontrolled tourism that is damaging the site’s fragile travertine land forms, uncontrolled fishing that may be impacting native fish populations (including use of explosives that threatens the integrity of the natural dams), and overhunting that may have already resulted in the loss of urial and ibex from surrounding hills. For the Ajar Valley, recent conflict-related events have resulted in a lack of protection for the area, with the result that wildlife populations have suffered dramatically – Bactrian deer may now be locally extinct, while ibex and urial numbers have certainly declined.

WCS Activities
At each site, project teams will undertake rapid on-the-ground assessments of wildlife populations and rangeland conditions, impacts of farmland expansion and grazing, and community organization and support for environmental protection. If protection measures are considered to be politically, socially and biologically feasible, this project will then finalize status of the protected areas within the Afghanistan protected areas system if necessary, and develop management plans in consultation both government agencies and with local inhabitants to ensure adequate protection and stakeholder participation in management of the protected areas and its associated natural resources.
Protected areas in Afghanistan are likely to be ‘paper parks’ unless proper enforcement mechanisms are put in place. Therefore, this project will also hold a series of workshops to train rangers appointed for the reserves whose tasks will be to deter illegal hunting by frequent patrols and to maintain records of wildlife observed.

Next Steps

• Perform wildlife surveys, socioeconomic surveys, and rangeland assessments at each existing or potential protected area site.
• Develop and enact Wakhan protected area initiatives, including updating the Big Pamir Wildlife Reserve management plan and officially designating the Little Pamir Protected Area and Waghjir Protected Area.
• Develop and enact Hazarajat protected area initiatives, including updating the Band-e-Amir National Park management plan and officially designating the Ajar Valley Wildlife Sanctuary.
• Develop a training program for local park rangers.