Greater Pamir Initiative:Tajikistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan, China

The Pamirs
Flanked by the Hindu Kush, Himalayan, Karakoram, and Kunlun ranges, the Pamirs are one of the most spectacular mountain regions on earth. The borders of four countries – Afghanistan, Pakistan, China, and Tajikistan – meet at this knot of soaring peaks and high plateaus. The spectacular and endangered Marco Polo sheep and snow leopard wander across the borders from one country to another, and ibex, wolf, brown bear and golden eagle can be found in these starkly beautiful mountains.

WCS Activity in the Pamirs
WCS has embarked on a ‘Greater Pamir Initiative’ involving a number of coordinated projects. The linchpin of this initiative is Dr. George Schaller’s effort to create a four-country International Peace Park. This far-reaching initiative focuses on managing joint resources on a solid scientific foundation in cooperation with local communities, facilitating cooperation for mutual benefit, and encouraging good neighborly relations – an International Peace Park that, in the words of IUCN, is “formally dedicated to the protection and maintenance of biological diversity and of natural and associated cultural resources, and to the promotion of peace and cooperation.”

The project began after a survey in the Chinese Pamirs in the mid-1980s when Dr. Schaller realized that Marco Polo sheep could only be effectively protected and managed through trans-frontier cooperation and suggested “the creation of one large reserve” that encompasses the four countries. In 2002, Dr. Schaller visited Tajikistan for three weeks. With Tajik collaborators he surveyed several mountain ranges for snow leopard, ibex, and other wildlife, and he discussed conservation issues with the Academy of Sciences, Ministry of Nature Protection, and other organizations. It was decided to initiate a project in the Pamir in cooperation with the National Geographic Society.

Research in the Pamirs was conducted during June and July, 2003 with a team of  Tajik biologists. Counts of Marco Polo sheep revealed that the population may be declining because of uncontrolled hunting by officals, the military, and especially the Kyrgyz livestock herders. Household interviews with herders revealed great poverty. They had little livestock, most families received food aid from the Aga Khan Foundation, and meat was mostly from Marco Polo sheep. The trophy fees of around $25,000 paid by foreign hunters for a Marco Polo sheep benefit neither the local communities nor conservation. A local education program was launched by WCS in cooperation with the Institute of Zoology of the Tajikistan Academy of Sciences and an NGO, the Agence d' aide a la Cooperation technique et au Development.

Marco Polo Sheep
Marco Polo sheep occur only in the Pamirs. The world has been intrigued by this magnificent animal ever since Marco Polo crossed the Pamirs on his way to China in 1273. The status of this great wild sheep has remained little known. Dr. Schaller initially surveyed the species in Pakistan in the mid-1970s and in China in the mid-1980s. The 2003 survey of Marco Polo sheep in Tajikistan revealed that the total population may number as few as 10,000 animals. It seemed useful to include Afghanistan in the survey effort, especially after it became clear that the animals move back and forth across the borders of all four countries. Thus Dr. Schaller spent 52 days in the autumn of 2004 in the Afghan Pamirs, in what is known as the Wakhan Corridor, and a month in the Tajik Pamirs in March of 2005 censusing Marco Polo sheep. The Afghan Pamir is between 4,000 and 4,700 m in elevation and is without roads and often covered in deep snow, so all travel was on foot or with pack animals provided by Kirghiz or Wakhi herdsmen. The Xinjiang Forest Department in China has now asked Dr. Schaller and Aili Kang of the WCS China office to do a Marco Polo sheep survey along the Tajikistan border in an area that is being considered for a reserve. WCS is also planning a snow leopard survey in Tajikistan in collaboration with the International Snow Leopard Trust.