Afghanistan

Afghanistan Biodiversity Conservation Project

Afghanistan has suffered through almost a quarter century of warfare, beginning with the Soviet invasion in the 1970s and continuing through civil wars and the Taliban years. While the human toll has been horrific, Afghanistan’s environment has also suffered dramatically during the decades of conflict. Forests have been cut down, grasslands have been depleted, soils are blowing away in the winds, and wildlife is vanishing. This is partly a result of the conflict itself, both directly (e.g., bombings) and indirectly (e.g., the millions of displaced people forced to find shelter, fuel wood, and food while on the move). It is also partly a result of an utter lack of resource management at the central, provincial, or even community level during the decades of conflicts.

Despite this devastation, there is now an enormous opportunity for conservation in Afghanistan. With newfound peace and a stable government, efforts are underway to move resource management and conservation to the forefront of activities. Afghanistan lies at the crossroads of temperate and tropical biomes, and is a critical part of migratory bird pathways, as well as still being home to a wide mix of wildlife, from northern species such as wolf and brown bear to southern species such as leopard and gazelle, as well as mountain specialists such as snow leopard and the magnificent Marco Polo sheep. Grasslands, deserts, marshes, and mountain ranges such as the Hindu Kush and Pamirs make Afghanistan a spectacular landscape and an important site for global biodiversity.

The Human Aspect
Natural resource conservation is a critical component of reconstruction and development in Afghanistan. With over 80% of Afghanis dependent on the country’s natural resource base, long-term stability will be directly dependent on sustainable management of natural resources. And despite the isolation of rural communities in Afghanistan, issues here are not just a matter of local concern. Afghanistan plays a critical role on the global political stage, especially given the nearby borders of China, Pakistan, Kashmir India, and Tajikistan. This is a volatile region, and cultural dissolution can have regional and even global repercussions. If environmental conditions continue to degrade, people will no longer be able to carve a living out of the fragile steppe, desert, and mountains as they have for centuries. Poverty will spread, communities and cultural practices will dissolve, and rural migration will further dissolve cultural connections and negatively affect neighboring communities and regions.

Threats
Afghanistan’s resource base has been dramatically and negatively affected over the course of the last quarter century from near-constant conflict and associated pressures related to the destruction of infrastructure, movements of large numbers of internally displaced people, an influx of modern weaponry, extreme poverty, and an almost total lack of enforcement. Coupled with severe drought, the results have been that rangelands have deteriorated, forests have been felled, and wildlife has been unsustainably hunted.

WCS Activities
With funding from USAID, this project will focus on three areas: the Wakhan Corridor, the Hazarajat Plateau, and the Eastern Forest complex. The Wakhan has some of the last relatively pristine wildlife habitats and wildlife populations left in Afghanistan; the Hazarajat Plateau has some of the most important existing and potential protected areas in Afghanistan; and the Eastern Forests complex has the last remaining arid conifer woodlands remaining in the country, a critically important component for both biodiversity conservation and economic development.

These initiatives involve four interwoven categories. The first involves surveys and analyses to collect baseline data, identify threats, and design initiatives to alleviate those threats – subjects include wildlife, rangeland, livestock, forest cover, health, and socioeconomic factors. The second involves community based initiatives, ranging from environmental education to facilitating in the creation of community resource committees to helping with livestock health issues to hiring and training local people as wildlife rangers, monitors, and ecotourism guides. The third involves policy, ranging from reviewing existing policies and providing recommendations for improvement to developing recommendations for new and expanded protected areas, training park rangers, and other relevant government-led conservation actions, including continued efforts to establish a four-country transboundary peace park in the Pamirs. The fourth involves building capacity within Afghanistan’s environmental sector. This capacity building is woven into all other project activities, and it is also specific to focused short course training and study/travel tours to relevant international sites. Throughout this project, activities are designed to raise Afghanistan’s capacity for self-management of their natural resource base through education, workshops, and training.

Next Steps

• Perform wildlife surveys throughout the Wakhan region.
• Perform research on Marco Polo sheep, including behavior and movements.
• Perform an assessment of rangelands in the Wakhan Corridor.
• Perform a socioeconomic survey of Wakhan communities.  
• Develop a community conservation education program that will lead to the creation of community conservation committees for resource management and the identification, training, and hiring of community wildlife rangers. 
• Combine assessments of rangelands, pastoralist land use and movement, Marco Polo sheep migratory patterns, and areas identified as critical to wildlife to develop a landscape management plan for the Wakhan region.
• Perform a health assessment of livestock and Marco Polo sheep.
• Develop a community based livestock health training program.
• 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.
• Continue to develop a Transboundary Peace Park initiative between Afghanistan, Pakistan, Tajikistan, and China.
• Review policies and legislation affecting wildlife, wild lands, and protected areas.
• Develop an environmental services valuation project.   
• Develop a plan for forest and wildlife assessments for Nuristan, Kunar, Paktika,  Khowst, and Paktia.
• Help raise capacity within Afghanistan’s environmental sector through a series of training courses and a Conservation Study Exchange Program.