How Successful Non-hunting Sanctuaries And Reserves Have Been On Saving Animals
Press Release, Seattle/Bishkek, Dec. 28, 2015
The 100 square mile quondam concession area, Shamshy, in Kyrgyzstan'south northern Tian Shan mountains, is home to ibex, and seasonal populations of argali and wolves. It lies within a big snow leopard landscape, and has the potential to become a cardinal part of the domicile ranges of several of these endangered cats if its wild ungulate population could be increased.
Shamshy's ibex used to be hunted commercially – just now, they will be allowed to thrive and recover undisturbed, as hunting will no longer be allowed. This comes as part of a pilot project that aims to plow the former hunting concession into a new blazon of reserve, co-managed by the regime, conservation NGOs, and local people.
"With proper protection and management, the area's ibex population could double or even triple in the next ten years, and then it could get an important feeding ground for the local snow leopard population", says Charu Mishra, the Snow Leopard Trust's Science & Conservation Director.
An Idea Born Out of the Trophy Hunting Debate
Commercial big game hunting, often referred to every bit 'trophy hunting', is a acquirement source for many countries around the world, and a hotly debated topic in conservation circles. Advocates of trophy hunting say that selling licenses to hunt big game generates funds, which tin be used for conservation projects, while opponents fear that information technology adds to the pressure many species are already under, and also question the ideals of the practice.
The idea of turning a former hunting concession into a nature reserve was born out of this debate.
"In a hunting concession, the company that leases and manages the area would take the exclusive right to sell a stipulated number of licenses given out by the hunting department to shoot argali or ibex to any interested party – and they'd have the right to protect their interests e.g. past employing rangers. In our case, nosotros'll take similar rights, merely we won't sell whatever hunting licenses, and we'll have rangers patrolling the area to make sure that there'due south no hunting at all. We will besides piece of work with local people in the surrounding region, initiate community-based programs that they can benefit from, and strengthen their support for conservation", Charu Mishra says.
The area volition be used for research, education and express ecotourism – photographic camera trap population surveys of snowfall leopards, and distribution and affluence surveys of ibex and other species; and also law enforcement trainings for park rangers, and possibly nature camps for local children are slated for the coming years.
This new, innovative approach is made possible by apartnership between the Snow Leopard Trust, Snow Leopard Foundation Kyrgyz republic, and the Section of Hunting and Natural Resource Management under the Land Agency for Environment Protection and Forestry of the Kyrgyz Republic, which problems hunting concessions and licenses in the Central Asian country.
"Information technology is our duty to manage the natural resources of the Kyrgyzstan sustainably ", says Musaef Almaz, the Department of Hunting and Natural Resources Management's Manager. "This means finding a healthy residuum between hunting and conservation. We believe that this innovative idea of co-managing some of our concessions with partners such as the Snow Leopard Trust and the local people has a lot of potential."
More than Reserves Could Be Added in the Future
For this pilot, the Hunting Section has forfeited the toll of the hunting licenses that could have been sold in this area, had it been rented out to a commercial outfit. All partners will share expertise, the cost of training, equipment and salaries for the rangers, besides as whatever other costs that ascend from the co-management of the area.
Shamshy is an platonic spot for the pilot. It offers natural features that make it a skillful habitat for a wide range of species. "Shamshy has a scrap of everything – the terrain gradually changes from lush meadows and thick forests along a crystal articulate stream to grassland, and finally to steep, rocky peaks covered in glaciers", says Kuban Jumabai uulu, the Director of the Snowfall Leopard Foundation Kyrgyzstan.
While the surface area is fairly easy to access past road, there are only 2 conceivable entry points into the reserve, information technology's feasible to monitor and patrol the surface area with a pocket-sized team of rangers drawn from the local communities around.
"Local people are crucial partners for any conservation initiative", Kuban Jumabai uulu says, "they will retain their correct to graze their animals in Shamshy, admitting in an informed and systematically managed way".
"We're looking forward to seeing the results of this approach" says Musaef Almaz "If it works as well equally we wait, we will expand it to other hunting concession areas in the futurity together."
Charu Mishra agrees: "This pilot tin can exist a swell outset to a promising new conservation approach that could actually make a departure for Kyrgyz republic's wildlife."
Acknowledgements:
This project has support from: Woodland Park Zoo and Partnership Funding past Fondation Segre, managed past Whitley Fund for Nature.
More information:
Snowfall Leopard Foundation in Kyrgyzstan
Leading the fight for the future of the endangered snow leopard in Kyrgyzstan, the Snow Leopard Foundation partners with international organizations such as the Snow Leopard Trust to improve understand and protect this cat in this cardinal range land.
Snow Leopard Trust
The Snow Leopard Trust, based in Seattle, WA, is a earth leader in conservation of the endangered snowfall leopard, conducting pioneering research and partnering with communities as well equally authorities in snowfall leopard habitat to protect the true cat.
world wide web.snowleopard.org
Related
Source: https://snowleopard.org/from-hunting-reserve-to-wildlife-sanctuary/
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