Afghanistan, United States Partner for Biodiversity Conservation

NEW YORK, New York, June 29, 2006 (ENS) - The elusive snow leopard and the world's largest sheep are among rare species that will be sheltered in Afghanistan's first official system of protected areas. The biodiversity conservation initiative launched Wednesday is a joint project of the Afghan and U.S. governments and the New York based Wildlife Conservation Society.

"This is an important and exciting moment for Afghanistan, which contains some of the most beautiful wild lands in Asia," said Peter Zahler, assistant director for the Wildlife Conservation Society's Asia Program and a researcher in the region for over a decade.

Afghanistan's landscape is dominated by the Hindu Kush mountain range and the Pamir Knot, a region where the Hindu Kush, Karakoram, Tien Shan, and Himalayan ranges come together to form some of the greatest mountains in the world.

Looking north to the Parmir Mountains (Photo courtesy Galen Frysinger)

Other mammals known to occur in Afghanistan include the ibex, the Persian leopard, gazelles, and the elusive snow leopard.

The biodiversity project was spearheaded by Dr. George Schaller, vice president of the Wildlife Conservation Society Science and Exploration program and one of the world's best known field biologists.

Dr. Schaller was one of the first to intensively study species such as the snow leopard and the Marco Polo sheep in the 1970s, and in recent years he has continued to perform some of the only wildlife surveys in the high Pamirs of China, Tajikistan and Afghanistan.

Dr. Schaller's years of research has led to the project's plans to bring the governments of Afghanistan, Pakistan, Tajikistan, and China together in an effort to develop a four country transboundary park in the Pamirs to further protect the mountain ecosystem.

Within Afghanistan, five areas are being considered by this project for protected area status.

Three are located in the high Pamirs in an area called the Wakhan Corridor - the Pamir-I-Buzurg, Little Pamir, and the Waghjir Valley.

Two candidate areas - Bande Amir and Ajar Valley - are located in the Central Plateau region.

Native to the Himalayas, snow leopards are an endangered species (Photo credit unknown)

Scientists will develop a baseline of information on wildlife populations, rangeland status, and diseases affecting both livestock and wildlife such as Marco Polo sheep and establish a wildlife monitoring program.

Local communities will be included in the project to help them sustainably manage their natural resource base.

"Conservation is critical for recovery and stability in a country where so many people directly depend on local natural resources for their survival," Zahler said. "Conservation can also inspire local communities and even neighboring countries to work together to protect the region's natural heritage."

The project will be funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

"Conserving Afghanistan's unique biological diversity is an important element of USAID's overall reconstruction program in the country," said Mission Director with USAID in Afghanistan Alonzo Fulgham. "We are pleased that one of the premier conservation organizations in the world, the Wildlife Conservation Society, will be partnering with us in this effort."