Transboundary Conservation of Mountain Monarchs in Afghanistan and Pakistan

Timeframe: 2017 - 2019
Country/Region: Afghanistan and Pakistan, Central Asia
Partner: WCS

Fondation Segré partnered with WCS to support the implementation of a project to protect Asia’s magnificent wild mountain sheep and goats, the Mountain Monarchs, namely the majestic Marco Polo sheep, the urial, the markhor and the ibex. These Mountain Monarchs are endemic to the enormous mountain ranges of southwestern Asia and face a number of threats, including hunting for meat and sport, border fences that are a significant barrier to movement, and livestock disturbance, competition, and even disease transmission.

The goal of this project is to build local capacity for long-term, sustainable conservation of Afghanistan and Pakistan’s Mountain Monarchs across their shared transboundary landscape. The project’s objectives are to build the ecological knowledge of the key ungulate species of this region, while simultaneously channelling this information into adaptive co-management regimes that WCS has helped create that include both community organizations and government agencies working in partnership to implement conservation activities to protect these iconic species. In particular, the three main objectives are to

  • Train, supply, and deploy community rangers for monitoring and enforcement to protect Mountain Monarchs
  • Build capacity of community conservation organisations to protect the landscape
  • Improve transboundary protected area management