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livestock

Proof of Asiatic Cheetah presence in rangeland which ICS and IUCN NL secured for conservation

by pourmir August 22, 2021

written by pourmir 2 minutes read

The Iranian Cheetah Society (ICS), supported by IUCN Netherlands, succeeded in evacuating livestock in 5,600 hectares of rangeland on the edge of Touran National Park. This intervention soon paid off; these photos are the first pictures of the Asiatic Cheetah’s presence in this area! Unfortunately, even though the 5,600 hectares are located in a vital part of the cheetah’s habitat in Iran, no cheetah pictures were available from this area.

[irp posts=”22791″ name=”The starting of nationwide population monitoring the Asiatic Cheetah”]

Background

Livestock evacuation from the rangelands in this area became a priority action for ICS and the Iranian Department of the Environment (DOE) in this region to protect the critically endangered Asiatic cheetah from extinction. ICS estimates that less than 30 Asiatic Cheetahs remain in the wild, all of them in Iran. ICS managed to revoke the grazing permits and installed the camera traps in this area to ensure the presence of this valuable species.

Annually, almost 80.000 livestock in more than 120 herds with 300 dogs are allowed to roam across the Touran Biosphere Reserve. However, due to drought in recent years, herds occupy the most suitable pastures and proper habitats. This makes the ungulates and their predators move to less-preferred areas during harsh winters. Besides, the wildlife is also directly affected because of many herd dogs within the area, as well as cryptic poaching efforts by herders. Poachers also find more opportunities during grazing seasons because they can pretend they are herders looking for their livestock or trying to find proper vegetation for their animals.

In fact, due to the presence of livestock higher than this arid area’s capacity, Touran Biosphere Reserve provides risky winters for the wildlife, both due to drawbacks in proper grazing habitats for the wildlife as well as much more susceptibility to the poachers due to the presence of many people inside the area.

Accordingly, several Asiatic Cheetahs have been caught/killed by people/herd dogs in recent years during their presence with their domestic animals. Also, overgrazing threatens Asiatic Cheetah’s prey with limited food resources and makes them go to higher elevations because their habitat is occupied by livestock.

Success

These recorded photos are the first pictures of the cheetah’s presence in this area. According to the identification database, they belong to identified cheetahs with the names of Telma and Fegheh. Thus, the recorded presence of these two cheetahs in the new area is now undeniable, which is a fascinating reward for the hard work of our field team.

Currently, ICS monitors all critical Asiatic Cheetah spots in Touran Biosphere Reserve using camera traps in cooperation with the Iranian DOE.

[irp posts=”22522″ name=”Creating a Livestock-Free Wildlife Refuge to Safeguard the Critically Endangered Asiatic Cheetah”]

August 22, 2021 0 comments

Asiatic Cheetah Conservation Program

Livestock removed from a 5,600+ hectares area to make it a secure home for Asiatic Cheetah

by pourmir March 17, 2021

written by pourmir 3 minutes read

Conservation is a complicated field that could differ with different situations and the target species. These complication gets higher when the local people and their interests are involved in a project. One of the biggest enigmas for conservationists is creating a win-win situation. Therefore, they always need to assess the situation and use the previous experiences with an open mind.

Iran is home to the last wild population of Asiatic Cheetahs in the world. Two areas have always been of importance; Miandasht Wildlife Refuge and Touran Biosphere Reserve. Due to ICS investigations, it is clear that grazing rights are an endangerment for cheetahs in these areas. With the help of the Netherlands’ IUCN National Committee, we were looking for an appropriate and efficient solution for reducing the overgrazing pressure of livestock in the cheetah’s habitat. The initial idea was to relocate herders outside the national park to secure critical seasons (i.e., winter and spring) for the cheetah and decreasing livestock overgrazing pressure on the area’s fragile rangelands to provide resources for wild ungulates.

Asiatic Cheetah in Touran Biosphere Reserve

As the project furthered, we found out that the livestock grazing permission prices have doubled up. This made the available budget insufficient. Thus, the negotiations for buying all the available permits didn’t work out at the moment. Hence, the ICS came to an agreement with the DoE of Semnan province so they would pay for the rest of the budget.

The failure in providing the needed budget until 2017, reduction of Rial value, and increasing inflation made the ICS change the project location. After contacting other provinces’ Departments of Environment that host Cheetah and coordinating with the Conservation of Asiatic Cheetah Project (CACP) and the DoE of North Khorasan request, ICS finally relocated this project to this province. Again, the process of buying the grazing permits in the Miandasht Wildlife Reserve started, but because of the government budget allocation, the prices raised again, and once more, the project came to a stop.

In 2018 and after management changes in Semnan province, ICS reconsidered the Touran National Park for the project again. Finally, the negotiations with one of the stock owners were going according to the plans, and even the budget was enough this time. Still, unfortunately, because of the official technicalities, the project remained unfinished.
In 2020 the ICS and DoE both separately started corresponding with the Department of Forests and Rangelands and the Iranian parliament to discuss law enforcement’s absence, which never happened because of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Meanwhile, the ICS tried to maintain the agreement with the stock owner. Due to the one-year pause between the agreement, the price of grazing permits doubled again; we feared we would not be able to finalize the deal.
But we succeeded! We finalized our agreement with one of the most important permission owners in Touran Biosphere Reserve. With the revocation of the exploitation permit in the northern edge of Touran National Park, an area of 5,600 hectares will be permanently empty of livestock. This permit has covered 498 livestock.

Panorama view of the purchased pasture

Panorama view coral in the purchased pasture

Although this project was postponed due to unforeseen events, it brought us the same amount of lessons learned and ultimately ended in an impressive end.” We would like to thank Netherlands’ IUCN National Committee Land Acquisition Program for their commitment to make this a success. Because of our joint efforts, an important area has been secured for the next generation of Asiatic Cheetah in one of the key reserves.

Map of pasture in Touran

March 17, 2021 0 comments

Asiatic Cheetah Conservation Program

Creating a Livestock-Free Wildlife Refuge to Safeguard the Critically Endangered Asiatic Cheetah

by pourmir December 6, 2020

written by pourmir 1 minutes read

The project “Securing Touran National Park for Asiatic Cheetahs” was officially funded by IUCN NL Land Acquisition Program in August 2014. The initial goal was to lease ca. 516 km2 of Turan National Park from grazing permit owners and securing critical seasons (i.e., winter and spring) for the Asiatic Cheetah and its prey species. The project started positively but experienced a series of unfortunate setbacks along the way, which has protracted the project for years.

Ultimately, an amendment was signed by ICS and IUCN NL to authorize the relocation of the project in 2017. This relocation was supposed to help ICS focusing on work rather than corruption and conflicts. Based on the amendment, the project title officially changed to “Creating a Livestock-Free Wildlife Refuge to Safeguard the Critically Endangered Asiatic Cheetah in Northern Iran.” This project is still ongoing in ICS, which is prioritized in the yearly work plan.

Asiatic Cheetah and Dogs in Miandasht Wildlife Refuge

This year, IUCN NL celebrates the 20th anniversary of the IUCN NL land acquisition fund, which allowed over 100 NGOs to protect and connect the – often fragmented – habitats of endangered species. Stories of these local partners and their conservation efforts are presented in an extensive anniversary report. ICS has also shared its experiences during this complex project in the anniversary report.

You can download the “Anniversary report: two decades of land acquisition for conservation” from the box below.