roads Archives - Iranian Cheetah Society

The Asiatic Cheetah is a species with continuous movement. According to ICS’s data recorded throughout the 3 phases of the Population Monitoring Program, this animal can move over 200 kilometers in just a few months. Therefore safe corridors are of high importance in conserving this species. A significant portion of cheetah mortality also occurs in these areas.

The ICS is trying to observe the presence of cheetahs in these habitats through the “Explorers of Hope” Project. Based on habitat suitability modelings, these habitats are of high desirability and importance for the species or have recorded cheetah signs in them.
One of those areas is located in the province of South-Khorasan. A critical and the only corridor for the movement of the species from Naybandan wildlife refuge towards Semnan and Razavi-Khorasan provinces.

Received information claim that the South-Khorasan Department of Roads and Urban Development is planning to construct a new road in this area, connecting Bajestan to Boshruyeh. The department has also announced that the project is awaiting the permission of the Department of Environment.

According to the Iranian Environment and Wildlife Watch news agency, the South-Khorasan DoE has sent the plan to the office of Habitats and Protected Area Affairs in the central Department of Environment for confirmation. Concerning the importance of the issue, the ICS has sent a letter to this office regarding the potential threat that developing this road will make to the extremely endangered species of Asiatic Cheetah. We hope this department will strictly reject this plan; otherwise, the only possible connection point between southern and northern habitats would be disconnected by a 4-laned Road. We will stand against this project to make sure it will be canceled.

Maps reference:

Ahmadi, Mohsen & Nezami, Bagher & Jowkar, Houman & Hemami, Mahmoud-Reza & Fadakar, Davoud & Malakoutikhah, Shima & Ostrowski, Stéphane. (2017). Combining landscape suitability and habitat connectivity to conserve the last surviving population of cheetah in Asia. Diversity and Distributions. 23. 592–603. 10.1111/ddi.12560.

UPDATE:

The official correspondence of ICS with DoE confirms the rejection of the road plan, as it is capable of destroying two protected areas.

On August 29th 2016, the Iranian Cheetah Society (ICS) held a press conference explaining its plans for the 10th anniversary of the National Cheetah Day. During this conference CEO of ICS, Morteza Eslami, stressed that ICS intensive field works since 2012 suggest that the current status of the Iranian cheetah population is a source of major concern. He explained that during 2012 ICS surveys, 20 cheetah individuals were photographed inside the cheetah reserves, of which 7 were females. In 2013-14 surveys, 23 Asiatic cheetahs were identified through extensive camera-trapping efforts, but only 4 were females. Eslami added that 2016 surveys have been able to document as few as only 2 female cheetahs, given the fact that two out of 4 females we identified in 2013-14 surveys died in vehicle collisions in 2015-16. Eslami noted that the available data is insufficient to judge if the cheetah population trend is declining. “However, there is strong evidence that if we do not act now, there would be no hope for the survival of the Iranian cheetahs by 2020”, Eslami added.
Furthermore, Eslami explained that currently 2 female cheetahs have been photo-captured in Miandasht Wildlife Refuge, and other partners have been able to confirm the presence of at least one female cheetah in Touran Biosphere Reserve. No female cheetahs have been recorded in the southern cheetah nuclei in the south and south-central Iran since 2012. Eslami stressed that the Iranian cheetah population appears to be very small population, perhaps about 40 individuals, so increasingly vulnerable to catastrophic events. ICS believes that still there is hope for saving the Iranian cheetah population. Yet, conservation efforts must be doubled, national and international partners must work together and focus their efforts to minimize cheetah mortalities and isolation of the remaining populations, and roads trespassing or surrounding critical cheetah habitats must be secured for cheetah movements to guarantee cheetah population connectivity.