Bafgh, May 2, 2008 - People from Bafgh in Yazd Province and several villages situated on the mountainous periphery of Bafgh Protected Area have over the last two years been participating in activities to raise public awareness on the critically endangered Asiatic cheetah and its habitat in Iran. As a finale to their efforts, the festival “Children in the Land of the Cheetah” was organized on 2 May 2008 in Bafgh in the presence of high ranking representatives from the local municipality and government, the school children and students, and village representatives.

This festival marked one of the end activities for the Small Grants Programme (SGP) project titled “Community Empowerment and Capacity Building for Conservation of Asiatic Cheetah”, which has been a part of a cluster of small initiatives supporting the larger joint UNDP and Department of Environment project “Conservation of Asiatic Cheetah, its Natural Habitat and Associated Biota in I.R. Iran”, funded by the Global Environment Facility (GEF). The GEF initiative operates in five different areas where there is a known concentration of cheetahs, namely Kavir National Park, Khar Touran National Park, Naybandan Wildlife Refuge, Daranjir Wildlife Refuge, and Bafgh Protected Area.

“The festival was very successful and we are satisfied” says Mohammad Sadegh Farhadi-nia, Director of Iranian Cheetah Society – Grantee for implementing the project. He continues: “Many high ranking representatives from governmental offices were present and they all delivered strong speeches about the importance of cheetah conservation.” Close to 300 visitors were gathered in the Ceremony Hall of the mining company Sang-e Ahan, where they could visit an exhibition of children’s paintings, watch a locally produced documentary about the cheetahs in Bafgh Protected Area, and view a students’ play related to the endangered species. In the closing ceremony, over 100 of the students, park guards, villagers, government officials and others received small prizes for their efforts in the project.

“The target groups of this project were carefully selected and through a series of participatory management workshops the SGP grantees in the Cheetah cluster were jointly trained in basic participatory skills by Poyeh Group, in order to be better equipped to work with locals and various stakeholders. Stakeholder participation through participatory approaches is a major concern in SGP projects” says Laleh Daraie, National Coordinator of the Small Grants Programme.

Farhadi-Nia says: “During the project’s two years of activities we have had two focus groups. The first has been the citizens of Bafgh, where we have been very successful in increasing knowledge and understanding concerning local wildlife and the importance of biodiversity conservation through support from the government and clergy, and work in schools and volunteer activities. The second has been the people living in five villages situated close to the Bafgh Protected Area. As a result, there is now a strong willingness in these communities to continue awareness and conservation efforts, something that was additionally emphasized by the village elders present in the festival.”

Once found from the Arabian Peninsula in the west to India in the east, the Asiatic cheetah is now only known to exist in Iran and possibly in Pakistan’s Baluchestan province. Illegal hunting and disturbance of the habitats of cheetah and its natural prey has reduced the number of cheetahs significantly, and it is estimated that less than 100 individuals remain, mainly in Iran’s east-central provinces of Yazd and Semnan.

Mehdi Kamyab, Head of UNDP Iran’s Energy, Environment and Disaster Management Programme Cluster, emphasizes joint efforts in conserving the Asiatic cheetah and says: “From where UNDP Iran stands, this has been our foremost conservation effort that has contributed much to understanding the biology of the cheetah and the dynamics of cheetah threats and root causes. Our wildlife conservation approach has been premised on developing national and local capacities to counter a number of threats to the Asiatic cheetah. Our good work through the SGP recognizes the long-term nature of conservation and forges alliances with local communities, in particular children as the true bastions of conservation in tomorrow’s Iran. The SGP projects have been innovative in transforming old enmities between game guards and local stakeholders by educating game guards in more subtle approaches to working with common ties in conserving local wildlife and natural resources.”