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Good practice Imported

Wakhan National Park — Community-Managed Snow Leopard Conservation in Afghanistan's Pamir Corridor

Afghanistan · Qala-e Panja · See the Afghanistan profile

Evidence: Observational / pre–post Top 89% 27/100 · Ask Evidence Copilot about this practice

In Afghanistan's Wakhan Corridor, WCS camera traps confirmed snow leopards at 16 locations under a 2016–2019 GEF-funded, community-managed protection programme — a strong biodiversity result whose continuity since the 2021 change of government remains unverified.

16 locations
Snow leopard locations confirmed by camera trap (2016-2019)
2.69 core + 9.04 co-financing million USD
Programme funding (GEF-UNDP core grant plus co-financing) (2016-2019)
100-200 animals
Estimated national snow leopard population (Afghanistan) (as of the GEF-funded phase)
~1,000,000 hectares
Protected area covered (ongoing)
Wakhan National Park — Community-Managed Snow Leopard Conservation in Afghanistan's Pamir Corridor

Details

Promoter
Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), with Afghanistan's National Environmental Protection Agency
Period
2006–2019 (GEF-funded phase); post-2021 continuity unverified
Keywords
biodiversity conservation, protected areas, community-based natural resource management

Context

Wakhan National Park covers roughly one million hectares of the high Pamir and Hindu Kush ranges in Afghanistan's Badakhshan province, forming one of Central Asia's most important snow leopard landscapes. The Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) has worked in the corridor since 2006, and a GEF/UNDP-funded programme (2016-2019, $2.69 million plus $9.04 million in co-financing) supported systematic camera-trap monitoring, community ranger training and anti-poaching enforcement.

Activities

The park is co-managed by local communities and government as an IUCN Category VI protected area, combining ranger patrols, predator-proof livestock corrals, a livestock-insurance scheme to offset losses to snow leopards, and education programmes aimed at reducing retaliatory killing.

Results

Camera-trap surveys produced Afghanistan's first confirmed photographic records of snow leopards, detecting the species at 16 separate locations across the corridor — concrete, repeatable evidence in a landscape where the national snow leopard population is otherwise estimated at only 100-200 animals.

Conclusions

The model is a genuine community-governance success on paper, but its evidence base is dated: the GEF-funded phase ended in 2019, and no monitoring data published since Afghanistan's 2021 change of government confirms whether ranger patrols, the livestock-insurance scheme or camera-trap monitoring are still operating. Any replication elsewhere should treat post-2021 continuity as unverified.

Implementation
Indicative cost
High (€500k–€5M) — The GEF/UNDP-funded phase (2016-2019) totalled $2.69 million in core grant funding plus $9.04 million in co-financing.
Time to results
Long (> 3 years) — WCS has been active in the corridor since 2006; the core funded programme ran 2016-2019; post-2021 continuity under the current government is unverified.
Staffing & skills
Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), Afghanistan's National Environmental Protection Agency, Local community rangers

Conditions for success

  • Community co-management model (IUCN Category VI protected area)
  • Combination of ranger patrols, predator-proof livestock corrals, livestock-insurance scheme and education programmes to reduce retaliatory killing
  • Systematic camera-trap monitoring generating concrete evidence
  • Long-term NGO presence (WCS in the corridor since 2006) providing continuity

Common failure modes

  • GEF funding ended in 2019
  • No monitoring data has been published since Afghanistan's 2021 change of government confirming whether rangers, the livestock-insurance scheme or camera-trap monitoring are still operating
  • Political instability puts programme durability and any replication's continuity assumptions at risk

Where it fits

Governance type
community-government co-management, led by an international NGO (WCS)
Scale
landscape-scale, about 1 million hectares
Income level
low-income, conflict-affected (Afghanistan)

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