INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Persian leopard.In an open letter on the occasion of World Environment Day 2022, he highlighted the impact of current conflicts, sanctions,
and political tensions on the conservation of the Persian leopards, and on the very people dedicated to protecting them.Goodall has called
for actions to facilitate international cooperation beyond recent political circumstances, like the lifting of economic sanctions, plus the
development of clear criteria regarding funding and technical cooperation.The letter reads as follows:At times of anguish and confusion, we
turn to nature to quiet the mind and find healing
We hold on to the miraculous survival of wildlife and ecosystems, to persist in the face of struggles we have no control over, leaving us
often drained and hopeless.For us, one of those miracles is a beautiful feline, the Persian leopard (Panthera pardus tulliana), roaming the
Azerbaijan, Armenia, Georgia, Russia, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Afghanistan, and Pakistan
Tajikistan and Uzbekistan were part of the range but they are now considered extinct there.Almost 80 percent of these leopards are found in
Iran, followed by Turkmenistan
In the Caucasus, long-term conservation efforts have led to the unique recovery of a small population in the Zangezur region, including the
the Conservation of the Persian Leopard Panthera pardus tulliana, draft).Almost 80 percent of Persian leopards are found in Iran, followed
Shortly after, Persian leopards (not related to the reintroduction program in the Russian Caucasus) were spotted in Russian
animal known there died in 2021.Recently in Turkey, leopards were recorded at four different locations, some of which are dispersing male
individuals from the source populations in the Lesser Caucasus
In Iraq, since its recovery in 2011, around nine dispersing males and a female have been identified in the Kurdistan region, at eight
At least three leopards have been killed in the region in the last five years.Persian leopard research and activities have ignited awareness
and advocacy for these cats and the classic threats they face (poaching, loss of habitat and prey, human-wildlife conflict) but also raised
awareness in the countries they inhabit and the importance of maintaining connectivity among them, and not just in the ecological sense
Some of the Persian leopard range countries face different political challenges.In the Caucasus, between Azerbaijan and Armenia, leopards
navigate a landscape of mines and tensions brought by the still ongoing Nagorno-Karabakh conflict
the bottom of the priority list in the country, with no local funding available to support local conservation projects.Changes in U.S
leadership in 2016 resulted in the U.S
Iran, but also indirectly hurting conservation initiatives, and some of the very people leading them.The Convention on Migratory Species
(CMS) and the German Federal Agency for Nature Conservation (BfN) plan to organize a Range States Meeting to adopt a Regional Strategy for
develop the foundations for it
The meeting is scheduled to take place in September 2022 in Tbilisi, Georgia.The draft strategy is very ambitious, and the success of its
implementation rests very much on the recognition that nature and conservation require international cooperation and funding, as well as
monitoring wildlife: they may not have been well understood five years ago, but they have since been demonstrated to be a fantastic way of
learning about elusive animals, and much research could not be possible without them.FB/MG
