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| ‘A Treasure in My Backyard: Suleiman Markhor’ launched |
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Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Schezee Zaidi
Islamabad
Turning from hunters to conservationists, the tribal community of the remote region of Torghar in Balochistan’s northeastern district of Qilla Saifullah now generates US $200,000 per year as a result of their conservation efforts.
This information was floated at the launching ceremony of a book titled ‘A Treasure in My Backyard: Suleiman Markhor’ by Luc Bellon, launched by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) at the United Nations Information Centre on Tuesday.
Luc Bellon, a French anthropologist and author of the book, has done extensive field research on both Baloch and Pashtun cultures and provides a fascinating account of the NGO called Society for Torghar Environmental Protection’s (STEP) efforts to promote conservation and development with local communities in Torghar. He provides detailed documentation of how the organisation mobilised local communities to take ownership of conservation efforts of the Suleiman Markhor and Afghan Urial, while simultaneously addressing the urgent need for development in the area.
In his introductory remarks, Country Director UNDP Alvaro Rodriguez said that Luc Bellon’s book is an important and timely account of a joint collaboration between an NGO and a local community to bring about social change in the face of formidable obstacles. The study highlights the inter-linkages between natural resources and the well-being of local communities and will be of interest to all those who believe sustainable development can occur through community efforts at the grassroots level. Through a joint effort by UNDP, STEP and the local community, the Suleiman Markhor and Afghan Urial now have a future in Torghar and could be an inspiration for similar conservation efforts across Pakistan.
Sardar Naseer A Tareen, Founder Torghar Conservation Project, shared his perspective on the project and said that more than 20 years on, the forging of a strong relationship between STEP and the people of the area has led to an increase in the number of the Suleiman Markhors from 56 in 1986 to more than 1,600 in 2000, and during the same period, the Afghan Urial population increased from less than 100 to over 1,700.
In absolute terms, it means the highest concentration of straight horned Markhor in the world, and of Urial in Pakistan. He said that though the volatile geo-political situation, endemic poverty, drought and frequent inter-tribal warfare, combined with minimal governmental interest in conservationism posed a formidable challenge for STEP, however, it did not take long for STEP to convince local communities about the economic benefits of conservation. The project has transformed the Pashtun tribes of Torghar from traditional hunters into active conservationists by initiating the concept of regulated trophy hunting and creating economic incentives for communities to undertake conservation efforts. The revenue raised from the trophy hunt permits is used by local communities to finance a wide range of local development and conservation efforts. He said that after the successful attempt to preserve the Markhors and Urials, they have now received a small grant by UNDP for saving the Black Bear species in Khuzdar.
Luc Bellon mentions in his book that Torghar is one of the last remaining natural habitats of the Suleiman Markhor and Afghan Urial in Pakistan. Although, the Markhor has become iconic as Pakistan’s national animal, it remains on the International Union for the Conservation of Nature’s (IUCN) list of threatened species. The Suleiman or straight horned Markhor is a rare sub-species, indigenous to the Toba Kakar Mountains of North-Eastern Balochistan. In 1986, there were just 56 documented Suleiman Markhors and 100 Afghan Urials left in Pakistan, with almost no government efforts to check the illegal hunting of both animals, which are listed as “protected animals” under the Balochistan Wildlife Protection Act of 1974.
Luc Bellon has done an excellent job of analysing power relations and the social undercurrents that have prevented a consensus on the equitable access and distribution of resources, decentralisation of authority and assumption of responsibilities by the people living in Torghar. He has also documented the history of the Programme and how its management and operations evolved over the past 20 years. Torghar continues to be a unique example of conservation in the private sector without any financial or technical support of the government. The case of Torghar shows that sustainability, even when set as a goal, should primarily be regarded as a process, rather than an achieved outcome.
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ISSN 1563-9479 
