Main Project Activities

SGP Project No.: IRA/SGP/OP5/Y3/STAR/BD/13/07(183)

Before conducting the second courses of the Persian Leopard Regional Workshops (PLRW) in 2014, we had identified several subjects according to the priori need assessments. These subjects eventually classified as follows:

1. Research and monitoring

2. Awareness raising and community based programs

3. Media and news in wildlife conservation

Similar to the second courses of the PLRW in 2012, we invited experts and specialized individuals to join the PLRW-2014 lecture team. Each expert and lecturer embarked on preparation of educational materials specifically for PLRW 2014.

While research and monitoring group (concerning leopard, habitats and preys) addresses biodiversity (BD), land degradation (LD) and sustainable forest management (SFM), the entire procedure and identified fields are innovative and developing the capacities which eventually aid establishment of the leopard systematic monitoring procedures and influence the species conservation activities.

Lecturers in above mentioned fields are as follows, relatively:

1. Dr. Arezoo Sanei, Dr. Mohamad Mehdi Saberioun, Mr. Mohamad Ali Adibi

2. Dr. Saeed Nouri Neshat, Dr. Parvin Pakzad Manesh

3. Mr. Hamid Reza Mirzadeh, Mr. Amin Saneie

Yet, we added a new introductory session of the “environmental leadership program” in which was lectured by Ms. Goli Ahmadifard.

Earlier, we had established the Persian Leopard Online Portal with more than 1500 registered individuals from various fields of expertise and knowledge from all around the country. Concerning the current objectives, we classified the relative individuals in one or more of the third above mentioned groups in accordance with their details such as the locality, interest, local knowledge (local people, mountain climbers, wildlife rangers) and/or field of expertise (for experts, NGOs and students, wildlife wardens).

Thus, the individuals who are able to cooperate in conducting monitoring and research activities or have regular access to the habitats, have been assigned to the first group for further relative training and lectures. The same has been done for the two next groups. Afterwards, individuals were invited for the same topic courses in their own region.

Yet, one workshop of each topic has been dedicated to the provincial experts and decision makers because of their direct influence on provincial, regional and national capacities and strategies.

The following workshops has been held during the PLRW 2014:

While research and monitoring lectures as well as the community based programs directly address leopards, their habitats and prey species (BD, LD, SFM) and empower the target group of participants regarding the relative methodologies, lectures on media and news is an innovative topic which eventually influence conservation strategies, advocacy and awareness raising programs.

To sustain the project outcomes, a plan was developed to address future activities of the established network. Yet, since the network is in a national scale, integration of the activities into the Persian leopard national action plan is compulsory. Therefore, legal measures together with capabilities associated with PLNN in research and conservation efforts has been directly noted in the species national action plan which has been endorsed by Department of Environment of Iran.

A group of experts in each field has embarked on preparation of technical guides for future activities of the Persian Leopard National Network. Thus, three technical books for each field of (i) research and monitoring, (ii) awareness raising and community based programs, (iii) media and news in wildlife conservation has been produced. In the last subject, lessons learned from previous role of media in wildlife conservation in Iran is also discussed.

Find more about innovative activities in this project

Objectives

SGP Project No.: IRA/SGP/OP5/Y3/STAR/BD/13/07(183)

The general objective of this project is empowerment of the Persian Leopard National Network established during the project no. IRA/SGP/OP5/Y2/STAR/BD/12/02(168) for further participatory research and conservation of the Persian leopard in Iran.

Specific objectives

-          To establish operational groups concentrating on three subjects of the (i) Persian leopard research and monitoring, (ii) community based programs and (iii) application of media and news in conservation

-          To design and produce relative educational and technical materials for education and training purposes

-          To produce methodological guides for further reference of the members of the Persian Leopard National Network

-          To provide free of charge lectures and training courses for the members of the Persian leopard online portal and the established operational groups

-          To provide opportunities to share the lessons learned and local knowledge and relative discussions in a regional context and ascertain participation of a wide range of identified participants from various provinces

-          To plan for future activities of the Persian Leopard National Network

-          To influence the leopard conservation strategies and policies in Iran for further contribution of national, provincial and local capacities for participatory conservation of the Persian leopard in Iran

Innovative measures

SGP Project No.:IRA/SGP/OP5/Y3/STAR/BD/13/07(183)

The Persian leopard has a wide range in Iran and a great variability is existed in various parts on its range which include both natural and human factors. Therefore, the procedure we develop during this project (following by the previous project IRA/SGP/OP5/Y2/STAR/BD/12/02(168)), is an innovative measure applicable to the actual leopard status in Iran. Yet, several innovative measures produced during this project in which are listed as follows:

(a) The Persian leopard systematic monitoring scheme:

Reliable monitoring data to address the changes in status of the target species (including various factors such as population and distribution) as well as the habitats and prey species, is a vital measure in management efforts. Recording and storing the leopard data in Iran have been done since 2002 by the author which provide a great view on leopard status changes as a management tool. Yet, to establish a systematic and participatory procedure to increase the efficacy, here we established a separate operational group. Members of this group are among individuals, non-governmental and governmental organizations with direct access to the habitat and leopard information in their own area. We draw the guidelines to collect, record and store the data systematically and relative courses were conducted to train the members about the techniques, objectives and procedures.

As an additional step, the monitoring procedures have been based here was included in the Persian Leopard National Action Plan to sustain the project outcomes. Also, at the same time,  Asian Leopard Specialist Society together with Boushehr Provincial DoE Office, developed and conducted a separate pilot project to establish the first Persian leopard monitoring reference area using the techniques have been set in this project while the area was then endorsed as the first monitoring reference area in Iran. Yet, the term “reference areas” refer to another innovative measures have been developed and ruled in the Persian Leopard National Action Plan for further monitoring of the leopard status and population across the country.

(B)  Media have been very active in in the past years for tracking of the leopard conservation status across the country. However, while the media has a wide range of influence on leopard status, aspects of the relation between “media” and “conservation” remained undiscussed so far. As a very common issue, the individuals with knowledge about media are not familiar with conservation issues and those with knowledge on conservation are not familiar with media. In these courses, we joined both groups while discussing the news and media rules and regulations and previous lessons learned from influence of media on conservation issues.

(C)  We have write up 3 technical books for further reference of the members as guideline.

(D) Collaborating with foreign experts in the Persian leopard range in terms of monitoring techniques and to share the lessons learned and knowledge through a field training course, was one of the activities in this project. More

(E)  We introduced the environmental leadership concept as a new topic to influence the policies and strategies for the leopard conservation in Iran.

Summary

SGP Project No.: IRA/SGP/OP5/Y3/STAR/BD/13/07(183)

Following by the project no. IRA/SGP/OP5/Y2/STAR/BD/12/02(168) conducted earlier to establish a national network for further participatory research and conservation attempts addressing the Persian leopard in Iran, the current project is generally about empowerment of this established network across the country. The project has been started since January 2014. We designed educational and technical materials for education and training purposes. Establishment of the operational groups concentrating on three main subjects of the research and monitoring, community based programs and application of media and news in conservation of the Persian leopard in Iran, was conducted on the basis of the capacities of the Persian Leopard Online Portal for identification of relative individuals across each province. Subsequently, regional workshops were conducted to cover these topics. We also planned for future activities of the Persian Leopard National Network which was then, included in the Persian Leopard National Action Plan that officially endorsed in 2016. Additional to the activities of the project, several innovative programs have been developed. These include: the Persian leopard systematic monitoring scheme, active involvement of the media in awareness raising programs for the purpose of leopard conservation, preparation of 3 technical books and developing protocols for further reference of the participants for future activities, introducing the environmental leadership concept as a new topic to influence the policies and strategies for leopard conservation in Iran.