In search of international attention and support

The early establishment of a considerable number of zapovedniki (“strict” nature reserves) is probably one of the most valuable heritages of the former Soviet Union. These reserves represent most of the natural zones and endemic ecosystems on the Eurasian continent and are of paramount importance to the whole world. However, after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, environmental policies and nature protection efforts in the 15 former republics developed in very different ways. Whereas the Baltic republics of Estonia, Lithuania, and Latvia and the western part of Russia soon benefited from the attention of international conservation organizations (mainly focusing on bird habitats), the Central Asian republics—particularly in the Tien Shan and Pamir mountain regions—received virtually no attention because of the political situation. Despite their attempts to overcome this neglect, which reinforced their existing economic marginalization, external support has come only recently. Because of the civil war, international support for nature conservation came last to Tajikistan, a delay that was reinforced by remoteness and difficult accessibility. This report focuses on Tajikistan as an example of recent efforts.

Promoting local participation

As elsewhere, the international organizations active in the former Soviet zapovedniki promote a modern, holistic approach to protected areas, trying to reconcile economic, social, and ecological concerns with sustainable solutions to park management. However, in most cases, active involvement by the affected local population—the so-called participatory approach—has not gone beyond rhetoric and written statements (related to the local definition and understanding of sustainability, joint planning and management, and sharing of benefits). The lack of experience of many new or newly arrived actors and the lack of appropriate tools to implement participatory approaches are two of the major reasons for this unsatisfactory situation. The opinions of local stakeholders concerning economic, social, and land tenure requirements are hardly ever acknowledged or taken into account. Little effort is made to integrate their concerns about sustainable management of these parks. Considering the very difficult living conditions of communities in or near such areas and the absence of support from the authorities, lack of interest and conflicting forms of behavior are understandable. However, if protected areas and their natural heritage are to be preserved effectively, these concerns and shortcomings must be addressed. Broader understanding will require wider perception of what could and should be preserved among particular cultural elements that contribute to unique cultural landscapes to enrich what has so far been a perception of nature conservation alone. This task must be tackled in a way that capitalizes on experiences gained in other regions and fields, including methodologies such as autodidactic learning for sustainability (ALS), developed by the Centre for Development and Environment (CDE), University of Berne, with the possibility of adopting the ALS training module on sustainable resource management (SRM) to the specific requirements of protected areas.

The Tajik National Park

The breakdown of the Soviet Union was followed by 3 years of civil war in Tajikistan, creating deeper social, economic, and political changes than elsewhere. Under these circumstances, even greater attention will have to be paid to the needs of local communities and to the current economic situation when devising feasible protection concepts for this large area. A critical element in successful implementation will be broad recognition of the Tajik National Park as an important long-term and transnational asset beneficial to the entire region. “National Park” is understood here as one type of “managed resource protected area” (category VI in the International Union for the Conservation of Nature classification scheme); but this implies the development of an overarching vision that provides the framework for identification of all concerned stakeholder groups within the Tajik National Park (TNP) as a new entity. This in turn will require collaboration between scientists and nature conservation specialists who act as facilitators in a harmonizing process involving local inhabitants and authorities at different levels, while concealing conflicting expectations and interests. (One of 14 Swiss National Centres of Competence in Research, the NCCR North–South, is currently involved in field work on sustainable implementation of protection concepts in the TNP.)

Against this ecological, political, historical, and sociocultural background, it is recommended that the administration of the TNP develop and adopt a broader, innovative landscape perspective that takes greater account of the multifaceted patrimony of the park and that better matches the requirements of sustainable land management (SLM). This major shift in paradigm requires moving beyond the single species or symbolic “label animal” approach (eg, the Marco Polo sheep or the snow leopard) toward a broader view of interactions between species and related ecosystems and between the economic needs of local communities and the contributions of nature conservation interests.

Multilevel, multistakeholder approach

The concept of SLM implies active involvement by all concerned stakeholders in the process of jointly defining and implementing the most adequate and sustainable use of available land resources (soil, water, vegetation, and animals). In the context of the TNP, this specifically means involving villages and their inhabitants settled in and around the park, whose traditional livelihoods heavily depend on pastures and (rare) forest resources—crucial elements of the protected area. The successful implementation of such areas greatly depends on the ability to accommodate and balance different needs and expectations, to make compromises, and to offer alternatives where tension and conflict appear unavoidable. A possible entry point for finding acceptable solutions is the multiple land-use management system approach, where the differing interests of concerned stakeholders are taken into account, while the conservation of biodiversity also is guaranteed. To encourage local interest in conserving nature and to move toward sustainable use of natural resources, it is important to listen closely to midterm perspectives in the TNP villages in order to create alternative sources of income outside the dominant farming sector and to look beyond concerns about biodiversity conservation only.

The TNP and even its Kyrgyz neighborhood could thus serve as an interesting transboundary “exercise field” for using and further developing participatory methodologies and tools to promote SRM, such as the Sustainable Development Appraisal (SDA) developed at CDE or an ALS module, to be developed for the specific needs of protected areas. This could promote innovative action research, with collaboration between the above-mentioned international nature conservation organizations, authorities at different levels, local populations, and specialized research institutions such as CDE and its current international program on mitigation of syndromes of global change.