Analyzing Gaps and Options for Enhancing Argali Conservation in Central Asia

argali © Richard ReadingMoscow,
10 August 2012
- The threatened argali mountain
sheep (Ovis ammon) would greatly benefit from improved
transboundary conservation under the Convention of Migratory
Species (CMS) – this is the conclusion of a study,
which assesses the gaps and needs of argali conservation
as well as the option for promoting such cooperation under
CMS.

The argali was listed on CMS Appendix II
at the 10th CMS Conference of the Parties (COP10) in November
2011 following a proposal submitted by Tajikistan and Kazakhstan.
The proposal received great support and several other range
states of the species such as Kyrgyzstan and Afghanistan,
also expressed their interest in developing transboundary
conservation of argali under CMS on different occasions.
At the same time, COP10 adopted Resolution 10.16, which
lists a set of criteria that need to be taken into consideration
when making any proposal for a new instrument under CMS,
including the “substantiation of the case for a new
instrument, based on an analysis of needs and gaps in current
conservation provisions”.

With funding from German government through
the Regional Program on Sustainable Use of Natural Resources
in Central Asia of the German Society for International
Cooperation – (GIZ) GmbH, the CMS Secretariat in cooperation
with GIZ therefore commissioned this study to review existing
initiatives and conservation activities for argali in Central
Asia, assess current needs and gaps in conservation and
management of the species, and in particular, to analyze
the role CMS could play in this regard. The report elaborates
ways to progress argali conservation and discusses the potential
benefits and challenges of developing a new instrument for
the conservation of argali and its habitat under the aegis
of CMS.

[Full
Report]
[Executive
Summary]

 

Last updated on 16 June 2014