Workshop ‘Securing Bukhara Deer Habitat Connectivity in the Lower Amu Darya`

The Bukhara deer is listed on Appendices I and II of the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS). CMS Parties that are Range States of the species are committed to protecting the Bukhara deer, conserving and, where feasible, restoring its important habitats, and prohibiting its taking. 

Today, the largest population of Bukhara deer occurs in the Badai-Tugai riparian forest of the Lower Amu Darya Biosphere Reserve in Uzbekistan. While conservation efforts have led to significant population growth and stabilization across parts of the species' range, particularly in Uzbekistan, important challenges remain throughout the range. These include habitat loss and fragmentation, barriers to migration, poaching, human–wildlife conflict, and locally high population densities resulting from restricted habitat connectivity. 

At the Third Meeting of Signatories to the CMS Memorandum of Understanding concerning Conservation and Restoration of the Bukhara Deer, held in Almaty in 2024, Signatories adopted the Bukhara Deer Work Programme 2025–2032. Together with Resolution 11.24 (Rev.COP15) on the Central Asian Mammals Initiative (CAMI), it provides the strategic framework for coordinated conservation action across the species' range. 

The workshop "Securing Bukhara Deer Habitat Connectivity in the Lower Amu Darya" hosted by the Government of Uzbekistan contributes to the implementation of Activities 2.1–2.14 of the Bukhara Deer Work Programme and Activities 5.6 and 6.2 of the CAMI Work Programme. It is co-organized by the CMS Secretariat, the Michael Succow Foundation and the German Federal Agency for Nature Conservation (BfN), under a cooperation agreement between the CMS Secretariat and BfN, funded by BfN with  financial and technical support of the Aral Sea Wetlands project of the National Committee on Ecology and Climate Change of the Republic of Uzbekistan and UNDP, funded by the Global Environmental Facility (GEF). 

The objectives of the workshop are to: 

1) develop and endorse a concise action plan to enhance habitat connectivity for the Bukhara deer in the Lower Amu Darya (including adjustments in management, potentially establishing an ecological corridor and translocation of animals); 

2) identify associated funding requirements; and 

3) agree on next steps to secure the necessary resources to implement the activities. 

Participation is by invitation only.