Wildlife Conservation - The Times Of Central Asia

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National Parks

Kyrgyzstan Plans to Expand Protected Natural Areas

Kyrgyzstan plans to expand its protected natural areas under a draft strategy for 2026–2035. The expansion would bring additional high-altitude glaciers, rocky mountain areas, and state forest lands under protection. The Ministry of Natural Resources, Ecology, and Technical Supervision released the document for public consultation on October 26. An accompanying explanatory note proposes increasing protected land from 11.8% of the country’s territory to 20% by 2030 and 30% by 2035. However, another section of the strategy sets 2030 as the deadline for reaching 30%, leaving the intended timetable unclear. Kyrgyzstan’s protected natural areas currently cover approximately 2.36 million hectares. The increase in protected land in recent years partly reflects the creation of ecological corridors linking protected areas, including the 792,000-hectare Ak Ilbirs corridor in 2025. Under the proposal, the expansion would take place without removing productive pastures from agricultural use. Traditional livestock grazing by local residents would continue to be permitted in buffer zones. The country has ten state nature reserves covering a total of 509,900 hectares and 13 national nature parks spanning 724,900 hectares. The draft strategy calls for upgrading their infrastructure, introducing digital monitoring and recordkeeping systems, and improving training and equipment for park rangers. Other priorities include combating poaching and protecting mountain wildlife, including snow leopards and Tien Shan brown bears, as well as ancient walnut forests and glaciers. Private investors would be allowed to develop tourism facilities in designated recreational zones within national parks. However, the draft would prohibit transferring protected land into private ownership and constructing permanent buildings. The authorities also propose introducing cashless payments for admission tickets to reduce unrecorded revenue. Residents of nearby communities would have opportunities to earn income through guesthouses and other small tourism businesses. The strategy’s authors acknowledge the risk of ecosystem degradation from growing tourist numbers. The document specifically identifies the popular Ala-Archa, Karakol, Chon-Kemin, and Kyrgyz-Ata parks as areas of concern. It proposes limits on visitor numbers along popular routes to reduce littering and damage to vegetation. The strategy would be financed through existing government allocations, income from park visitors, and international grants, with no additional budget spending required, according to its authors. Kyrgyzstan’s nature reserves and national parks received more than 271,000 visitors in 2025, an increase of nearly 24% from the previous year. Revenue from park visits more than doubled to $431,000.

Saiga

Prince William Praises Kazakhstan’s Saiga Recovery

Britain’s Prince William has highlighted Kazakhstan’s success in restoring its saiga antelope population, crediting government support for the animal’s recovery during an appearance on The Graham Norton Show. Asked about the distinctive antelope and the Altyn Dala conservation initiative, William said the species had recovered from critically endangered status to large numbers. Kazakhstan’s government had recognized the animal’s importance to the country and to conservation, he said: “They threw their full weight behind it.” Video: The Graham Norton Show / So Television / BBC The exchange came during an Earthshot Prize edition of the BBC chat show broadcast on October 23, with a photograph of a saiga displayed in the studio. William appeared alongside actors Cate Blanchett and Hannah Waddingham and conservationist Robert Irwin. Altyn Dala won the 2024 Earthshot Prize in the Protect and Restore Nature category, receiving £1 million to support its work. The initiative helps restore Kazakhstan’s vast steppe ecosystems, with the saiga’s recovery among its most prominent achievements. In an October 2025 update, Earthshot said Altyn Dala had helped the saiga population grow from around 40,000 to more than four million over two decades. The recovery followed a steep decline caused by poaching and disease. The initiative brings together Kazakhstan’s government and the Association for the Conservation of Biodiversity of Kazakhstan, with international conservation partners. Its work includes tracking saiga movements to help protect breeding and feeding grounds. Altyn Dala has also helped return endangered Przewalski’s horses to Kazakhstan, extending its restoration work beyond the antelope that drew attention on Norton’s sofa. Separately, King Charles III sent President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev a congratulatory telegram for Kazakhstan’s Republic Day, according to an October 25 statement from Akorda. The king praised the friendship between the two countries and reaffirmed his commitment to expanding bilateral cooperation.

White Tigers

White Tiger Cubs Born at Ashgabat Zoo

Two white tiger cubs have been born at Ashgabat Zoo and will be shown to the public starting in the spring of next year, according to a Turkmen news report. Digital news outlet Takyk reported this week that the male and female cubs are under close veterinary monitoring alongside their mother at the zoo, whose formal name is the National Museum of Wildlife. The cubs were born to a tiger named Taymaz and a tigress named Narin, according to Takyk. Many people are drawn to the striking appearance of white tigers, but several international conservation groups have said the animals don’t serve any conservation purpose and are primarily bred for entertainment and profit. White tigers are believed to be extinct in the wild, according to the International Fund for Animal Welfare group. The World Wildlife Fund (WWF), another conservation organization, has said that white tigers are not a separate subspecies of tiger and that those in captivity exist due to inbreeding. “The white tiger is a result of a rare genetic mutation and the most efficient way to breed them is by using two tigers who have the recessive genes needed to produce offspring with a white coat,” said the WWF, adding that white tigers suffer from significant health problems. The Ashgabat zoo encompasses about 40 hectares and is located on the slopes of the Kopet Dag Mountains, just west of the capital. The zoo opened in the city center in 1932 but conditions became cramped, prompting authorities to move it to the more spacious outskirts in 2010.

Wildlife Conservation

Tajikistan Notes Conservation Success as Markhor Population Grows

Tajikistan’s population of markhors, a wild goat species known for its corkscrew-style horns, fell to an estimated several hundred in the 1990s, a tumultuous period marked by civil war following independence from the Soviet Union. Today, there are more than 7,000 markhors in the country, and their numbers are increasing, according to a survey conducted earlier this year. The population increase reflects years of conservation measures and local community efforts to protect the markhor, which is indigenous to mountain regions in parts of Central and South Asia. In 2014, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) listed the species as “Near Threatened” on its Red List, an improvement on its previous “Endangered” designation. At the time, the IUCN estimated the total markhor population, not just in Tajikistan, at around 5,700 “mature individuals,” excluding kids and yearlings. The markhor’s range includes parts of Afghanistan, India, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan, according to the conservation group. This year’s figure of more than 7,000 markhors in Tajikistan was reported by Isfandiyor Shukurzoda, a senior official in the country’s Committee for Environmental Protection, at a news conference on Thursday, the state news agency Khovar reported. Tajik officials also reported the figure in May at the United Nations. The number was based on a census carried out in February and March “using modern equipment that accurately monitors the movement of animals and their behavior in their natural environment without human intervention,” the agency said. It added that preliminary data indicated “the population of this rare animal species is stable and growing.” Members of the state Forestry Agency and the National Academy of Sciences of Tajikistan were involved in the census, which was conducted in the Danghara, Shamsiddin Shohin, and Darvoz districts. Those districts are in southern Tajikistan, with some areas bordering Afghanistan. Years ago, there were reports of markhors being poached for meat, including by Afghan hunters who crossed the remote border. Wood cutting for fuel and livestock grazing have also damaged markhor habitats by shrinking and fragmenting them. In recent years, there has been a push to raise the international profile of the markhor, including by Pakistan, where it is the national animal. The U.N. General Assembly declared May 24 the International Day of the Markhor and marked the occasion for the first time in 2024. The term markhor means “snake-eater,” although the animal is a herbivore.

UNDP

UNDP Opinion: Central Asia – Shared Wildlife, Shared Landscapes, Shared Responsibility

As global leaders gather for the Global Environment Facility (GEF) Assembly in Samarkand, Central Asia has an opportunity to send a clear message to the world: protecting biodiversity is not only about saving species — it is about securing water, livelihoods, resilience and long-term stability for millions of people across our region. From the glaciers of the Tien Shan and Pamir mountains to the deserts, steppes and river basins downstream, Central Asia’s ecosystems are deeply interconnected across borders. Rivers flow between countries. Wildlife migrates through shared landscapes. Mountain ecosystems regulate water systems that sustain agriculture, energy production and communities far beyond the highlands themselves. Among the most powerful symbols of this shared natural heritage is the snow leopard — the silent guardian of Central Asia’s mountains. The snow leopard represents far more than a rare and iconic species. Its survival reflects the health of entire ecosystems that millions of people depend upon every day. Healthy mountain landscapes help secure freshwater resources, reduce disaster risks, sustain pastures and agriculture, preserve biodiversity, and strengthen resilience to climate change across the region. But today, these ecosystems are under growing pressure. Climate change is accelerating glacier melting and intensifying water stress. Land degradation, unsustainable grazing, habitat fragmentation and biodiversity loss are placing increasing pressure on fragile mountain environments and rural livelihoods. Communities living closest to nature are often the first to feel the consequences — through declining water availability, degraded pastures, reduced agricultural productivity and increasing climate-related risks. These challenges do not stop at national borders. And neither can the solutions. Only a coordinated regional response can match the scale of the challenge. Protecting Central Asia’s mountain ecosystems requires countries to work together to conserve ecological corridors, strengthen transboundary protected areas, improve water and land governance, and invest in climate-resilient livelihoods for communities whose futures are closely tied to nature. There are already successful examples of regional agreements. For example, a highly successful transboundary nature conservation agreement in Central Asia protects the Ustyurt Plateau and the Turan Temperate Deserts. Spanning across Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and Turkmenistan, this initiative has successfully safeguarded vulnerable ecosystems and migratory species like the saiga antelope and snow leopard. [caption id="attachment_50004" align="aligncenter" width="1774"] Photo: Saiga calf. Kazakhstan/UNDP Kazakhstan[/caption] It is encouraging that transboundary cooperation has already taken shape across the region. Across Central Asia, governments, communities and development partners are already demonstrating that conservation and development can advance together. While each country's experience is unique, the lessons are remarkably similar: when communities benefit from healthy ecosystems, nature and people both thrive. In Kazakhstan, the snow leopard has become one of the clearest examples of how coordinated conservation efforts can help restore fragile ecosystems across borders. The species inhabits mountain systems that extend beyond national boundaries into China, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, and Uzbekistan, making its protection inseparable from regional cooperation. Over the past decade, habitat countries have strengthened efforts to protect the species through national conservation strategies, expanded protected areas, and improved ecosystem monitoring. Supported by cooperation between the Government, UNDP, the Global...

Wildlife Conservation

Uzbekistan Strengthens Protection of Argali Sheep and Other Rare Species

Uzbekistan is intensifying conservation efforts in its protected areas, with new data indicating a stable population of its endangered wild sheep, the Kyzylkum argali, in the Nurata State Nature Reserve. According to the National Committee for Ecology and Climate Change, the reserve is currently home to approximately 1,700-1,800 argali, also known as Severtsov’s wild sheep. Monitoring data collected in recent years show that the population has remained stable, highlighting the effectiveness of ongoing conservation and protection measures. The Kyzylkum argali is classified as an endangered species. It is listed in the national Red Book, included in the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List of Threatened Species, and protected under Appendix II of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, which regulates international trade in vulnerable species. As a result, systematic monitoring of the population remains a priority for environmental authorities. Established in 1973, the Nurata State Nature Reserve is located in the Farish district of the Jizzakh region and plays a key role in preserving biodiversity in the Nurata mountain range. A total of 247 animal species have been recorded in the reserve, 31 of which are included in Uzbekistan’s Red Book. Specialists note that the stable argali population is closely linked to broader ecosystem protection measures, strengthened anti-poaching enforcement, and continuous scientific monitoring. Further progress is expected under the national development strategy “Uzbekistan - 2030,” which prioritizes environmental security, expansion of specially protected natural areas, and long-term conservation of rare plant and animal species. Officials state that protection measures for Red Book species will continue to be reinforced, with the aim of sustaining positive trends observed in Uzbekistan’s reserves, including the Nurata reserve, over the long term. The stable argali population in Nurata is increasingly cited by environmental authorities as an example of how consistent policy implementation and institutional oversight can contribute to preserving the country’s natural heritage.