Wildlife and tourism in Tajikistan

Tajikistan has developed a National Strategy and Action Plan on Conservation and Sustainable Use of Biodiversity in accordance to the United Nations Convention on Biodiversity. This strategy and action plan was endorsed by the president, Emomali Rakhmon in 2003. By this document as well as other strategic documents the government and the whole society commit oneself to care for the survival of the country’s biodiversity and in particular the rare and endangered species. However, so far the sustainable use, especially of large ungulates for trophy hunting, is not yet considered in policies as a powerful incentive for these species and the ecosystems they are part of.

For fostering public dialogue on the policy concerning hunting on large mammals and in particular mountain ungulates the NGO “Nature Protection Team” with support by The Snow Leopard Conservancy (Link) in March 2008 conducted a first national round table, bringing together decision makers, specialists from nature conservation agencies, scientists from the Academy of Science and universities, managers of hunting enterprises and NGO representatives. The forum called for the application of approaches centring on sustainability and adequate benefit sharing letting local people profit from the use of the wildlife in their proximity. A second national round table was organized and facilitated by “Nature Protection Team” with support by GTZ in October 2009. In this consultative meeting again various stakeholders discussed the perspectives of sustainable use of mountain ungulates. Especially local private conservancies and community based NGOs reported the first time in public about their successes and challenges and get into open discussion with high ranking staff of the nature protection agencies, ministries and the parliament. The participants concluded the meeting with a joint resolution.

The Republic of Tajikistan has signed and ratified most of the international conventions relevant for the conservation of wildlife:

• Convention on Biodiversity
• Ramsar Convention on protection of internationally important wetlands
• Convention on Migratory Species
• Convention on Combating Desertification

So far the Republic of Tajikistan is not yet a signatory of the Convention on International Trade of Endangered Species of Flora and Fauna (CITES). Thus required export permits are issue by the respective authorities of the Russian Federation. However, the administrative and scientific organs for CITES have been nominated and the signing of the convention is envisaged by the government.

The national legal framework related to wildlife management includes the following most important laws:

• Law on Protection of Nature (download in russian)
• Law on the Animal World (download in russian)
• Law on Especially Protected Natural Territories (download in russian - download in english)
• Forest Code (download in russian - download in english)

The legislation in many aspects provides just a framework requiring specifications by bylaws. Bylaws of importance are:

• The government decree No. 324 from 16 July 1997 “On measures for the improvement of hunting management in the Republic of Tajikistan” (download in russian)
• The government decree No 546 from 2 November 2007 “On the confirmation of the amount of charges for the conduction of legally important activities and the payments for the issuing of permits for the use of natural and other available resources” (download in russian)

Many of the current regulations are considered outdated, overlapping, contradicting or missing. A revision process was thus started by the Government of Tajikistan. By providing expertise and facilitating public discussion the project in cooperation with GTZ supports the review of the existing legal and regulatory framework, the elaboration of amendments to existing documents and the elaboration of new laws and bylaws.