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SAVING THE DEOSAI BROWN BEAR (Story contributed by UNDP/GEF)

The Deosai Plains of Northern Pakistan (elevation 4,000 meters) are a rugged, desolate area teeming with wildlife. Snow leopard, ibex, musk deer and the Himalayan brown bear once roamed these wintry slopes in large numbers. But by 1993, the population of the Himalayan brown bear (Ursus arctos) of Deosai had shrunk to a total of 19 animals, and these were in serious danger of extinction from poachers and local hunters.

In an effort to save the brown bear, unique to the Himalayan range, a group of concerned Pakistanis founded the Himalayan Wildlife Project (HWP), which they constituted as a non-governmental organization (NGO). The leaders of HWP were Dr. Anis ur-Rehman and Mr. Waqar Zakria. The group soon learned that neither the government of Pakistan nor the Northern Areas Wildlife Department (NAWD) had the capacity, or the means, to properly manage or patrol the Deosai Plains. Also, hunting has been a traditional occupation among villagers in the area, and the income derived from the 75 kg of marketable fat that could be extracted from an adult bear went far to supplement meager local livelihoods.

Dr. Ur-Rehman and Mr. Zaqrai realized that real incentives must be offered to the villagers to persuade them to stop hunting bears and to protect endangered species. Considerable consciousness-raising about the value of local flora and fauna needed to take place. For example, in the past, local people were not even aware of the species of the animals they hunted, and understood even less the ecological balance that would be disrupted with the extinction of an endangered species such as the brown bear.

Primarily vegetarians, who also eat fish, brown bears almost never attacked the farm animals of the villagers, yet they were lumped together in the minds of the people with real predators such as tigers and wolves. Hunting persisted, and the bear population continued to decline.

The Himalayan Wildlife Project started with the surveying of the Deosai Plains in 1994 to collect data on the bear population there. During these surveys, it was found that only 20 bears were left there, contrary to the claims of the wildlife department that about 100 bears roamed the Deosai plains. The surveyors added the element of conservation in their workplan for the next year and mobilized the wildlife department to set up check posts jointly on the two entrances of the Deosai plains to monitor the movements of the visitors in Deosai plains and to check that no weapons were carried into the Deosai Plains. Then they mobilized the government to declare this area as a wilderness park and developed a Management plan of the area, which suggested that Deosai should be declared as National Park.

On the basis of the recommendations of the management plan, the Government inded declared the area a national park, and the NGO tried to implement the prescriptions of the Management Plan. HWP also mobilized resources from University of Pretoria, South Africa and the US Fish and Wildlife department whose experts came to these plains to train project staff and wildlife department officials in radio collaring and immobilization of the brown bears. The Botany department of Cambridge University, UK and the Pakistan Museum of Natural History helped record the flora of the Deosai plains.

In early 1996, the Himalayan Wildlife Project sought help from the Global Environment Facility Small Grants Programme (GEF/SGP) of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and received a grant of $11,100 to cover a one-year period. The money was used primarily to protect bio-diversity by building the capacities of local people -both villagers and officials of the NAWD- to manage the Park effectively, protect its vegetation and wildlife, and establish a modest infrastructure for eco-tourism (employing local people trained as guides) to help increase awareness of the beauty and value of the unique natural resources of this isolated area. An additional incentive was the assurance that the rights of villagers to use parklands to graze their domestic animals on a seasonal basis would be protected.

To further strengthen local capacities, ten villagers, in addition to NAWD staff, have been trained and employed to conduct research to monitor the bear population and study its migration, food-gathering and breeding habits. Research also includes collecting data on fish, mammals, vegetation, and insects, and keeping track of the impact of the human population. This research strategy reduced costs, provided training and employment for local people, and fostered a sense of community "ownership" and participation in the ecological welfare of the Deosai plain. Already the population of the Himalayan brown bear has "soared" to 25. No hunting incidents were reported in the last few years, and four new cubs have been born in recent months.

NB: In 2000, the Himalayan Wildlife Project (HWP) became the Himalayan Wildlife Foundation (HWF).