Global

In the opinion of one of the beneficiaries of the project, tribesmen would have resumed hunting had it not been for the water tanks provided by the project, in light of their reduced incomes.

Year Markhor Urial
1994? 695 1173
1997? 1296 1543
1999? 1648 1742
? Sponsored by US Fish and Wildlife Service. A fresh population survey is due in the spring of 2005.

The above table shows that ungulate population continued to increase between the years 1997 and 1999 when the project was underway. That this was happening despite the pressure of the drought both on the wildlife as well as the communities shows that the animals were well left alone.

The markhor (Capra falconeri) is a globally important species listed in CITES (Appendix I) and US Endangered Species List. Its conservation therefore is globally important.

Local

Lined tanks and irrigation channels conserve water by preventing seepage. Wastage was therefore reduced at a very critical time when the outflow of the springs was greatly reduced.

All the farmers interviewed were unequivocal about their losses in terms of fruit trees being 100% had the lined tanks not been in place in the worst years of the drought. They attribute the survival of the few trees to the fact that there was some little water available for irrigation.

The washed out dam recharged the drying aquifer and saved not only the orchards of Tubli, but also the summer vegetation of Khaisor. In consequence, the herdsmen of Tubli village continued to use the grassland instead of moving their herds into an area of Torghar that holds the largest concentration of straight-horned markhor.

The dam moreover revived the dying springs of Sharan Jogezai on the southern fringe of Khaisor plain. This is a rare, perhaps the only, example in Pakistan of an intervention impinging upon a community well outside the project area.

The construction of a gabion wall turned out as an unforeseen training course in gabion construction for a local tribesman. He has since used the skill effectively in one other project. Similar future assignments will result in the technique being passed on to other individuals as well.

STEP initiatives had covered a limited number of families. These included those of the game watchers, as well as those in whose area some developmental work had taken place. The GEF/SGP intervention, whether it was a water tank, roadwork or medical aid, took the coverage to nearly every single family in the region. This means covering some four thousand individuals in Torghar.

Most of the farmers and herders are aware that the GEF/SGP intervention was in response to their abiding by the rules of the STEP wildlife conservation efforts. It was viewed as a gift to them in return for their help. This notion alone is more useful than any awareness raising campaign or coercive method to get these free-spirited people on board.

There is many a boy child born about the time TCP began work in Torghar. Now into his twenties he has yet to take up rifle at a wild animal. The donor?s intervention has strengthened this condition.