Mountains of Central Asia - Priorities

CEPF's investment in the Mountains of Central Asia Biodiversity Hotspot is guided by the following strategic directions as outlined in the ecosystem profile.

1. Address threats to priority species.
    
   
   • 1.1 Improve enforcement and develop incentives and alternatives for nature users and collectors.
      
   • 1.2 Promote improved regulation of collecting, hunting and fishing.
      
   • 1.3 Support the development of species-specific reserves and conservation programs.
      
   • 1.4 Prevent human-wildlife conflict by addressing killing, poisoning and trapping.
      
   • 1.5 Maintain populations of priority species beyond those solely affected by collection, hunting, fishing, poisoning and nature users.
      
2. Improve management of priority sites with and without official protection status.
    
   
   • 2.1 Facilitate effective collaboration among civil society organizations, local communities and park management units to enhance protected area networks.
      
   • 2.2 Develop and implement management approaches to sustainable use in Key Biodiversity Areas (KBAs) outside official protected areas.
      
   • 2.3 Build support and develop capacity for identification and recognition of KBAs.
      
3. Support sustainable management and biodiversity conservation within priority corridors.
    
   
   • 3.1 Develop protocols and demonstration projects for ecological restoration that improve the biodiversity performance and connectivity of KBAs.
      
   • 3.2 Evaluate and integrate biodiversity and ecosystem service values into land-use and development planning.
      
   • 3.3 Support civil society efforts to analyze development plans and programs; evaluate their impact on biodiversity, communities and livelihoods; and propose alternative scenarios and appropriate mitigating measures.
      
4. Engage communities of interest and economic sectors, including the private sector, in improved management of production landscapes (i.e., priority sites and corridors that are not formally protected).
    
   
   • 4.1 Engage hunting associations, tourism operators and mining companies in conservation management and establishing valuation mechanisms for biodiversity and ecosystem services.
      
   • 4.2 Promote mainstreaming of conservation into livestock and farm management practices.
      
   • 4.3 Promote sustainable forest certification and value chains for non-timber forest products.
      
   • 4.4 Engage with the government and private sector to incorporate site safeguards into infrastructure development.
      
   • 4.5 Engage the media as a tool to increase awareness about globally threatened species and KBAs and inform public debate of conservation issues.
      
5. Enhance civil society capacity for effective conservation action.
    
   
   • 5.1 Enable and enhance communication and collaboration between civil society and communities and government agencies responsible for implementing national biodiversity strategies.
      
   • 5.2 Enhance civil society organizations’ capacity for planning, implementation, outreach, sharing of best practice, fundraising and communication.
      
   • 5.3 Catalyze networking and collaboration among civil society organizations and between them and public sector partners.
      
   • 5.4 Promote greater sources of funding for civil society to become engaged in conservation action.
      
   • 5.5 Support action-oriented environmental education.
      
6. Provide strategic leadership and effective coordination of conservation investment through a regional implementation team.
    
   
   • 6.1 Build a constituency of civil society groups working across institutional and political boundaries toward achieving the shared conservation goals described in the ecosystem profile.
      
   • 6.2 Act as a liaison unit for relevant networks throughout the hotspot to harmonize investments and direct new funding to priority issues and sites.
      

Read more about CEPF's strategy in the hotspot in chapter 12 of our ecosystem profile (PDF - 6.2 MB), also available in Russian (PDF - 7.6).