In this four year project, FFI and its partners will address local drivers of poaching and trafficking of critically endangered saiga, focused on the ural, betpak dala, and ustyurt populations the…

In this four year project, FFI and its partners will address local drivers of poaching and trafficking of critically endangered saiga, focused on the ural, betpak dala, and ustyurt populations the projects overall goal is that saiga populations in kazakhstan and uzbekistan recover and flourish thanks to effective, locally led in situ protection and conservation and the reduced threat of poaching and international trafficking to achieve this goal, the project will pursue three, integrated objectives that are underpinned by an overall strategic approach, which stresses individual and organizational capacity building to protect and conserve saiga in their native habitats now and into the future building and leveraging evidence to support the design and implementation of effective conservation action and increasing the use of situational crime prevention SCP as a key tool towards stopping the threats of poaching and trafficking if we are successful, we will enable smarter conservation practice and create opportunities for law enforcement and local and national authorities to intervene pre crime, including through greater patrol effectiveness and community engagement, and thereby reduce poaching and trafficking project objectives are to build the knowledge, capacity, and motivation of at least 60 local saiga conservationists to implement targeted crime prevention measures to mitigate the threat of poaching and trafficking, based on an empirical understanding of key drivers and contexts support at least six local ranger monitoring teams two per saiga population found in kazakhstan and uzbekistan to adopt best practice techniques for effective, evidence based patrolling to reduce poaching of saiga in their native habitats and build the institutional capabilities of at least three local organizations to effectively design, fund, and manage saiga conservation projects key activities include explore what enables saiga poaching and identify knowledge gaps and priority research needs provide training on collecting and analyzing sensitive data related to poaching behaviors pilot and then implement field research to improve understanding of what enables poaching build capacity of research teams to analyze data and publish findings develop situational crime prevention recommendations for three saiga populations unlock the value of current and future patrolling data to address poaching in three saiga landscapes develop and implement ranger training modules on community engagement for use in national curricula enhance the effectiveness and safety of existing monitoring and patrolling efforts through provision of targeted field supplies to ranger groups strengthen the capacity of 20 local NGO and government agency staff to secure and manage grant funding to support locally led saiga conservation activities strengthen the organizational resilience of at least three key national partner organizations to deliver large scale saiga conservation projects and sustain impact and support the professional development of at least six future conservation leaders capable of driving forward strategic actions for saiga FFI will be joined by the association for the conservation of biodiversity in kazakhstan acbk , the saiga conservation alliance, and oxford university in implementing this project, in partnership with government, civil society, and other local stakeholders the project will benefit community and government rangers working to monitor and protect three saiga populations, ranger training academies and their current and future students, local researchers and academic institutions, local and national civil society organizations and their staff, and communities living in and near targeted saiga populations