AFGHANISTAN: WHY THIS HUNTER NOW PROTECTS

Kabul (HRNW): Daud killed his first ibex when he was only 12 years old. His father would wake him up in the middle of the night to go hunting, and they’d set out together in the dark, Daud so afraid that his hands would shake. Later on, he’d learn to kill with calm efficiency.

This was just how things were in Daud’s small village, slightly east of Kabul; and how they had been for generations. The ibex were everywhere. And they were delicious. And they made great hats. And they were so easy to hunt that even a small boy with shaking hands could bag one. So everybody did.

But eventually, the ibex started to disappear. What had been herds became small groups, and as numbers dwindled, it became clear that without action, these endangered creatures would disappear from Afghanistan entirely.

So UNDP stepped in. With funding from the Global Environment Facility’s Small Grants Programme, and implementation on the ground by the Liaison Office, we brought together local people and community elders to make a safe space where the ibex could live and breed in peace.

Villagers fenced off 20,000 square meters for the protected area and convened meetings where they agreed to a ban on hunting. They even selected a local man, Sakhi Dad, to guard the ibex enclosure.

“Before this, I loaded trucks with heavy stones for a living,” explains Sakhi. “That job was really difficult and quite risky. But now, I enjoy working as a guard for the ibex project. It’s safe and I earn enough to support my family.”

The plan is that as the ibex population recovers, they will become a tourist attraction for families from nearby Kabul, creating new jobs and sources of income for local people, who are already starting to view the animals differently.

“They look so innocent, grazing in the fenced off area – like the children in our family,” says Daud. “Now I feel bad that I used to hunt them. As their numbers grow, this area will be beautiful again.”

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