Bio-diversity

Project location:Dena,khafr,Esfahan(Lat/Lonh: 39.9951120-51.4839940) The Zagros Mountain Range extends from Azerbaijan and Kurdestan Provinces to Hormuzgan Province. It is about 900 km long and more than 240 km wide. It consists of numerous parallel ridges, the highest being the east-west crest of 47 peaks of Dena with the altitude of more than 4000km. The aerial length of this crest is more than 80km long. The Peaks of Dena are the most sensitive and fragile natural ecosystem, located on the borders of Fars, Kohkiloyeh-Boyerahmad, Isfahan, Chaharmahal-e-Bakhtiari Provinces in the south-west of Iran. The Zagros Mountain Range is an impressive geological feature that plays a vital role in the ecology of west and southwest of Iran. It is the water reservoir for the rivers flowing through enclosed plains of ravines feeding the biodiversity of flora and fauna. Therefore, it is important to maintain the mountain ecosystem in equilibrium. It is significant that the monitoring of the natural ecology of Zagros, should be begin from the peaks that trap the rainfall and snow for permanent glaciers as vital water reservoirs for the sustenance of the biodiversity in the slopes. Fragility of Dena and its remaining flora and fauna was the main reason the western part of Dena was designated as one of the Hunting Forbidden Zones in 1991. In 1996 a highly motivated group of professional mountaineers, started a self-defined project to explore, gather geographical information and classify the Peaks of Dena in the Zagros Mountain Range. This team organized the first ever-climbing event for mountain climbers of Fars Province in 1998 to all peaks of Dena. When five years later these valuable efforts were followed-up by SGP, the project changed character, from identification and exploration to conservation, including locals as target groups to become active project team members and stakeholders. This process had much learning for the project team and led to a change of their name. The group registered themselves as an environmental conservation NGO, Kanoone Sabze Fars (Fars Green Center).SGP project helped to blow new breath to finish field data collection, document the findings and share the information worldwide via internet. The project aimed to initiate empowerment of the local communities of Dena to and to monitor this mountain ecosystem through local, regional, national and global nature lovers, program managers and NGOs. To address the lack of knowledge of the natural resources and significant biodiversity of this ecosystem the project proponents undertook the following activities: - Assessment, review and classification of the gathered information on these 47 peaks through the course of its past five years study with the assistance of 8 to 12 persons from each of the 4 zones in the 80km stretch of Dena as per the following categories: - biodiversity in different altitudes of Dena, - permanent glaciers of Dena, - rocky walls of Dena, - caves of Dena, - peaks of Dena, - valleys of Dena, - paths and routes to the summits, - springs and rivers of Dena, - and the impact of this ecosystem on the culture/customs of the communities settled in the slopes of Dena. - Design the first digitized comprehensive and complete map of Dena scaled 1:100,000.. The NGO published in the size of 100*70cm and distributed in 5000 copies. - Launch a website (www.dena2002.com) to present Dena worldwide. - Conduct educational workshops for the locals to: - Introduce significant characteristics of Dena and empower the local community through brochures, films and pictures. - Identify and select active and interested participants. - Select local eco-tour guides to introduce Dena and maintain the sustainability of the project. - Initiate consistent communication with local whitebeards (elderly members of the community) and active personalities of the community and tribes as well as the Islamic Councils of the villages. This activity led to the formation of a local active team and which became part of the project team. - Training local tour guides within the target group who will undertake the responsibilities of educational eco-tours. 38 tour guides were trained from 17 villages of the region. This exceeded their commitment of 20 trained local eco-tour guides to introduce the importance of conserving the mountain ecosystem and the eco-tourism capacities of Dena as well as creating alternative livelihood methods. The identities of these eco-tour guides were posted on the website to facilitate communication and arrangements for eco-tours. Through a cluster project for Dena region (IRA-G52-2004-043) further training was provided and 40 tour guides which included 5 local women received official eco tour guide certificates from Iran Cultural Heritage and Tourism Organization. - Conduct revisal workshops for disseminators of 17 villages in the Dena slopes to increase their capability in efficient communication with the local community and preparation of relevant educational brochures. - The best practices were documented as a film, brochures, booklets, photographs which will be posted on the project website for public access. Drawings were selected for a unique booklet on biodiversity of Dena region from a competition held in schools of 17 villages in Dena slopes. Several high quality photo exhibitions were held in Tehran and Shiraz (pictures taken from climbing events by the project team) and these events received local and national media coverage.

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