Project Update: December 2008

Group of the visitors to Bamu National Park (Photo: Pouyan Mohseninia).

environmental education, training courses and awareness-raising programmes for local communities continue to take place as an integral part of the project. The following activities were carried out so far:

-Arrival of the first group of ecotourists with the main focus on visiting Bamu as a Persian leopard site and participation of game wardens of the Persian Leopard Trust (PLT) in programme management and capacity building strategy related to ecotourism as a sustainable income for conservation.

-Designing the brochure, poster and other awareness-raising materials to be distributed among the inhabitants of Shiraz city, visitors to Bamu National Park and local communities to make them familiar with this natural heritage. These materials will be published in January 2009 and training courses for local authorities and enthusiasts will take place afterwards.

-Agreements with Fars Province's Department of Environment on establishing the local game-wardens' PLT in Bamu National Park and schedules and curricula of the training courses for the PLT members. The training workshops for PLT will be held in the mid-February 2009.