Ali "Doost" Nawaz, Pakistan
Ali "Doost" Nawaz, Wildlife Conservation Society, Pakistan
( xTTT2019 x2019TTT x2019Interviewer x2019TalkMap xScholar2017 x2017Talk x2017Webmap xTrainingAssistant2017 xPakistan xChapter xEducation xCommunity xWildlife xMammal xCat )
2019 Profile: Doost is a participant in the first-ever SCGIS TTT Summit Meeting.
2019 International Conference Presentation
2019 Map Gallery Interviewer TEAM CATILAN
Below: Live Map Application created during the July 2017 Esri-SCGIS Web GIS Training 
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Address: Hussainabad Colony, Near Serena Hotel, Jutial, Gilgit, Gilgit-Baltistan, Pakistan
*-Main email: mkhan at wcs.org
Scholar Email doostalinawaz at outlook.com
*-Org Web site URL if any: www.wcs.org
2017 Profile Personal role in the organization:
I am working with WCS since 2008, and assist WCS in strategic planning, by providing necessary maps required for planning community-based conservation programs and wildlife surveys. I visited Gilgit and program areas of WCS in GB for mapping exercise and trained professional and community members to get the proper information for GIS maps. I plotted field data in preparing of markhor distribution maps, and showing densities of species of interest in WCS program sites. Building and supporting resource governance structures at the village level is the key goal of the WCS Pakistan Program. I prepared valley maps of over 40 WCS program sites, showing topographic features, access, and key resources (including forests and wildlife). The maps provide a key role for the resource management of these valleys that WCS achieve in partnership with the community-based organizations and Government departments. In 2016, I prepared maps of WCSDOs in Gilgit, trained government and survey teams how to use modern techniques like GPS , GIS & Remote sensing in surveys, and generated maps of Gilgit Conservancies and Diamer Conservancies. (Photo Above: Assessment of Fauna and Flora, Ground Truthing, Wildlife, Community & Tourism Survey at Tarishing Base Camp, NANGA PARBAT (The Killer Mountain), Rupal Valley, Astore Pakistan)
(Photo Below: Snow Leopard Rehabilitation Center: A Tale of Finding New Home: 
On December 31,2012 local villagers reportedly rescued a wild snow leopard female cub, in hopes of protecting it from harm. This few months old cub endured her early life in a small enclosure set alongside the highway at the entrance of KNP in a stressful condition. It was struggling to survive and would have died, if not provided with proper housing, resources and expertise to look after it. Once the news of cub’s plight reached Wildlife Department in Gilgit-Baltistan, discussions were made to determine its fate. Six major national and international partners, Snow Leopard Foundation, Parks and Wildlife Department, Gilgit Baltistan, US state Department’s Embassy in Islamabad, IFAW , Snow Leopard Trust and Snow Leopard Conservancy, all joined hands to make this cub’s life better. Calling this “an untenable situation for this wild animal” , Dr Ali Nawaz , head of Snow Leopard Foundation Pakistan , exclaimed , “the young snow leopard has been living in a small roadside cage, exposed to heat, traffic emissions and frequent provocation by onlookers”.
As the cub now lacked necessary skills to hunt and survive in the wild, it was decided to establish and manage a one of kind 11,000 square feet wildlife rehabilitation center in Naltar valley of Gilgit Baltistan. SLF developed layout and estimated cost of the housing and quarantine facility for snow leopard in coordination with SLT and Nordens Ark and also secured funds to start the construction work. Along with this, necessary training of two officers was arranged and sponsored through Jaffar , Country Manager at SLF, so that the facility can be managed by its own team. (Please add here when the construction was completed, as it is a connecting sentence)
After spending four and half years in a cage, the snow leopard was shifted to its new home in Naltar valley on 2nd October, 2016. This new home is also equipped with a Wildlife Education Center, where public can learn about the snow leopards, their ecosystem and threats to them. Another purpose of the education center is to prevent any further wild snow leopard cubs from being captured, regardless of the intent. “says Brad Rutherford, the Snow Leopard Trust’s Executive Director. He further says “often, mothers will return for their babies even when it appears they might have abandoned them. So, our aim through education portion of facility is to help people understand when and why it is okay to leave animals in the wild—even if they seem to be lost”.
history of your personal work in conservation and GIS: . My introduction with GIS started through a short training in ArcGIS in 2004. This training provided me a basic understanding of GIS, later a colleague and GIS expert at Snow Leopard Foundation (SLF) provided me on job training while I was assisting him in SLF conservation work. Got basic knowledge of GIS and on that knowledge am working in WCS need such training to perform better.
Your connection to the local SCGIS chapter: No SCGIS Chapter exist in Pakistan. However, I am in contact to the existing GIS community in Pakistan, where we exchange data and techniques, discuss issuesand possible solutions. We also celebrated international GIS day (November 18, 2016) through display stalls at the University of Arid Agriculture, Rawalpindi. (Photo above right: WCS GPS/GIS training, Minapin Valley, Gilgit-Baltistan, Pakistan)
On completion of SCGIS training, and with support of WCS, I will hold a training of local staff of WCS, Wildlife & Parks and other departments and representatives of WCS valley resource organizations to share the knowledge gained through SCGIS training and build their capacities for revisions and updating GIS maps for both integrated conservation and development plans and to manage the most biodiversity hotspot areas of Pakistan.
2017 paper: Assessing and projecting abundance of brown bear in Broghal and Qurumbar National Parks, Northern Pakistan
Abstract: Broghal and Qurambar are two adjacent remote valleys in northern Pakistan, lying along the border with the Afghanistan. Additionally, WCS managed community conservancies are located among and near Himalaya, Hindukush and Karakorum ranges. These highly rugged parks (elevation: 2500-7000 m) are without any jeep access, have low human densities and limited human related infrastructures. Their mountainous habitats fall in the distribution range of many endangered mammals, including markhor, urial, Marco polo sheep, blue sheep, ibex, musk deer, brown bear, snow leopard, Asiatic black bear, Himalayan lynx, grey wolf. Their geographic location and low humanoccupation make them promising habitats for a variety of threatened fauna, and was a motivation behind declaring them national parks. However, despite this remarkable potential, there is dearth of information on biological resources of these parks, because there has been no scientific exploration in past.
The objective of the present study was to explore presence/absence of brown bears, and estimate its abundance in the two national parks. We did field surveys to collect signs of bear presence in a grid of 5 x 5 km. Using no of signs recorded per grid cell an index of relative density of brown bear was estimated. The score obtained for each grid cell was plotted on a map of study area, and kriging interpolation tool in ArcGIS was used to develop a bear abundance map.
Photo Right: Community-based conservation. For Prosperity of Local Valleys, Communities and to work together WCS has made Valley based organization to manage the valley projects for conservation, and community
Ali & his brother Dr. Muhammad Ali Nawaz run the Snow Leopard Foundation Pakistan, the subject of the following videos :
