A golden eagle and its handler

A grass-roots effort to protect the golden eagle, one of Kazakhstan's 15 endangered species of birds of prey, is now reaping positive results following a monetary grant from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). Found throughout Central Asia, the powerful bird is particularly prominent in Kazakhstan. "There are now 60 birds in the area, up from 30 two years earlier, before the project started," Stanislav Kim, the national coordinator for the UNDP's Global Environment Facility (GEF)/Small Grants Programme, told IRIN in the village of Nuran, 150 km east of the Kazakh city of Almaty. This is good news for the 2,000 residents of the tobacco-growing community, who hope to turn the birds' replenished numbers into economic profit. Located along the main road to China and Kazakhstan’s popular Charyn canyon, their newly established bird sanctuary and museum - made possible by the US $40,000 GEF grant - could prove a popular tourist attraction. "As part of the conservation effort here, we are hoping it will have a positive economic impact on the community," Selva Ramachandran, the UN deputy representative, told IRIN's reporter visiting the site. "This is not just purely a conservation project but one for sustainable livelihoods," he said. Numbering between 1,000 and 2,000 country-wide, the golden eagle, or berkut in Kazakh, features prominently in the culture and history of the vast nation of 16 million. "My family traces their history to the bird," Mukhamed Isabekov, the chairman of the Sayatshi club working to promote the eagle, told IRIN.