Gary Lewis who was addressing the ceremony to celebrate the International Cheetah Day (December 5) on Saturday, told the meeting that the ceremony celebrated 12 years of cooperation with Iran’s Department of Environment in protection of Asiatic cheetah; “during the last 12 years, the UN came to help us in installing trap cameras in cheetah habitats; the aid also proved effective in extending the scope of the protection, which drastically reversed the down-hill extinction curve now into a flat,” Lewis added.
“We have the opportunity now to save Asiatic cheetahs and their habitat, and the UN will provide Iran’s government with any help needed; in the past decade, the UN pumped $10mn into the project, and has actually on the agenda increasing the aid allocated to the project CACP (the Conservation of the Asiatic Cheetah Project),” Lewis told the meeting, however adding that no precise figures had been announced for new pledges, and that he was doing necessary arrangements for securing a lump sum.
