Category: SWC News

Two team members from Sarvin Wildlife Conservation presented their field data and project outcomes at the 6th Conservation Asia Congress (CAC Nepal 2026), held from June 3–5, 2026, in Kathmandu, Nepal. Organized by the Society for Conservation Biology – Asia Region (SCB-Asia), the congress is a primary professional gathering for conservation researchers and practitioners across the continent.

During the event, Morteza Pourmirzai, Sarvin’s CEO and Co-Founder, delivered a presentation titled “Restoring Asiatic Cheetah Habitat through Indigenous Knowledge.” Reviewing field interventions in the Miandasht Wildlife Refuge, he detailed how integrating Nature-Based Solutions with local community knowledge contributed to the recovery of prey populations and the documented return of the Asiatic Cheetah to the reserve after a six-year absence.

Additionally, Atie Taktehrani, Co-Founder and Wildlife Conservationist, gave a data-driven presentation on the species’ broader challenges: “Will They Survive? The Critical Status of Asiatic Cheetahs in Iran.” Using a 13-year dataset, she outlined the primary threats to the remaining population, including critically low numbers, poor juvenile survival rates, road mortality, and the vulnerabilities associated with movement outside protected area boundaries.

Participation in Conservation Asia Congress 2026 was supported by SCB-Asia and its partner organizations.

In September 2024, Sarvin Wildlife Conservation opened a new chapter in the protection of Iran’s natural heritage. Inspired by the name “Sarv” — the cypress tree, a symbol of resilience in Iranian culture — and guided by the motto Harmony in Nature; Strength in Community, our team spent the first year of Sarvin’s existence turning a long-standing conservation vision into on-the-ground action. Despite financial and political constraints, we worked to maximize our impact on habitat conservation and ranger support across Iran’s most critical cheetah landscapes.

Our 2025 Annual Report is a full account of that first year: from equipping rangers and supporting their livelihoods in the Touran Biosphere Reserve and Miandasht Wildlife Refuge, to community-led habitat restoration, the launch of the Habitat Restoration Hub in Turan, and the recording of a cheetah and her cub in a habitat where the species had not been confirmed for years. It also covers our outreach work with universities, media, and international collaborators, and the launch of Rescue the Asiatic Cheetah, our interactive conservation game on Iran’s National Cheetah Day.

Aknowledgment

None of this work would have been possible without the commitment of our supporters, partners, and friends. We are grateful that they stood with Sarvin throughout 2025 and helped advance our mission.

Corporate Donors

Major Individual Donors

Lili Zamanian, Nigel Hughes, Amirtharaj Christy Williams, Michael Sandys-Wunsch & Simone Eckhardt

Individual Supporters

Sadra Moghadam, Hamid Samadzadeh, Aida Abhari, Livvy Cropper, Anshuman Chandra, Yvonne Chin, Sarah Bradbury, Bayanne Consultancy, Negin Valizadegan, Leila Hojjat, Amir Khaboushani, Sanam Akhavi, Shirin Ahmadi, Nahid Gholikhani, Mehdi Ahmadi, Simin Taban, Naeim Jabbari, Vahid Babaei Nejad, Ali Gholami, Alireza Sohrabi, and the MedTrip team.

Friends of Sarvin whose support was Essential for our Progress

Faramarz Parsi, Saman Golriz, Mohammad Farhadinia, Negin Samadzadeh, Maryam Shahbazi, Hamidreza Rezaie, Afshin Danekar, Amir Parsa Neshat, Mohammad Darvish, Babak Sarhangpour, Mostafa Hamidian, Farank Askari, Amir Mohajerani, Reza Mohajerani, Amir Hossein Farzaneh, Melika Asadzadeh, the Basefat family, Hossein Moghiseh, Ali Mazhar, Arash Moharrami, Mahsa Mahdizadeh, Nour Iman Mashayekhi, Yashar Jafari, and Farzad Kafaee.

Government Partners

Shina Ansari, Hamid Zohrabi, Jila Aghaei, Reza Shekariyan, Saeed Yousefpour, Ahmad Safarzadeh, Majid Ajami, Ahmad Radman, and all the rangers working in Turan and Miandasht.

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2025 Annual Report

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On August 31th, Iran’s National Cheetah Day, we unveiled “Rescue the Asiatic Cheetah,” an interactive web-based game designed to engage and educate. Developed in just 30 hours using cutting-edge AI tools, the game combines fun with a powerful conservation message, raising awareness about the critically endangered Asiatic cheetah.

Players take on the role of a mother cheetah, tasked with guiding her four cubs to independence over 18 months (120 seconds in real-time). Navigating parallel paths, players collect vital resources like food and water while avoiding threats such as the Cheetah illegal trader, herding dogs, roads, and camels. At the end of each game, educational messages and achievements highlight the real-world challenges facing cheetahs, encouraging players to support conservation efforts.

Developed using KILO Code for programming and Recraft for graphics, the game has already gained traction. Within two days of launch, 314 players engaged with it, averaging three plays each, collectively “saving” 1,453 months of cheetah cub lives.

This game is a testament to how technology can amplify conservation efforts. By sharing its source code, we hope to empower global organizations to adapt it for their own endangered species. Sarvin plans to release the game’s source code for free, enabling other conservation groups to create tailored versions for their species.

In September 2024, after over a decade of experience in wildlife conservation across Iran, our organization was officially registered. We celebrated this new beginning on January 4th with the support of our friends and advocates. During the event, we shared the vision and mission of Sarvin Wildlife Conservation with our guests, aiming to convey the future we envision for the nature of this land.

We are deeply grateful to all those who attended the ceremony and encouraged us as we embarked on this new journey. Their presence and support amidst numerous challenges gave us the strength and hope to continue our work.

A special thank you goes to the following individuals and organizations:

• Saman Golriz, whose generous support covered a significant portion of the event’s catering costs and made the gathering even more delightful with his homemade Gulabi and Zereshk stew.
• Cafe “Be Ma Bego” (Tellus) and the “Ba Safat” family, who kindly offered their cafe space for several hours, aligning with their social responsibility and cultural mission.
• Arash Mahrami from Arashioustu Studio, who took on the task of filming and documenting the event.
• Dramonstudio, which provided the filming equipment.
• Yashar Jafari (@yaasharjafari), who beautifully captured the moments of the ceremony through his photography.
• Dokme Studio, which worked on the graphic designs for the event.
• Samaneh Vosough, who, with her artistic talent, designed plates inspired by the logo of our organization for the gift packages.
• Bahareh Pilgar, who designed the beautiful gift boxes in which the plates were presented.

The kindness and voluntary collaboration of these individuals helped make this event possible with minimal cost, creating a lasting memory for all of us.

We look forward to continuing this journey, and we are grateful for the support that has enabled us to take the first steps toward achieving our mission of wildlife conservation in Iran.