Our work
Working with Communities
Conservation that works for the people who share the steppe.
Stronger conservation happens when people thrive. We partner with communities across the saiga's range to support sustainable livelihoods and shared stewardship of the steppe.
Context
The challenge
The steppe is not empty land. It is grazed, farmed and travelled by communities whose livelihoods depend on the same grasslands the saiga needs. Where conservation is imposed from outside, it rarely lasts.
Rural incomes across much of the range are seasonal and fragile, and wildlife can be seen as competition rather than an asset. Changing that means working with people over years, not months.
Our role
What SCA does
Community rangers
Local people trained, equipped and paid to monitor and protect their own landscapes.
Sustainable livelihoods
Support for herding, craft and small enterprise that does not depend on wildlife loss.
Shared decision-making
Village committees help shape where and how conservation work happens.
Impact so far
25+ communities
Engaged with our work across the saiga range
140 households
Supported through livelihood schemes
12 years
Of continuous local partnership
From the archive
Related projects
Looking ahead
Where this could go next
We would like to extend village-led planning into two further districts, and to place a share of programme funding under community control from the outset rather than at review. Both depend on unrestricted funding, which is the hardest kind to find.
Support our work
Support this work
Your donation helps sustain working with communities across the saiga's range.