KHOROG, October 27, 2014, Asia-Plus -- Tajik horse tour operator, Pamir Horse Adventure (PHA), has won the UIAA (International Climbing and Mountaineering Federation) Mountain Protection Award.

The award was handed over to PHA during the International Mountain Summit that took place in Bixen, Italy from October16-21, 2014.

According to the UIAA’s website, the 2014 UIAA Mountain Protection Award was awarded to Pamir Horse Adventure, a Tajikistan-based community tour organization, for its conservation and tourism development initiatives in the Pamirs Mountains.

Pamir Horse Adventure (PHA) is a local tour-operator and community-based tourism organization in the Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Region (GBAO) of Tajikistan.  Founded as an initiative group in 2007 and as NGO in 2010, PHA now reportedly  brings together many local tour guides and services with the goal of fostering community tourism development and creating jobs for local people.  It provides jeep tours, trekking, horse riding and cycling tours in all regions in the Pamirs (GBAO) and other regions of Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan.  Pamir Horse Adventure is the only company in Tajikistan with a keen interest in developing horse riding tour and offering more options for our customers.  Horses have always been part of the culture of the people in the Pamirs, as elsewhere in Tajikistan and neighboring countries.  However, their number has decreased during the last century.  Therefore, it is also one of the main goals of PHA to develop horse breeding in the region through promoting cultural events, traditional horseback sports and horseback tours.  Most of its visitors have found horse riding one of the most exciting activities that they have ever participated in, and have truly enjoyed the adventure.

Pamir Horse Adventure is an active member of the Pamir Eco-Cultural Tourism Association (PECTA).

The UIAA (International Climbing and Mountaineering Federation) was founded in August 1932 in Chamonix, France when 20 mountaineering associations met for an alpine congress. It was decided by the founding members that the UIAA would be an international federation which would be in charge of the “study and solution of all problems regarding mountaineering.”  The UIAA is today the international governing body of climbing and mountaineering and represents millions of climbers and mountaineers around the world on a wide range of issues related to mountain safety, sustainability and competition sport.

The UIAA is committed to preserving and protecting the mountain ecosystem and cultures around the world. It recognizes outstanding projects in mountain protection presented by non-profit organizations, associations or companies every year through the $10,000 UIAA Mountain Protection Award. The results are announced mid-October. The priority areas presented to contest are: wildlife and flora protection, resources / energy consumption, waste management and disposal, education, biodiversity conservation and mitigation of climate change effects.