THE GLOBAL SNOW LEOPARD ECOSYSTEM PROTECTION PROGRAM
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Context: Indian snow leopard experts Charudutt Mishra and Koustubh Sharma, along with Chyngyz Kochorov of Kyrgyzstan, received the Madrid-based BBVA Foundation’s Worldwide Biodiversity Conservation Award last week on behalf of a 12-nation intergovernmental alliance that they helped create and manage.
Details:
- The three received the award on behalf of The Global Snow Leopard Ecosystem Protection Program (GSLEP) at the headquarters of the BBVA Foundation in Madrid.
About GSLEP:
- The GSLEP is a first-of-its-kind intergovernmental alliance for the conservation of the snow leopard and its unique ecosystem.
- It is led by the environment ministers of 12 countries in Asia that form the home range of the snow leopard. These are Afghanistan, Bhutan, China, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Nepal, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. The total range spans two million square kilometres.
- The GSLEP Program’s secretariat is based in Bishkek, and is hosted by the Ministry of Natural Resources, Ecology and Technical Supervision of the Kyrgyz Republic.
- It is believed that there may be as few as 4,000 and no more than 6,300 snow leopards left in the wild
- Its habitat provides vital services, including clean water, to a third of the world’s human population.
- This iconic species faces many threats, including illegal hunting, loss of prey, habitat loss, retribution killings for livestock loss and climate change.
- GSLEP was created in 2013 when officials, politicians and conservationists arrived at a common conservation strategy enshrined in the Bishkek Declaration (2013) to cooperate in the conservation of this species and its habitat.
- The Spain-based BBVA Foundation Awards for Biodiversity Conservation seek to recognise and support the work done by conservationist organisations, institutions and agencies in carrying forward environmental conservation policies and projects, the statement noted.
About Snow Leopard:
- The elusive and charismatic snow leopard feeds on hoofed animals (ungulates) including the Siberian ibex, blue sheep, urial and argali in the Himalayas.
- The snow leopard detection probability was high if the site was used by its prey species, i.e., ibex and blue sheep.
- Whereas, in the case of the prey species, the probability of detection was low when the predator (snow leopard) was present and detected.
- Snow leopards use rugged mountainous areas or non-forested areas covering an altitude between 3200m-5200m.
- Habitat covariates, such as barren area, grassland, aspect, slope and distance to water were important drivers of habitat use for the snow leopard as well as its prey species.
- Classified as ‘Vulnerable’ by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red list and listed in Schedule-I species of the Indian Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972, snow leopards are elusive mountain cats whose survival depends on depends primarily on wild ungulates.
- Higher up in the mountains, predators such as snow leopards regulated the populations of herbivores such as the blue sheep and Siberian ibex, thereby safeguarding the health of grasslands and a long-term absence of snow leopards could cause trophic cascades as ungulate populations would likely increase, leading to depletion of vegetation cover.
- Snow leopards have a vast but fragmented distribution across the mountainous landscape of central Asia, which covers different parts of the Himalayas such as Ladakh, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, and Sikkim.
- This charismatic species is largely threatened because of the loss of natural prey species, retaliatory killing due to conflict with humans and illegal trade of its fur and bones.
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