Considered as the icon of High Asia, the elusive snow leopards have evolved to live in some of the world’s highest and coldest ranges in 12 countries across Central Asia and South Asia.
The ranges inhabited by snow leopards and people often overlap, creating challenges as well as opportunities for their conservation.
Called ‘ghost of mountains’, the snow leopard has the ability to camouflage easily and blend with its surroundings.
Climate change, human and common leopard intrusions in their habitats, pose threats to snow leopards.
There are some organisations including Snow Leopard Trust (SLT) that have been working on the conservation of snow leopards. However, high priority research is necessary for effective conservation planning for snow leopards and their habitat in High Asia.
A lot has changed in 40 years. Snow Leopard Trust (SLT) has evolved and grown since its inception four decades ago.
“When we envisioned how we wanted to celebrate this milestone, we knew our goal was to bring as many people into the fold as possible: snow leopard champions from years past, current monthly donors, new enthusiasts and everyone in between,” writes SLT in a post documenting the efforts of the organisation during the last four decades.
Founded by Helen Freeman in 1980, the snow leopards conservation has been strengthened by and gained significant support from people and communities in the habitat regions.
In retrospection, the SLT has documented how the organisation evolved and translated the possibilities into reality over the last 40 years in 12 countries — China, Bhutan, Nepal, India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Russia and Mongolia.
It also gives a glimpse of the strides the organisation made in protecting wild snow leopards through partnerships in 12 countries that are habitats of the snow leopard.
Building global partnerships
(L) Then: Starting with a powerful vision, boundless passion and just a few supporters, Snow Leopard Trust founder, Helen Freeman took a leap of faith and set up a small organization to protect snow leopards in 1981. (R) Now: Today, Snow Leopard Trust has nearly one million supporters across 52 countries. Significant progress has been made within all 12 snow leopard range countries working together with governments to form a global conservation strategy to invest in the protection of snow leopards.
Counting ghost cats to improve population estimates
(L) THEN: In the early days of the Snow Leopard Trust, the limited technology available and the elusive nature of these cats made it very difficult to gather population data, especially images. We relied repeatedly on this single wild snow leopard image above which was the only one available to us. (R) NOW: Today, we’re using Artificial Intelligence to help sort up to half a million new camera trap images every year. These images are critical to our long-term goal to reach a more robust snow leopard population estimate. We recently completed reliable assessments of snow leopard numbers in two countries. These major milestones will help make the conservation of snow leopards and their habitat a higher priority.
Empowering women in conservation
(L) Then: In 1998, we partnered with a small group of local women in rural Mongolia to begin the Snow Leopard Enterprises (SLE) handicraft program, which generates additional income linking direct action to a conservation commitment. SLE greatly improved the livelihood, well-being, and social standing of women sharing snow leopard habitats. This innovative program helped engage communities in wider conservation efforts, fostering human-wildlife coexistence. (R) NOW: Today, over 400 women from 40 remote mountain communities are participating in conservation programs like SLE. We are committed to supporting women in conservation, like Snow Leopard Trust Conservation Scientist, Dr Ranjini Murali, who was instrumental in helping initiate SLE in India and completed her PhD looking at the benefits that ecosystems provide to communities in snow leopard habitats.
Building community resilience to protect wildlife
(L) THEN: When we began our conservation work, herders used traditional corrals which were built to keep livestock in but not necessarily to keep predators out. This often led to mass livestock loss by predation, with devastating impacts on herders, their livelihood and ultimately, the cats. (R) NOW: Today, we work together with local communities to create improved corrals, which can prevent livestock loss, and decrease both the economic and emotional impacts on families. This leads to more open, tolerant attitudes towards snow leopards.
Inspiring the next generation of conservation leaders
(L) Then: Our conservation and education programs all started with a single educator. She began by helping us evaluate the challenges facing snow leopards and the communities sharing their mountain habitat. (R) NOW: Today, we have expanded our education efforts to four range countries, reaching over 700 children living in snow leopard habitats each year. Recently two-thirds of the students participating in our Kyrgyzstan eco-camp were girls! These programs help create conscious and responsible citizens, inspiring the next generation of nature conservationists to protect the snow leopard and its habitat.
This year marks SLT 40th anniversary. The Trust is collecting stories about its work or a particular experience from conservationists and supporters.
