towards project snow leopard - Nature Conservation Foundation

Towards Project Snow Leopard • 29
Shri I. A. Khan, Principal Chief Conservator of Forests, Jammu & Kashmir
Ladies and Gentlemen,
I take immense pleasure in welcoming you to this important national workshop on Project
Snow Leopard. This workshop is meant to facilitate the development of a conservation programme
for India’s high altitude wildlife, with the snow leopard as a flagship species. There is an urgent need
to mobilize a national and international effort to promote the conservation of the snow leopard and
the ecosystem that it represents. There are increasing pressures on this fragile ecosystem, and in spite
of that, so far, wildlife seems to be persisting in the larger landscape. The people in these remote and
harsh areas have eked out a living through agro-pastoralism and trade over millennia, in a manner that
appears to have been sustainable. However, with increasing developmental pressures, this sustainability
and the tolerance that various communities had exhibited towards wildlife appear to be diminishing.
I have also noted that the resources available with the Wildlife Departments in these difficult areas
are usually very modest. Due to the immense value of these high altitude areas for its biodiversity,
ecosystem services, etc and the fact that conservation in these harsh environs is a big logistic challenge,
requiring good planning and resources, I feel that a national strategy for the conservation in these
regions is of urgent importance.
The snow leopard, just like the tiger in the lower altitudes, is a suitable icon to guide
conservation efforts in the high altitudes of the country. Little is known about the species’ status,
ecology and habits. However, some coarse estimates suggest that India may have merely 700 in a
potential range spread over 2 lakh km 2 . I understand that bulk of these animals occur in the state of
Jammu & Kashmir, spread in all its three regions – Ladakh, Kashmir and Jammu.
This consultative workshop will bring together the outcomes of all the five state-level
workshops held in the preparatory phase over the past two years. The main objective of this workshop
should be to initiate steps to develop a strategy and action plan for high altitude biodiversity with a focus
on the snow leopard. It should be carved out along the lines of Project Tiger and Project Elephant. We
hope that this workshop will encourage experience sharing among the implementing agencies of the
states – from Arunachal to J&K, which will lead to common understanding of problems, constraints
and issues and identify a suitable strategy for overcoming conservation problems of the region.
It is only appropriate that this workshop that brings together officials from all Himalayan
states is being hosted in Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh in particular, which is a cold desert with
unique wildlife. I hope that in these two days, we will come up with a concrete framework for the
Project Snow Leopard.
I am grateful to the Ministry of Environment and Forests, Government of India, for their
support, and wish to thank the Nature Conservation Foundation and the International Snow Leopard
Trust for their technical inputs.
Thank you.