towards project snow leopard - Nature Conservation Foundation

Towards Project Snow Leopard • 67
6.1.2. Local communities and CBOs - >4000 m as well as fringing areas; discussions should
start at the outset; incorporate their views; also consulting local hunters.
6.1.3. Local NGOs; this will help to incorporate a variety of social concerns and seek
potential partners.
6.1.4. Tour operators at a later date: Tour operators need to be sensitized to the importance
of nature and community friendly tourism. Their genuine business concerns also
need to be incorporated.
6.1.5. Forest Department field staff; while the concerns of a cross-section of wildlife staff
were incorporated during this workshop, more local consultations with field staff
need to be taken up.
6.1.6. High level consultations with the Army HQ and local consultations with the Indian
Army, ITBP, BRO and HMI.
6.2. Research and monitoring
6.2.1. Yak herding impacts in the Trans-Himalaya
6.2.2. Co-ordination with SACON, NEHU and other research agencies
6.2.3. Promotion of local capacity-building for research programmes
6.2.4. Natural resource mapping; a spatial database is an invaluable resource for conservation
planning.
6.2.5. Focused research on local institutions, resource use (together with natural resource
mapping).
6.2.6. Preliminary socio-economic baseline (especially demography and natural resource
dependence).
6.2.7. Experiments in pasture development, including devising ways of enhancing moisture
retention, alpine weed control (including local biological control), removal/ control
of exotics.
6.2.8. Home range studies on the snow leopard using radio-collaring.
6.2.9. Developing a proposal for use of advanced techniques for snow leopard population
monitoring, including camera trapping.
6.2.10. Species-specific action plans: wolf, brown bear, ibex, bharal, musk deer, Himalayan
tahr.
6.2.11. Monitoring and inventorying of avifauna, kiang, marmots, Tibetan wooly hare.
6.2.12. Developing ways of including local communities and incorporating local knowledge
in research and monitoring.