Download - Global Tiger Initiative

Snow Leopard Survival Strategy and the Snow Leopard
Network: Mobilizing knowledge and prioritizing conservation needs at
global level
In February 2001, the International Snow Leopard Trust initiated development of the Snow
Leopard Survival Strategy (www.snowleopard.org/sln), by inviting 40 Snow Leopard experts
from the 12 range States and from North America and Europe to participate in providing
comprehensive conservation and research guidelines to ensure a co-ordinated effort to conserve
Snow Leopards throughout their range. The Strategy was designed after thorough analysis of
the threats facing the species in each range State and attempts to identify conservation,
education and policy measures needed to address these threats, to determine the most urgent
information needs and provide advice on appropriate methodologies.
Information for the Strategy was gathered through a survey addressing various issues, including
perceived threats, appropriate conservation actions, knowledge gaps, protected areas status and
policy and legislative status. The results of the survey were compiled and the Strategy finalized
at the Snow Leopard Survival Summit, that took place in May 2002, in Seattle, USA. The
summit brought together fifty-two experts from 17 countries, including representatives from 11
of the 12 Snow Leopard range States. Several new initiatives and recommendations were
agreed upon, including the need for better co-ordination among the various organizations
engaged in Snow Leopard conservation and for broader public awareness. A new group, the
Snow Leopard Network, a partnership of organizations and individuals from governments and
the private sector, was accordingly formed. The mission of this network is to promote sound,
scientifically-based conservation of Snow Leopards, through networking and collaboration
between individuals, organizations, and governments. To accomplish this, it will establish and
strengthen professional links for addressing the crucial issues affecting the survival of the
species itself, its prey species, and the livelihood opportunities of people living locally to Snow
Leopards. The Snow Leopard Network will be chaired by the International Snow Leopard Trust
for the first two years and a seven-member steering committee will set the direction for the
group.
CONCLUSIONS
Despite their high-altitude existence, in rugged mountain terrain in some of the least populated
areas on earth, Snow Leopards have probably been killed in numbers as high as ever before in
recent years. Such killings are illegal, almost without exception, and often warrant a substantial
penalty under national laws, yet they are nonetheless one of the most menacing threats posed to
the survival of the Snow Leopard. The primary motives for these killings vary considerably
between geographical regions, depending on social, economic, political and environmental
factors. In general, poverty, economic instability, lack of resources and lack of awareness and
political will are important root causes for these killings and any subsequent trade of Snow
Leopard body parts. As such, enforcement of national laws to protect Snow Leopards is vexed
by these factors, especially considering the attraction of high profits to be made from trading in
Snow Leopard parts and the desire among herders to safeguard their stock from this predator.
Such regulatory devices for controlling trade in Snow Leopards, although one of the approaches
to conservation of the species, should by no means be seen as the only one. Since human
communities living in or near Snow Leopard habitat are often operating at subsistence level, in
FADING FOOTPRINTS: the killing and trade of Snow Leopards 53