India is now a part of the Global Snow leopard and Ecosystem Protection Programme (GSlEP), an international initiative of 12 countries set up to conserve the habitat of these elusive big cats. Five States in the country including Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir , Arunachal Pradesh, and Sikkim are known to have the presence of snow leopards.
Wildlife Institute of India (WII) will collect data on the habitats of snow leopards in the country which will then be circulated to other range countries to embark on a joint management plan to safeguard this rare species .
The animal is listed on the IUCN Red list of endangered species. In 2003, it was estimated that there were only about 6,000 individuals of the species in the wild in the world.
The other range countries in which this big cat is found includes Nepal, Bhutan, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Kyrgyzstan, China, Mongolia, India, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Russia and Kazakhstan.
It is native to the high altitudes of Himalayas and is a
species of extremely low density occurrence.
According to experts, the territory of an individual ranges for about 1,000 sq km, thus extending far beyond national boundaries. Much of the habitat is spread across the Tibetan plateau. Hence, any conservation effort, has to entail cross boundary cooperation.
The sources in WII informed that the range countries recently held a meeting in Kyrgyzstan and formulated general guidelines for snow leopard habitat management. World Wide Fund-US and International Snow leopard Trust agreed to fund to each of the range countries to prepare a landscape plan. This part of the work is being done by WII for India.
Further, the Global Environment Facility (GEF) Trust Fund, the funding arm of the United Nations Development Programme for issues related to the environment, had launched a programme called ‘Securing livelihood, Conservation, Sustainable Use and Restoration of High Range Himalayan Ecosystem’ on diverse issues that pertain to the snow leopard.
The sources further informed that representatives of GEF also recently met officials of the Union ministry of environment and forests for proper utilization l of funding so work undertaken under different projects do not overlap.