Snow Leopards

Biodiversity of the World: Conservation from Genes to Landscapes

Philip J. Nyhus

• Publisher: Academic Press
• Year: 2016
• eBook ISBN: 9780128024966
• Topic: Technology & Engineering
• Subtopic: Animal Husbandry
• Index: Technology & Engineering

Snow Leopards: Biodiversity of the World: Conservation from Genes to Landscapes is the only comprehensive work on the biology, behavior, and conservation status of the snow leopard, a species that has long been one of the least studied, and hence poorly understood, of the large cats. Breakthroughs in technologies and methodologies to study this elusive cat have come rapidly, including non-invasive genetics, camera traps, and GPS-satellite collaring. The book begins with chapters on the genetic standing and taxonomy of the snow leopard, followed by chapters on their behavior and ecology. Additional contributions follow on the current and emerging threats to the species, which include longstanding concerns, such as poaching and conflicts with livestock, and new and emerging threats such as mining and climate change. A section on conservation solutions, backed by valuable case studies, starts with an overview of the important role mountain communities play in assuring the snow leopard's long-term persistence. In addition, chapters on the role of captive snow leopards for the conservation of the species, state-of-the-art techniques and technologies for studying and monitoring snow leopards, status reports from around the region, and future perspectives, such as transboundary conservation initiatives, international conventions (CITES, CMS, etc.), the role of the IUCN Cat Specialist Group and the Snow Leopard Network, and undertakings such as the Global Snow Leopard Forum facilitated by the World Bank are also included. - Serves as the first and only comprehensive book on the biology, behavior, and conservation status of the snow leopard - Brings together the most current scientific knowledge, documents the most pressing conservation issues, and shares success stories in alleviating the broad threats that now jeopardize the long-term survival of this species - Brings current knowledge of the species, not only to researchers and conservationists, but also to decision makers, academics, and students - Edited by recognized snow leopard experts, with more than 50 years of collective experience in research and conservation of the species

III

Conservation solutions in situ

Chapter 11: The Role of Mountain Communities in Snow Leopard Conservation

Chapter 12: Building Community Governance Structures and Institutions for Snow Leopard Conservation

Chapter 13: Incentive and Reward Programs in Snow Leopard Conservation

Chapter 14: Livestock Husbandry and Snow Leopard Conservation

Chapter 15: Religion and Cultural Impacts on Snow Leopard Conservation

Chapter 16: Trophy Hunting as a Conservation Tool for Snow Leopards

Chapter 17: Environmental Education for Snow Leopard Conservation

Chapter 18: Law Enforcement in Snow Leopard Conservation

Chapter 19: Transboundary Initiatives and Snow Leopard Conservation

Chapter 20: Corporate Business and the Conservation of the Snow Leopard: Worlds That Need Not Collide

Chapter 11

The Role of Mountain Communities in Snow Leopard Conservation

Rodney M. Jackson^*

Wendy Brewer Lama^**
* Snow Leopard Conservancy, Sonoma, CA, USA
^** KarmaQuest Ecotourism and Adventure Travel, Half Moon Bay, CA, USA

Abstract

Conservation of the endangered snow leopard faces exceptional challenges: its habitat generally lies outside protected areas and beyond the force of law. Though humans are its greatest threat – high altitude herders kill it in retaliation for it taking their livestock – mountain peoples can also be key to its survival. Community-based snow leopard conservation initiatives are successful when they (i) involve high levels of interactive participation and self-mobilization; (ii) resolve human–wildlife conflicts with scientifically validated interventions while strengthening communities’ livelihood options to offset livestock losses and give value to live snow leopards; and (iii) tailor strategies to culturally – and geopolitically – specific situations. Integration of these and other ”best practices” into a range-wide approach for snow leopard conservation takes more time than most donor-funded programs currently support, the resolve to dedicate resources and develop skills to enable vigorous community participation, and a commitment to engage and empower marginalized peoples and incorporate indigenous knowledge.

Keywords

snow leopard

community conservation

participation

wildlife conflict

livelihood enhancement

indigenous knowledge

Introduction

Commencing in the late 1980s and continuing through the present time, conservationists have shifted their focus from the top-down approach centered on strict enforcement of wildlife laws and protected area (PA) sovereignty (the “guns and fences” protectionism paradigm) to one that increasingly incorporates local community concerns and interests (e.g., Western et al., 1994). These initiatives have assumed many forms, from the comanagement of a PA (MacKinnon et al., 1986) to people-centered, large-scale integrated conservation-development programs (ICDPs) funded by multilateral agencies like the United Nations, World Bank, and US Agency for International Development (USAID) (Wells and Brandon, 1992). Such programs have been articulated through numerous publications commissioned by institutions such as the World Commission on Protected Areas (WCPA) of International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), many of which have highlighted biodiversity or PA comanagement (e.g., Borrini-Feyerabend et al., 2004). Then drawing on the threats-based approach proposed by Salafsky and Margoluis (1999) a series of manuals for practitioners emerged from the Biodiversity Conservation Network (BCN), a major collaborative program funded by international conservation organizations and USAID (Margoluis and Salafsky, 1998).

Over the past two decades, community-based conservation initiatives targeting the endangered snow leopards have proliferated rapidly. Conservation practitioners face many challenges, from how best to engage and motivate local people to protect a species often perceived as being a pest, to the logistics of operating in some of the world’s most remote and forbidding high-elevation terrain. Actively involving stakeholders through participatory protocols remains a vital ingredient in the design, implementation, and monitoring of robust, long-lasting, and locally adapted solutions to conservation dilemmas. Strategies that stress communities’ collective and positive visions for change, and resolve underlying human–wildlife conflicts (HWCs), while also meeting the community’s aspirations for a better future, lead to successful and more sustained outcomes (Jackson, 2015).

People who live in the snow leopard’s habitat are characterized by a rich culture, a high level of ethnic diversity, and a marginalized, agropastoralism lifestyle. More than 40% of them live below national poverty levels with average annual parity incomes of USD 250–400 (Jackson et al., 2010). Livestock depredation from snow leopards and wolves (Canis lupus) is pervasive, along with competition for pasturage among domestic and wild ungulates (e.g., Anwar et al., 2011; Li et al., 2013; Namgail et al., 2007). Most communities in these remote areas where the topography is steep, soils are shallow, rocky, and often infertile, and natural disasters such as floods, landslides, and severe winters are frequent, rely on traditional animal husbandry. Few settlements in the Himalayan belt are accessible by road, and many lack infrastructure and basic services such as schools or health clinics. With a burgeoning tourism industry, especially in the Himalayan region, economic benefits from adventure tourism are spreading beyond the agropastoral sector, broadening opportunities for local people to earn supplemental income – especially within PAs that usually form core habitat for snow leopard (Jackson and Fox, 1997).

Local communities may also suffer from the presence of a national park without receiving any of benefits (Wells and Brandon, 1992). Unless people’s legitimate concerns, especially those related to HWC and resource access are adequately addressed, conservation efforts are likely to fail. Resolving HWC dominates most efforts at community engagement, although it is in people’s perceptions and participation that more effort is required (Karanth and Nepal, 2012; see Chapter 5). Clearly, remedial measures and holistic resolutions satisfactory to both ...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title page
• Table of Contents
• Copyright
• Dedication
• List of Contributors
• Foreword
• Preface
• Acknowledgments
• I: Defining the snow leopard
• II: Conservation concerns
• III: Conservation solutions in situ
• IV: Conservation solutions ex situ
• V: Techniques and technologies for the study of a cryptic felid
• VI: Snow leopard status and conservation: regional reviews and updates
• VII: The future of snow leopards
• Subject Index