Snow Leopard Conservancy

Community-Based Actions for Protecting Snow Leopards in India, Nepal and Mongolia

The Snow Leopard Stewardship Program is dedicated to demonstrating innovative "grass roots" measures that lead local shepherds to become better stewards of the endangered snow leopard and its habitat.

Livestock depredation is emerging as a significant problem across the snow leopard's range.  "Surplus killing," where a snow leopard enters a poorly constructed corral and kills up to 120 sheep and goats at one time, occurs throughout the region.  Such incidents naturally lead to resentment from livestock owners, who retaliate by killing snow leopards.   Ironically, such loss of livestock could be avoided by making the enclosures predator-proof, improving animal husbandry techniques and educating herders on the importance of wildlife as a resource for generating sustained income (from tourism-related activities such as guiding and sales of specialty handicrafts).

Besides lax herding and guarding, other important conservation factors include habitat loss and fragmentation, and poaching of the natural prey base.  As the number of wild prey declines, snow leopards turn to domestic stock for their survival.  Prey densities are usually lowest in unprotected areas.  These areas also support higher numbers of people and their livestock -- which snow leopards quickly learn are not as wary as their wild cousins.  They may then become habitual deprecators.  Breeding females are especially vulnerable to herder retribution because of the high food demand from the dependent cubs.  Herders often take cubs from the maternal den.

Livestock losses vary widely but can go as high as 10% or more of the herd in depredation "hotspots," at a value of about US $25 per household where the annual income might be US $200 or less.  Like their counterparts in the U.S., herders in the Himalayas tend to blame predators without adequately accounting for other mortality such as disease and accidents.  Many herders have abandoned proven traditional shepherding practices.  In addition to less vigilant guarding, their stock often forage in areas offering good stalking cover for snow leopards.  With more children in school and thus not serving as shepherds, families are increasingly letting their stock roam freely during the daytime, or keeping them in poorly constructed livestock pens at night.  Indeed, it has been argued that pastoralists are supporting snow leopards by providing them with a ready supply of food!   Yet Central Asia's alpine pastures have long been used by resident and nomadic herders, so that eliminating livestock is not an option in most areas.

Herders respond to livestock depredation by demanding compensation from the government.  But paying for such loss is not a sustainable solution, as it fails to address the root causes.  By contrast, predator-proofing corrals is a relatively easy and inexpensive proposition.  Other possibilities for reducing depredation include the use of trained guard dogs, communal shepherding, and preferential access to sheep or goat breeds with well-developed anti-predator traits (native as opposed to exotic breeds).

It is important to accept the fact that livestock predatory losses cannot be entirely eliminated, particularly in areas with high snow leopard numbers or a scarce wild prey base.  The real question is how to maintain depredation at a manageable level while also discouraging herders from seeking retribution for the losses they suffer.  We must find ways whereby local people are more willing to co-exist with large predators.  Apart from reducing livestock depredation losses, this means increasing local incomes and strengthening community stewardship of alpine ecosystems. Local people need to perceive the greater worth of having a live snow leopard than a pelt of one that took their livestock.

Goal:  The Stewardship Program's primary goal is to conserve snow leopards by offering communities incentives for becoming the ultimate guardians of this cat, its prey and it habitat.   While a number of organizations have offered conservation incentive to mountain communities, we know of none that have a) established clear stewardship linkages; b) concentrated on strengthening local people's capacity for self-action from the planning stage through monitoring; c) required substantial local co-financing in cash or in-kind services; d) set clear penalties for non-compliance, and e) implemented rigorous participatory monitoring procedures to measure the program's effectiveness.

Objectives:   The primary objective is to significantly reduce killing of livestock-raiding snow leopards by local people.  This objective goes hand-in-hand with reducing loss of livestock to snow leopards by improving animal husbandry and guarding practices.  The third objective is to increase household incomes by providing technical assistance, grants and incentives for community-based activities which are:

• Environmentally sound and socially responsible;

• Linked to specific stewardship and biodiversity conservation commitments;

• Designed to maximize community "buy-in," long-term self-reliance, and ecosystem health.

Implementation:  A series of "test sites" will be established where different remedial measures will be implemented, using a highly participatory process (known as APPA) involving villagers in partnership with government and local NGOs.  By using different remedial control measures and linked incentives, and by comparing conservation success with sites in which no action is taken, we will assess which actions are most effective in reducing depredation loss while also instilling strong stewardship ethics.  Another important question will be how remedial measures can be adapted to the diverse cultural conditions which exist across the snow leopard's range.

Sites will be chosen that are known for their snow leopard numbers and biological importance, and where the threats to the species are clear.  We will stress that wildlife conservation is the primary reason funding is being made available to implement measures for reducing livestock damage, improving local incomes and livelihoods, or supporting community amenities.  The program will only invest in and work with communities willing to meet most or all of the "Conditions Governing Community Engagement and Donor Support."  All interventions will be designed according to our "Best Practices" procedures, which have been shown to ensure environmentally sound activities.

Pilot testing will require three to five years to complete.  Year one involves baseline gathering and community planning meetings; program interventions will start in year two, followed by monitoring and evaluation through year five.  The second phase (to continue indefinitely) involves applying lessons learned in this program to other sites across the snow leopard's vast range.

Dr. Rodney Jackson, Vice Chair for Snow Leopard of IUCN's Cat Specialist Group, and former Conservation Director of the International Snow Leopard Trust, will serve as Principal Investigator and Program Manager.  An advisory working group of recognized experts and extension specialists will be established to provide guidance.  The program will be staffed through the range country professionals, possibly including local ISLT and other NGO staff, the management agency of the local protected area, and elected village representatives.

The annual budget is estimated at US $125-250,000, depending on the number of countries and sites involved.

*A copy of the full proposal is available on request.

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