First-ever survey puts India’s snow leopard count at 718.

La Excellence IAS Academy

January 31, 2024

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La Excellence IAS Academy | January 31, 2024 | Environment

Syllabus: GS-III

Subject: Environment

Topic: Species in News.

Issue: A survey report on Snow Leopard.

Context: According to a first-of-its-kind, four-year-long estimation exercise, India has an estimated 718 snow leopards in the wild.

Key points highlighted by the survey:

India is home to an estimated 10% of the global Snow Leopard population.
The highest number of snow leopards were found in Ladakh, followed by Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Sikkim, and Jammu and Kashmir.
It is a collaborative effort involving various organizations including the Wildlife Institute of India (WII), the World Wide Fund for Nature-India, and the Nature Conservation Foundation, Mysuru.

Faces threats from factors such as human-wildlife conflict, poaching, and habitat loss.

(Prelims) Species in news: Snow leopard

· IUCN Status: ‘vulnerable’.

· Wildlife (Protection) Act 1972: Schedule I.

· CITES: the Appendix Iand Appendix I Convention on Migratory Species (CMS).

· It is a large cat native to the mountain ranges of Central and South Asia- including the Himalayas, and Russia’s remote Altai mountains.

· Snow leopard range countries formed the Global Snow Leopard Forum (GSLF) and signed the Bishkek Declaration.

· Indian National Parks where the Snow Leopard is likely to be spotted:

o Kibber Wildlife Sanctuary – Himachal Pradesh

o Ulley Valley – Ladakh

o Hemis National Park – Himachal Pradesh

Project Snow Leopard :

· Launched in 2009, by the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate.

· To promote an inclusive, participatory, and landscape-based approach to conserving Snow Leopards and their habitat in India.

· The project is operational in five Himalayan states: Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Sikkim, and Arunachal Pradesh.