Snow Leopard Conservancy

Protection from Poaching

Although it is illegal to trade in snow leopards or their body parts internationally, as the snow leopard has been included in Appendix I of the Convention on International Trade of Endangered Species (CITES), poaching is considered a key threat. SLC has worked to ensure all twelve range countries have laws that prohibit hunting or trading snow leopards.

Predator-Proof Corrals

To reduce conflict between snow leopards and livestock herds, SLC helps raise funds for “predator-proof” corrals. A predator-proof corral must have sturdy, high walls and must have the top covered by an impenetrable material, usually chain link fencing, preventing snow leopards from leaping over the walls and entering the corral. This prevents the loss of livestock and reduces the retaliatory killing of snow leopards.

Monitoring the Mountains

The Snow Leopard Conservancy pioneered the use of non-invasive, remotely-triggered camera traps to document snow leopards in the Himalayas. They also use radio-telemetry and fecal genotyping to gather detailed information on habitat preferences, movement patterns, prey densities, and social interactions. This allows SLC to better estimate snow leopard population size and conservation interventions.

Rangewide Education Programs

SLC currently works across eight snow leopard range countries with local communities to provide locally led education programs. In Mongolia, SLC’s partners created an innovative “Nomadic Nature Trunk” program, a mobile education project that brings activity-based instruction in natural sciences and environmental conservation to rural Mongolian schools and communities.

Himalayan Homestays

SLC’s Himalayan Homestays are village-based immersions that share traditional ways of life in the high Himalayas with travelers. Homestays are a prime example of eco-friendly and socially responsible tourism, providing the visitor with a once in a lifetime memory and their host a means to generate substantial income. This changes local peoples’ perceptions of the snow leopard from a pest into an asset, better alive than dead.

Bishkek Declaration

SLC helped draft the Bishkek Declaration with leaders across the governments of snow leopard range states: Afghanistan, Bhutan, China, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Nepal, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan. These leaders have to come together as the custodians of the world’s snow leopards and the valuable high-mountain ecosystems they inhabit, with the shared goal of conserving snow leopards and their fragile habitats.

Land of the Snow Leopard Network

The Land of the Snow Leopard Network is a coalition of Indigenous Cultural Practitioners (ICPs) who live and work in snow leopard habitat. The network merges western science with traditional ecological knowledge, empowers ICPs to be co-leaders in conservation, revitalizes ancient ceremonies to honor the snow leopard, and establishes sacred sites as snow leopard education centers.

Promoting Health