Snow leopard conservation

Why in news?

The conservation status of snow leopard has been changed from “endangered” to “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

What are the characteristic features of Snow leopards?

• These are rarely sighted cats that live in the peaks of central Asia including the Himalayas and Russia’s remote Altai mountains.
• Their habitat covers more than 1.8 million sq km, across 12 countries and usually found at elevations of 3,000-4,500m.
• Their coats change with the seasons from a thick, white fur to keep them warm and camouflaged in winter, to a fine yellow-grey coat in summer.
• They are threatened by poaching for their fur, infrastructure developments and climate change.
• In India this animal habitat is in Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh.

What are the criteria for endangered status?

• An observed, estimated, inferred or suspected population size reduction of ≥ 50% over the last 10 years or three generations
• Area of occupancy estimated to be less than 500 km²,
• Population size estimated to number fewer than 2500 mature individuals witness a continuous decline
• Population size estimated to number fewer than 250 mature individuals.
• Quantitative analysis showing the probability of extinction in the wild is at least 20% within 20 years or five generations
• The current move is based on the criterion that it crossed the threshold number of 2500

What will be the impact of the downgrade?

• The factors that pose a threat to the species, like trafficking live animals in Central Asia, and hostility from communities because of its attacks on livestock, remain unchanged.
• New research indicates that even when wild prey is available, the attacks on livestock by snow leopards have been on the rise.
• The bigger challenge of loss of habitat owing to changing climate patterns needs continuous conservation efforts.
• There is no clear knowledge about its population health, in remote habitat in the alpine zones of the Himalayas and trans-Himalayas.
• There are possibilities of trafficking of this animal in Central Asia, and hostility from communities because of its attacks on livestock.
• A more fundamental worry is over the likely loss of habitat owing to changing climate patterns.
• So the downgrading might send a wrong message and the governments might shift their focus away from the conservation efforts.
• It is vital that the momentum of conservation should not be lost merely on account of the technicality.

What should be done?

• The existing conservation must be strengthened by enlarging protected areas in all the range countries.
• Studies on the leopard’s vulnerability have to be intensified.
• The task of monitoring its entire habitat of high mountains must speeded up.
• The reasons for hunting livestock must be dound out to insulate the owners from losses.
• They should be encouraged to move away from traditional pastoral grazing.
• Incompatible activities such as mining and human interference in their habitats should be kept out.

Source: The Hindu