Community-Based Snow Leopard Conservation in Baltistan

Snow Leopard Conservancy - Conservation Program

Baltistan – photos by Andrew Chinn

Baltistan

Baltistan is the center of the Karakoram Mountains’ glaciers, peaks and towers. The mighty Indus River sweeps through this land, where villages are oases in a vertical wilderness of rock and ice. Baltistan’s cultural roots with Tibet distinguish it from areas to the west, though missionaries from Kashmir brought Islam here in 1500.

–excerpted from the Lonely Planet guide,
Trekking in the Karakoram & Hindu Kush,
by John Mock and Kimberley O’Neil

2003:

Introductory visit by Dr. John Mock and Kimberley O’ Neil (www.MockandONeil) on behalf of the Snow Leopard Conservancy
Joined with Project Snow Leopard (PSL)
2004:

Hushey Village, Baltistan earns a special Commendation for Conservation Action, and the Disney Wildlife Conservation Fund’s 2004 Conservation Hero Award for Asia
Snow Leopard Conservancy launches collaborative, community-based snow leopard conservation program.
2005

Project Snow Leopard team designed a baseline survey questionnaire, trained local people in survey techniques, and carried out biological surveys in four villages of Basha Valley, Shigar, Baltistan. Conservation Committees were formed in three target villages, and Terms of Partnership for wildlife management were signed.
2006

Shafqat Hussain received a Rolex Award for Enterprise for his project to develop ecotourism and an insurance scheme for domestic lifestock to protect show leopards.
The Project Snow Leopard team continued data collection in collaboration with local communities in Basha Valley. Corral predator-proofing was initiated in target village. Read a summary of the above activities prepared by Project Snow Leopard’s Ghulam Mohammad.

Pakistan (Northern Areas)

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Commendation for
Conservation Action