The Pakistan Snow Leopard and Ecosystem Programme (PSLEP), aimed at preserving the endangered wild cat facing habitat destruction, has engaged students and women of the local community to protect the depleting living natural space and generate alternative income opportunities for the masses.
PSLEP National Project Manager Jaffaruddin on Sunday said that human and wildlife conflict has increased between the residents in the northern areas and snow leopards, the vulnerable big cat inhabiting the snow-clad mountains of trans-boundary region of the Himalayas sprawling over Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK), Chitral and Gilgit-Baltistan (G-B).
He added that the Snow Leopard Foundation (SLF), under the supervision of the Ministry of Climate Change (MoCC), had initiated a five-year project in 2018 to address the issue.
"Snow leopard is a vulnerable species at the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of endangered species that carry the risk of becoming extinct in the future," the manager stated.
He maintained that rapid glacial melting had increased the grazing area in the northern region that resulted in human intrusion into snow leopard's habitat and, as a consequence, attacks on livestock of local farmers had mounted the conflict.
Jaffar mentioned that a loss of prey in its natural environment had also forced the snow leopard to descend into local communities to look for its prey.
He said that in order to engage children in conservation measures, Nature Clubs were established in schools to spread awareness about the vulnerable species and own the big cat as a community symbol instead of a threat.
The manager further shared that there are skill development programmes initiated under PSLEP to provide alternative livelihood sources to local communities other than livestock farming, which is their only source of income.
"The project gives due consideration to gender parity in the initiative as both males and females are being trained,” he said, adding that women are particularly trained to produce local artifacts and cultural goods with a modern blend to earn a good amount of income and foreign exchange.
Jaffar said that SLF, under the PSLEP project, had also introduced multiple interventions from capacity building of local farmers, awareness and education pertaining to snow leopard's vulnerability, vaccination of livestock, livestock insurance, modern enclosures to avoid the big cat's attacks on livestock in human settlements.
He added that major intervention implemented was of eco-tourism conservation sites aiming to promote conservation to prevent damage to their habitat.
Under this initiative, the first site developed and made operational is at Hoper, Nagar district of G-B, promoting sustainable tourism through trekking and camping sites that would discourage unbridled development of hotels and restaurants in such vulnerable locations, the manager said.
Published in The Express Tribune, February 22nd, 2021.
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