Insuring the Survival of the Snow Leopard By Heather Millar

hen he first came across a “Shafqat Hussain’s project deserves and snow leopards, with little long-term paw print of a snow leopard, support, because it touches a worldwide success. “There’s a history of insurance Shafqat Hussain was hiking issue – predators versus human attempts programs failing,” explains Brad Rutherford, high above the tree line in to preserve their livestock,” says Mark executive director of the Seattle-based Wwhat’s often called “Little Tibet,” the Shuttleworth, a South African technology International Snow Leopard Trust. Baltistan region of Pakistan’s Northern entrepreneur and one of the 2006 Rolex “Typically, they’re set up by the government, Areas near Kashmir. The track, large and judges. underfunded and undermonitored. Soon wide like the snowshoes used to manage As they roam the forbidding peaks of there are too many claims and not enough the snows of Central Asia’s high peaks, Central Asia, snow leopards face threats money. Then the program goes bust, and was but a few hours old. Hussain bent from many fronts. Though trade in snow villagers end up being even more angry at down to press his face to the indentation. leopards is banned by the Convention on the animal you’re trying to protect.” “I still don’t know why I did it,” says International Trade in Endangered Species To try to move beyond this flawed Hussain, an economist-turned-environ- of Wild Fauna and Flora, their pelts bring dynamic, Hussain hit upon an original, mental-activist who is a Ph.D. candidate at high prices on the black market, often two-pronged strategy: first, he set up a F&ES and in the anthropology department. equivalent to an entire year’s income for a village-administered, livestock co-insurance “I just got this wonderful feeling, to connect, mountain villager. In booming East Asia, arrangement that discourages fraud; then, to see that ‘Oh, this animal was right here.’ their various body parts are increasingly he linked the insurance system to a snow The snow leopard has a mythical feel to it.” prized as ingredients for traditional medi- leopard ecotourism venture. The pooled Generations from now, people may cines. At the same time, subsistence herders money from locals, plus income from the still be able to have that sort of experience, with growing families push their animals tourists, helps make the program self- thanks in part to an inventive insurance higher and higher up the mountain slopes sustaining. In good years, the funds may program Hussain designed to protect to find more forage for their flocks. This even support community improvement the cats, which have been on the World has the effect of taking food away from projects like building wells and upgrading Conservation Union (IUCN) list of endan- wild prey species like blue sheep (bharal). sheep corrals. gered species since 1972. The plan seeks As wild prey populations to discourage villagers from killing snow decrease, leopards sometimes leopards that occasionally attack their have no choice but to venture herds. Many studies have concluded that down from their mountaintops these retaliatory killings of snow leopards to hunt at village elevations, remain one of the greatest threats to the especially in winter when survival of the species in the wild. food is scarce. Occasionally, a Last October, Rolex SA, the Swiss leopard will get into a pen watch company, recognized Hussain’s and become frenzied, killing Project Snow Leopard as truly innovative, dozens of animals at once. naming him one of five associate laureates Understandably, these losses of the Rolex Awards for Enterprise. The enrage villagers, who live awards, presented every other year since close to the edge both physi- 1976, recognize and support pioneering cally and economically and work that advances human knowledge and for whom the taking of even well-being. The 2006 awards committee one goat or sheep is a devas- picked Hussain’s project from a pool of tating blow. 1,671 entries from 117 countries, also Around the world, vari- Shafqat Hussain’s Project Snow Leopard was granting him $50,000 to continue his work. ous insurance schemes have introduced near Skardu and his doctoral research Five laureates received $100,000 awards. attempted to insure locals takes place near Gilgit. Both towns are located against livestock killings by in the Northern Areas of Pakistan. Left, a snow leopard in captivity. endangered predators like lions

Spring 2007 environment:YALE 35 Shafqat Hussain, second from right, talks to the members of the Hushey community in the Baltistan region of northern Pakistan about his insurance program and their views about the conflict between snow leopards and humans.

Hussain, who grew up the son of a civil servant in Lahore, Pakistan, didn’t set out to crusade for the snow leopard. He came to the United States to study economics at Thierry Grobet Indiana University of Pennsylvania. After “We got all the villagers to participate,” Most scientists believe that the snow graduation, he returned to Pakistan to Hussain explains. “And we’ve had no leopard’s numbers are decreasing mainly work in the Northern Areas for the Aga complaints that losses were not verified or because of poaching and reprisals from Khan Rural Support Program (AKRSP). that claims have been fraudulent.” locals. That’s difficult to prove definitively, He lived in Skardu, a town of 50,000 that Project Snow Leopard has been so though, since populations are estimated by mountaineers and trekkers use as a staging successful in the villages of the Skoyo and indirect evidence, such as tracks, interviews area for expeditions to the many 26,000- Basha valleys, where it has been instituted, with locals and the remains of kills. foot peaks in the nearby Western Himalaya, that Hussain is fielding inquiries from all The cat is so reclusive and hard to Hindu Kush and Karakorum ranges. In over the world. He juggles these calls while track that it has taken on an aura of myth. addition to tourism, the local economy also finishing his thesis at F&ES, writing Only two Westerners have seen snow depends on the production and trade of an historical analysis of the changing con- dried apricots, walnuts and almonds. ception of nature and society in the Hunza AKRSP, Hussain says, focused on small region. Organizations in India, Nepal and “Shafqat Hussain’s project infrastructure projects that would increase Mongolia are either cooperating with agricultural productivity: better water Project Snow Leopard or starting their own deserves support, because it channels, better varieties of seeds, better programs modeled on his approach. touches a worldwide issue – farming practices. Hussain worked as a The snow leopard, if you can catch a monitoring and evaluation officer, traveling predators versus human attempts glimpse of one, is a graceful predator, with through the region and judging the success a luminous soft grey coat marked with to preserve their livestock.” of various programs. “My job was to go rosettes of black on brown and a long tail out in the field and talk to villagers,” that helps it to balance and also doubles as Mark Shuttleworth Hussain says. “I would get their feedback, a muffler in bitter weather. A bridge species ask them whether programs were working between smaller felines like bobcats and or not. Villagers often complained about great cats like lions and tigers, the leopard leopards in the wild since 1950. Author the depredations of wild animals. But our rules at the top of the food chain in the Peter Matthiessen wandered around the work had nothing to do with that.” mountain ecosystems that include famous Himalayas with Schaller for a year hoping At the same time, in the late 1990s, peaks like K2 and Mount Everest. to see one. He ended up with a famous the IUCN began a multimillion-dollar, No one’s sure exactly how many snow book, The Snow Leopard, but never set seven-year project to conserve wildlife in leopards (Uncia uncia) remain in the wild. eyes on the object of his search. the area. In concert with the wildlife The accepted estimates range from 3,000 “It’s so incredibly rarely seen, so elusive,” department of the Northern Areas region, to 7,000. Only two population studies of says Rodney Jackson, founder and director the IUCN focused on large ungulates, like the animals in Pakistan have ever been of the Snow Leopard Conservancy, based the Himalayan ibex (Capra ibex sibirica), attempted – one in 1974 by noted biologist in Sonoma, Calif. “But if you protect a few markhor (Capra falconeri) and a local George Schaller (now director of science for snow leopards, you also protect everything species of wild goat. The goal was to blend the Bronx Zoo-based Wildlife Conservation in their large habitat – the plants, the conservation with a trophy-hunting pro- Society) and another by Hussain in 2003. mammals, everything.” gram that would show locals the value of

36 environment:YALE The School of Forestry & Environmental Studies saving these species. the value of the goat. Each year, the village way: “First villagers have to verify the kill That was great for the public apprecia- loses 1 to 2 percent of the herd from snow and the value of the animal. Then they tion of these wild grazing animals, Hussain leopard attacks. When we told them that look to Fund 1 and see how much that noticed, but not so great for the snow Project Snow Leopard would also chip in person has contributed. The person first gets leopard. As Hussain traveled through the money, they all agreed. Villagers administer reimbursed from his own contributions. If stone, mud and wood villages of this dry, the funds and investigate claims.” he’s put in 300 rupees, he gets back those remote region, he kept hearing that locals With input from the villagers, Hussain 300 rupees. The balance, if any, of the were amazed by how much foreign trophy designed clever checks and balances to value of the lost animal comes from Fund hunters would pay: up to $5,000 to bag an discourage cheating and encourage coop- 2, which everyone owns in common,” ibex and up to $50,000 for a markhor. eration. The Village Insurance Committee Hussain explains. “Of course, if a snow leopard killed rotates membership every two years, so “It’s a psychological thing,” he continues. one, the villagers got nothing,” Hussain that no one family or person can dominate. “The villagers monitor each other. It’s not explains. “The villagers said, ‘This animal All the premium money goes into a pot in their interest to verify a fraudulent kills not only our goats but these precious called “Fund 1,” where each villager’s con- claim, because they would have to draw animals, the ibex and markhor.’ They tributions are recorded and kept separate. from Fund 2. They would not want to do started persecuting the snow leopard. Of Meanwhile, Hussain founded an ecotourism that, because they’d be making someone course, it was illegal. But in those remote company, Full Moon Night Trekking, to rich by making themselves poor.” regions, who’s going to know? I asked the market snow leopard treks. A portion of Word of Hussain’s insurance plan has villagers about the snow leopard. They the money from that venture – 70,000 spread through the mountains, and he’s said, ‘We have nothing against it, but if it Pakistani rupees, or $1,151, in 2007 – goes gotten lots of inquiries from village lead- attacks our goats, we lose a substantial part into another pot, called “Fund 2.” All the ers. “We got so much enthusiasm from the of our livelihood. If someone compensated money in Fund 2 is held in common by villages, but we didn’t have the resources us for our loss, then we would leave the the village. The trekking company also and manpower to expand,” Hussain says. leopard alone.’” employs two villagers as guides. With the Rolex award money, Project Hussain tried to get conservation and If a villager loses a goat to a snow Snow Leopard can expand into six more development groups to incorporate the leopard, the system springs into action this continued on page 41 snow leopard into their plans, but he got nowhere. Then, in 1998, he got a grant from the London-based Whitley Fund for Nature at the Royal Geographical Society. That money allowed him to start Project Snow Leopard the same year. He chose to focus on the Skoyo valley, where about 400 Balti people carve out a living, tilling fields and orchards in the valley and herding goats and sheep on the nearby mountain slopes, which are also ideal snow leopard habitat. Hussain consulted with the villagers, and together they devised a locally sup- ported insurance plan. “We asked the villagers to pay a small annual premium for livestock, 15 rupees, about 1 percent of

Hussain called this photograph of a snow leopard eating a dead goat “remarkable,” given the elusiveness of the species. The photograph was taken by a remote camera in the Hushey village.

Spring 2007 37 F&ES Water Program... aquifers that provide drinking water,” he says. “And inorganic colloids, such as clay continued from page 15 particles, can absorb and accelerate the exporting,” Benoit says. “We’re looking for transport of dissolved contaminants. We’re individual chemicals that have single sources, using laboratory work, field experiments so that we can say, ‘That’s where this pollu- and mathematical models to identify the tion is coming from!’ Increasingly, we are physical and chemical factors governing using caffeine and ibuprofen as markers, the interaction of these substances within because they come only from sewage. Once geologic systems.” perfected, this tool could be used to identify In his work in the Florida Everglades, defective septic systems, leaking sewer Saiers notes that he is “looking at an enor- lines or illegal discharges.” mous wetland ecosystem whose hydrologic With Diana Balmori, a lecturer in land- functioning has been devastated.” Begun scape and urban history at F&ES, Benoit by planners in the late 19th century and recently authored Land and Natural advanced later by congressional action, the Development (LAND) Code: Guidelines for scheme for developing the Everglades for Sustainable Land Development, whose agriculture produced a 70 percent reduction target audience is architects, engineers, land in the region’s water flow, sending 1.7 billion developers and government officials. He gallons of fresh water a day into the ocean says, “I also want to have an impact outside and resulting in a decimation of the bird of research by designing recommendations population and threats of extinction for for developing land in a way that will cause dozens of plant and animal species. Saiers the least environmental harm.” is part of a team of scientists working on a Like Raymond, James Saiers, a professor massive 30-year plan to restore, protect of hydrology, is working on how chemicals and preserve the Everglades. “Part of the move through the environment, and like restoration plan involves removing levees several other colleagues, he is working to and canals to restore the system’s natural understand the impact of development on behavior,” he says, “and my colleagues and I ecosystems – in his case, the Florida are creating ground water and surface water Everglades. models that we hope will allow us to project Saiers is involved in two areas of how the system will respond to proposed hydrologic research related to how water changes.” But he adds this cautionary note: moves and carries chemicals, including “The health of this ecosystem is still to be pollutants, on and below the Earth’s surface. determined. There are never guarantees.” „ “The Department of Energy manages sites contaminated with radionuclides from Snow Leopard... weapons and spent commercial fuel,” he continued from page 37 says, “and inorganic chemicals, released inadvertently from liquid and solid waste valleys, improve guarding pens and main- sources or as a result of mining operations, tain a system of unmanned cameras to try have polluted ground waters across North to better monitor the population of snow America and Europe. We’re looking at the leopards. effects of geochemical and hydrological Jackson, of the Snow Leopard processes on the migration of metals such Conservancy, says he is optimistic that as cobalt, chromium and cesium, so that we Hussain’s model can be used throughout can design strategies for the remediation of the snow leopard range. “Hussain talks to polluted ground water.” the villagers,” Jackson says. “What’s most Saiers is also researching how organic important about his work is that he thinks and inorganic microscopic particles move in anthropological terms. That’s an area through soils. “Viruses and pathogenic that’s been sorely neglected by biologists bacteria represent a risk to human health if designing conservation programs.” „ they are transmitted to ground water

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