SLC Annual Report 2017
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SNOW LEOPARD CONSERVANCY Annual Report . 2017 . FROM. THE . FOUNDER. -.DIRECTOR . Dear Snow Leopard Conservancy Supporters: There was good news for snow leopards in 2017. These magnificent cats were reclassified on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List from Endangered to Vulnerable, reflecting a slowed rate of decline and populations that are stabilized or even slightly increasing in several countries. This improved status of the cats is in part a result of your support for the Conservancy’s community based conservation efforts. Thank you! We completed a ten-year, range-wide genetic research effort that suggests there are three distinct Photo: Lyubov Ivashkina subspecies of snow leopards. The international team was lead by Conservancy partner Dr. Jan Janečka. If accepted by the broader scientific community, this discovery opens the door to regionally-based Red List assessments in the future and, I hope, more strategic targeting of resources and conservation measures. As we celebrate these milestones, we must also renew our commitment to community-based conservation of snow leopards and their habitat. Climate change, infrastructure development, poaching, conflict between herders and snow leopards—all continue to contribute to the vulnerability of a species that is both an ecological indicator and a sacred totem. Your support has enabled the Conservancy to grow the number of predator-proofed livestock corrals in Pakistan, to install more Foxlights in the Nepal Himalaya, and to reach ever more people across the range countries through Snow Leopard Day celebrations. On Page 9 of this Report, we feature Shafqat Hussain and Ghulam Mohammad. They are the driving forces behind the Baltistan Wildlife Conservation & Development Organization (BWCDO), which was awarded the prestigious UN Development Programme's Equator Prize. As the first Pakistanis to receive this prize, they are characteristic of the passionate individuals and small but effective organizations the Snow Leopard Conservancy is committed to support. Thank you for again enabling us to make a difference that grows from field-based, grassroots efforts. Rodney Jackson, Founder-Director Snow Leopard Conservancy’s Mission Ensuring snow leopard survival and conserving mountain landscapes by expanding environmental awareness and sharing innovative practices through community stewardship and partnerships 2 . Annual Report 2017 . Each week, the Nepalese Radio Program, Surroundings of the Snow Leopard, reached an estimated 50,000 listeners in snow leopard habitat, and more than one million elsewhere throughout the Nepal Himalaya. The Conservancy facilitated deployment of 57 new trail cameras in Mongolia, Nepal and Pakistan, greatly adding to our local partners’ ability to monitor snow leopard populations in their critical habitat areas. Conservancy partners led the celebration of Snow Leopard Day in Nepal and Pakistan. Land of Snow Leopard (LOSL) Network members independently initiated celebrations in Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Altai & Buryat Republics of Russia, and Tajikistan. Combined, their conservation messages reached some 15,000 students, teachers, and members of the general public living in snow leopard habitat. Conservancy partners worked with herders to install Foxlights and predator-proof livestock corrals, protecting up to 125 snow leopards from retributive killing across more than 25 village areas in Nepal and Pakistan. 36 Community Monitors were trained by our Land of the Snow Leopard Network members in Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Russia, and Mongolia, to use our special App for Android devices. They are now monitoring wildlife and collecting culturally-relevant stories that will inform innovative educa- tional tools for snow leopard conservation. Photo, trail camera: Ghulam Mohammad, BWCDO Annual Report 2017 . 3 . At right: Nepal’s Snow Leopard Scouts held a parade as part of their first Snow Leopard Day Festival. Below: LOSL Network members organized the first cross-boundary Snow Leopard Day festival, between schools in the Russian and Mongolian Altai Mountains. Your donor dollars are helping the Snow Leopard Conservancy facilitate community-based conservation education and action in the snow leopard’s high, remote, culturally rich habitat. Below: Nepal’s third issue of the Snow Leopard Magazine. Photo: Photo: Lyubov Ivashkina Right: Bhutan’s fifth annual Jomolhari Festival featured a new logo and felted snow leopard handi- crafts created by students at the school for the deaf. 4 . Annual Report 2017 . .IN . Left: In Kyrgyzstan, celebrations organized by park staff, teachers, and LOSL Network mem- bers included the creation of a plaque to honor the snow leopards of Chon-Kemin National Park. Photo: Rural Development Fund Photo: Development Rural Our programs reach both city-dwellers and herders and farmers in the Himalaya, Altai-Sayan, Pamir and Tien Shan Mountains. Snow Leopard Day celebrations were held, for the first time, by LOSL partners, in many new areas. Below: Conservancy partners in Pakistan emphasize the link between education and appreciation for the environment, especially for girls. 1700 students participated in conservation education activities in 2017. Photo: Baikal Buryat Center for Cultural Conservation Photo: Center for Cultural Buryat Baikal Above: During Buryatia’s Snow Leopard Day celebrations, children who live at the foot of the sacred mountain Vankeev Saridak played interactive snow leopard habitat games and wrote love letters to “Irbis,” (snow leopard in the Russian language). Photo: Photo: MohammadGhulam Annual Report 2017 . 5 . .COLLABORATING . WITH. INDIGENOUS. COMMUNITIES . Above: A wild snow leopard roams Baltistan’s high mountains, cap- tured on camera by Ghulam Mohammad, BWCDO. Left: Tashi Ghale, Conservationist with Conservancy partner GPN, sets a trail camera in Nepal’s Manang District. Knowing the actual leopards that inhabit their neighbor- hood engages communities in better stewardship of the cats and their ecosystem. 6 . Annual Report 2017 . TO. .PROTECT . Top left: Predator-proof livestock corral in Baltistan, Pakistan. Top right: Meeting with herders for Foxlight installation in Manang, Nepal. Middle right: Herders ready to set up their solar-powered Foxlights. Communities are the key to snow leopard conservation. Your donor dollars have helped the Conservancy facilitate non-lethal measures to protect livestock from snow leopards. Right: Sacred site Guardian Zhaparkul Raymbekov (seated, in white) gives a blessing for LOSL Network members at a sacred spring in Kyrgyzstan. The Conservancy works through the LOSL Network with Shamans, Sacred Site Guardians, and their supporters to revive traditions that protect snow leopards. Photo: Photo: Lyubov Ivashkina Annual Report 2017 . 7 . &. In-Kind Donations ESRI, mapping software Glitchbusters, computer tech support Google for Nonprofits Interpretation: Raso Alamshoev, Maria Azhunova Lorena Designs, jewelry Ian Whalen, Foxlights Watermark Press, printing Wildlife photographers: Oriol Alamany, Peter Bolliger, Jens Hauser, Bjorn Persson, Steve Tracy, Janco van Gelderen The Conservancy’s staff, board and volunteers gave over 800 hours of their time, worth $10,860. The individuals below have given extraordinary gifts of time and expertise. The organizations have provided a platform for outreach and donations Ebay Giving Works Charleen Gavette, GIS mapping Hotels for Hope Shavaun Mara Kidd, social media Sujin Lee, website design Tumble and Sniffles follows two snow leopard cubs My Domino as they explore their surroundings. Nine-year-old Network for Good Luciana wanted to show her love of snow leopards OneToday by Google and raise awareness of the need to save them. She Paypal Giving Fund is donating half the proceeds from the sale of the John Sichi, website design book to support the Conservancy’s work. http://snowleopardconservancy.org/tumble-and-sniffles/ The GuideStar Exchange Seal demonstrates the Conservancy’s commitment to transparency 8 . Annual Report 2017 . .& . In its July-September issue, Orion Magazine published a poem, “I, Snow Leopard”, written by Jidi Majia, an indigenous poet of the Nuosu (Yi) people of the mountain region of southwest China. Photographs courtesy of the Snow Leopard Conservancy accompany the piece, for which Barry Lopez wrote a moving introduction. Written in the voice of the snow leopard, Jidi Majia creates an image of a magnificent and mysterious creature, in a work that carries a message on the consequences of unchecked violence towards animals, and on the violence that threatens the human species. Range-Wide Snow Leopard Phylogeography Supports Three Subspecies Dr. Rodney Jackson was co-author of the above paper published in the Journal of Heredity describing results of a study led by geneticist Dr. Jan Janečka, Duquesne University. DNA analysis revealed the likely existence of three subspecies of snow leopard. While this is a major discovery, the range of these leo- pards spans international borders, thus cooperation is vital between the host countries, as is occurring with the Global Snow Leopard & Ecosystem Protection Program, in future conservation planning. Photo: Steve Tracy Snow Leopards Reclassified to Vulnerable Dr. Rodney Jackson was one of five international experts who undertook a three-year assessment of the status of snow leopards, for the IUCN Red List, which is the globally accepted international standard for assessing extinction risk. The assess- ment resulted in the cats being reclassified from Endangered to Vulnerable.