The Global Snow Leopard and Ecosystem Protection Program

Zakharenka, Andrew; Sharma, Koustubh; Kochorov, Chyngyz; Rutherford, Brad; Varma, Keshav; Anand, Sridhar; Kushlin, Andrey; Lumpkin, Susan; Seidensticker, John; Laporte, Bruno; Tichomirow, Boris; Jackson, Rodney; Mishra, Charudutt; Abdiev, Bakhtiyar; Modaqiq, Abdul Wali; Wangchuk, Sonam; Zhongtian, Zhang; Khanduri, S. K.; Duisekeyev, Bakytbek; Dorjgurkhem, Batbold; Pandey, Megh Bahadur; Nasir, Syed Mahmood; Nawaz, Muhammad Ali; Фоминых, И Б; Saidov, Nurali; Yunusov, Nodirjon

doi:10.1016/b978-0-12-802213-9.00045-6

Cited by 9 publications

(6 citation statements)

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“…A global strategy to safeguard snow leopards and the vast ecosystem they inhabit—which includes 12 nations and supports 1 billion people—has already been established: The Global Snow Leopard Ecosystem Protection Program (GSLEP). Its overall aim is to secure at least 20 snow leopard model landscapes across the species’ range by 2020 [ 44 ]. Under the GSLEP initiative, the selection of model landscapes requires a clear understanding of areas that represent the species’ prime habitat so that conservation efforts in the next decade can focus on securing areas that hold or have the potential to hold larger populations; at least 100 breeding age snow leopards.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Identifying priority landscapes for conservation of snow leopards in Pakistan

et al. 2020

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Pakistan’s total estimated snow leopard habitat is about 80,000 km2 of which about half is considered prime habitat. However, this preliminary demarcation was not always in close agreement with the actual distribution—the discrepancy may be huge at the local and regional level. Recent technological developments like camera trapping and molecular genetics allow for collecting reliable presence records that could be used to construct realistic species distribution based on empirical data and advanced mathematical approaches like MaxEnt. The current study followed this approach to construct an accurate distribution of the species in Pakistan. Moreover, movement corridors, among different landscapes, were also identified through circuit theory. The probability of habitat suitability, generated from 98 presence points and 11 environmental variables, scored the snow leopard’s assumed range in Pakistan, from 0 to 0.97. A large portion of the known range represented low-quality habitat, including areas in lower Chitral, Swat, Astore, and Kashmir. Conversely, Khunjerab, Misgar, Chapursan, Qurumber, Broghil, and Central Karakoram represented high-quality habitats. Variables with higher contributions in the MaxEnt model were precipitation during the driest month (34%), annual mean temperature (19.5%), mean diurnal range of temperature (9.8%), annual precipitation (9.4%), and river density (9.2). The model was validated through receiver operating characteristic (ROC) plots and defined thresholds. The average test AUC in Maxent for the replicate runs was 0.933 while the value of AUC by ROC curve calculated at 0.15 threshold was 1.00. These validation tests suggested a good model fit and strong predictive power. The connectivity analysis revealed that the population in the Hindukush landscape appears to be more connected with the population in Afghanistan as compared to other populations in Pakistan. Similarly, the Pamir-Karakoram population is better connected with China and Tajikistan, while the Himalayan population was connected with the population in India. Based on our findings we propose three model landscapes to be considered under the Global Snow Leopard Ecosystem Protection Program (GSLEP) agenda as regional priority areas, to safeguard the future of the snow leopard in Pakistan and the region. These landscapes fall within mountain ranges of the Himalaya, Hindu Kush and Karakoram-Pamir, respectively. We also identified gaps in the existing protected areas network and suggest new protected areas in Chitral and Gilgit-Baltistan to protect critical habitats of snow leopard in Pakistan.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Identifying priority landscapes for conservation of snow leopards in Pakistan

et al. 2020

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“…The Mongolian snow leopard population is believed to support Russian snow leopard populations as all known snow leopard habitats are along the Mongolian border (Kalashnikova et al., 2019). The country supports at least four landscapes prioritized to be secured under the Global Snow Leopard and Ecosystem Protection Program (GSLEP), including three in Mongolia and one in Russia adjacent to the national border (Zakharenka et al, 2016).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mapping the ghost: Estimating probabilistic snow leopard distribution across Mongolia

Bayandonoi¹,

Sharma²,

Alexander

et al. 2021

Diversity and Distributions

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Aim Snow leopards are distributed across the mountains of 12 countries spread across 1.8 million km2 in Central and South Asia. Previous efforts to map snow leopard distributions have relied on expert opinions and modelling of presence‐only data. Expert opinion is subjective and its reliability is difficult to assess, while analyses of presence‐only data have tended to ignore the imperfect detectability of this elusive species. The study was conducted to prepare the first ever probabilistic distribution map of snow leopards across Mongolia addressing the challenge of imperfect detection. Location We conducted sign‐based occupancy surveys across 1,017 grid‐cells covering 406,800 km2 of Mongolia's potential snow leopard range. Methods Using a candidate model set of 31 ecologically meaningful models that used six site and seven sampling covariates, we estimate the probability of sites being used by snow leopards across the entire country. Results Occupancy probability increased with greater terrain ruggedness, with lower values of vegetation indices, with less forest cover, and were highest at intermediate altitudes. Detection probability was higher for segments walked on foot, and for those in more rugged terrain. Our results showed broad agreement with maps developed using expert opinion and presence‐only data but also highlighted important differences, for example in northern areas of Mongolia deemed largely unfavourable by previous expert opinion and presence‐only analyses. Main conclusions This study reports the first national‐level occupancy survey of snow leopards in Mongolia and highlights methodological opportunities that can be taken to scale and support national‐level conservation planning. Our assessments indicated that <12% of its entire land mass, and 42% of the potential snow leopard habitat in Mongolia has a high (>0.5) probability of being used by snow leopards. We emphasize the utility of occupancy modelling, which jointly models detection and site use, in achieving these goals.

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“…Thus, conservation of biological diversity has important consequences for the maintenance and continuous provision of the ecosystem services in these high Asian mountains [118]. These ecosystem services include supporting ecotourism by maintaining ecosystem quality [119,120], biodiversity conservation, carbon sequestration, and recharging water for more than two billion people downstream [121,122]. However, previous studies revealed that, due to ecosystem degradation in the snow leopard landscapes, the corresponding ecosystem services are negatively impacted or lost [86,123,124].…”

Section: Environmental Degradationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In addition, other ecosystem services provided by mountains inhabited by snow leopards include sustaining agricultural and pastoral livelihoods, recreation, inspiration, and offering economic opportunities [121,122,126]. Loss of the snow leopard will result in the loss of ecosystem services and functions in Asia's highest mountain regions [126].…”

Section: Social Implicationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Horizon Scan of Transboundary Concerns Impacting Snow Leopard Landscapes in Asia

Sultan

Rashid

Shi

et al. 2022

Land

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The high-altitude region of Asia is prone to natural resource degradation caused by a variety of natural and anthropogenic factors that also threaten the habitat of critical top predator species, the snow leopard (Panthera uncia). The snow leopard’s landscape encompasses parts of the twelve Asian countries and is dominated by pastoral societies within arid mountainous terrain. However, no investigation has assessed the vulnerability and pathways towards long-term sustainability on the global snow leopard landscape scale. Thus, the current study reviewed 123 peer-reviewed scientific publications on the existing knowledge, identified gaps, and proposed sustainable mitigation options for the longer term and on larger landscape levels in the range countries. The natural resource degradation in this region is caused by various social, economic, and ecological threats that negatively affect its biodiversity. The factors that make the snow leopard landscapes vulnerable include habitat fragmentation through border fencing, trade corridor infrastructure, non-uniform conservation policies, human–snow leopard conflict, the increasing human population, climatic change, land use and cover changes, and unsustainable tourism. Thus, conservation of the integrated Socio-Ecological System (SES) prevailing in this region requires a multi-pronged approach. This paper proposes solutions and identifies the pathways through which to implement these solutions. The prerequisite to implementing such solutions is the adoption of cross-border collaboration (regional cooperation), the creation of peace parks, readiness to integrate transnational and cross-sectoral conservation policies, a focus on improving livestock management practices, a preparedness to control human population growth, a readiness to mitigate climate change, initiating transboundary landscape-level habitat conservation, adopting environment-friendly trade corridors, and promoting sustainable tourism. Sustainable development in this region encompasses the political, social, economic, and ecological landscapes across the borders.

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The Global Snow Leopard and Ecosystem Protection Program

Cited by 9 publications

References 0 publications

Identifying priority landscapes for conservation of snow leopards in Pakistan

Identifying priority landscapes for conservation of snow leopards in Pakistan

Mapping the ghost: Estimating probabilistic snow leopard distribution across Mongolia

Horizon Scan of Transboundary Concerns Impacting Snow Leopard Landscapes in Asia

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