IUCN / SSC Cat Specialist Group - Digital Cat Library
   

 

View printer friendly
Wwf,
WWF Snow leopard species action plan (SAP) 2015-2020
2015  Full Book

This first Species Action Plan (SAP) for snow leopards provides that overarching approach by building upon the organization's long history in snow leopard conservation as well as the projects that WWF offices are currently undertaking in snow leopard range states. The SAP builds upon the Snow Leopard Survival Strategy produced by the Snow Leopard Network and defines WWF's contribution to the multi-year Global Snow Leopard and Ecosystem Protection Program (GSLEP), which was adopted by the 12 range state governments and other partners at the Bishkek summit in 2013. The SAP identifies WWF's specific niche and ensures that its snow leopard programme will focus on areas where WWF has strong expertise and where WWF's efforts will complement the activities of governments and other organizations, rather than duplicate them. There are many capable and experienced stakeholders doing superb work on snow leopard conservation, but WWF has a unique role to play at international, regional, landscape and site levels due to its presence in the majority of the 12 range countries, and ability to work at a transnational level. Pursuing this approach will ensure that WWF secures the greatest impact from its investment in snow leopard conservation - and helps enhance global efforts to meet the goals of the GSLEP. Indeed, the SAP will unite the WWF and TRAFFIC networks behind the goal of achieving "stable and growing snow leopard populations of at least 100 animals conserved with the involvement of local communities in 14 climate-resilient landscapes by 2020" - a direct sub-set of the goal listed under the GSLEP. The SAP covers work in 14 WWF priority landscapes, which overlap with landscapes listed under the GSLEP. The SAP will focus on five areas where WWF believes its network can add the most value to global efforts to conserve the snow leopard - landscape planning and management to mitigate the threats of macro-economic development and climate change; scaling up successful community-based approaches to snow leopard friendly animal husbandry; addressing poaching through building wildlife management capacity and community engagement; stopping the trafficking of snow leopards and reducing demand for their parts through TRAFFIC; and advocating for the effective implementation of GSLEP by range states, and maintaining a high level of political support for snow leopard conservation. A SAP coordinator will oversee implementation and fundraising efforts, as well as work with the Snow Leopard Secretariat in order to achieve the SAP's 2020 objectives:  14 snow leopard landscapes have experienced no additional fragmentation and have contracted by no more than 5% of their 2016 size;  Snow leopard populations across 14 landscapes will be stable or increasing due to improved community stewardship, improved animal husbandry and/or climateadapted snow leopard friendly livelihoods;  Levels of poaching in 14 landscapes have been reduced from 2016 levels;  Trafficking of snow leopards and demand for their products will have been reduced to 50% of 2013 levels; and  At least 11 snow leopard range state governments have made measurable progress with implementing their commitments in the Bishkek Declaration and the GSLEP. Reversing the downward trend in snow leopard numbers requires conservation efforts on an unparalleled scale. Achieving this will not be easy, but it is more feasible now than ever before thanks to the ongoing work of numerous conservation organizations and the high level commitment of all range states to snow leopard conservation, enshrined in the Bishkek Declaration and the GSLEP. By focusing on the niche where WWF can have the most impact, the SAP aims to ensure WWF and TRAFFIC best support the work of other organizations and governments, as well as helping to enable conservation interventions to reach the scale needed to safeguard the future of the snow leopard and its habitat.

PDF files are only accessible to Friends of the Cat Group. Joining Friends of the Cat Group gives you unlimited access and downloads in the Cat SG Library for one year, and allows you to receive our newsletter Cat News (2 regular issues per year plus special issues). More information how to join here

 

(c) IUCN/SSC Cat Specialist Group ( IUCN - The World Conservation Union)