• The snow leopard holds historical importance in Kyrgyz culture, featuring in the story of Manas, a Kyrgyz folk hero, revered as a symbol of greatness, courage, and resilience. It has come to be known as the ‘ghost of the mountains’.

About Snow Leopard

• Habitat: Mountainous regions of Central and Southern Asia; in India: western and eastern Himalayas.

• Indian Geographical Range: Western Himalayas (J&K, Ladakh, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand) and Eastern Himalayas (Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh).

• Project Snow Leopard (2009): Aims to strengthen wildlife conservation in the Himalayan high altitudes, involving local communities.

Conservation Status

• IUCN Red List: Vulnerable

• CITES: Appendix I

• Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972 (India): Schedule I

India’s Conservation Efforts

• Flagship species for high altitude Himalayas.

• Part of GSLEP Programme since 2013.

• Himalaya Sanrakshak community programme (2020).

• National Protocol on Snow Leopard Population Assessment (2019).

• SECURE Himalaya project (GEF-UNDP funded).

• Listed in 21 critically endangered species for recovery by MoEF&CC.

• Conservation breeding at Padmaja Naidu Himalayan Zoological Park.

• Living Himalaya Network Initiative: WWF’s initiative across Bhutan, India (North-East), and Nepal for conservation impact in the Eastern Himalayas.

Significance of the Snow Leopard

• The snow leopard symbolizes the health and stability of mountain ecosystems, which cover a significant portion of the global territory.

• The snow leopard has been a totem animal in ancient Kyrgyz culture, associated with the legendary figure Manas.

• The harmony between humans and nature, symbolized by the snow leopard, is portrayed in Chyngyz Aitmatov’s novel “When Mountains Fall.”

About Global Snow Leopard and Ecosystem Protection Programme (GSLEP) 

• It is an alliance of 12 snow leopard range countries, multi-lateral institutions, NGOs, scientists and local communities.

• It seeks to address high-mountain development issues using the conservation of the charismatic and endangered snow leopard as a flagship.

• The Bishkek Declaration is a 2013 pledge by 12 countries to ensure the well-being of snow leopards and the people who live among them.

• “Secure 20 by 2020” is an initiative of GSLEP that identified and aims to secure at least 20 snow leopard landscapes across the cat’s range by 2020.

• The 12 snow leopard range countries are Afghanistan, Bhutan, China, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan (Kyrgyz Republic), Mongolia, Nepal, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.

• Bletchley Declaration aims to enhance global collaboration on Artificial Intelligence (AI) safety.