Himalayan corridors to let snow leopards live

Published in 2009

Rodney Jackson, a Laureate of the 1981 Rolex Awards, has devoted 30 years of his life to one of the world’s most elusive animals, the snow leopard, which lives in the remote, rugged landscape of the Himalayas. After extensively documenting the habits and habitats of the leopard that roams in 12 countries of Central Asia and providing protection for this endangered animal through a wide range of strategies, Jackson now has a new focus to enhance the animal’s chance of survival.

“National parks supporting snow leopards are mostly small and scattered,” says the 1981 Laureate. “Alone the national parks cannot sustain a viable population of cats. The cats need safe corridors of habitat to establish a range, breed successfully or simply to move from one protected area to another.” He adds that without safe corridors, the cats are highly vulnerable to conflicts with people in non-protected areas where human activities are less regulated and poaching is more prevalent.

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Courtesy of The Snow Leopard Conservation

Fieldwork, particularly arduous in this region of high mountains and low temperatures, is the basis of Jackson’s work. Only fieldwork during long treks can reveal to him and his colleagues the most likely routes that snow leopards use to get from point to point.

“One goal is to connect separate populations so that they are no longer isolated,” Jackson says. “Another goal is to design a locally driven monitoring plan with ongoing conservation actions that encourage mountain communities to appreciate and protect biodiversity within these corridors.”

Snow Leopard Conservancy, the organization set up by Jackson and his partner Darla Hillard, is forging ahead with its conservation and educational activities. Particularly successful are the “Just for Kids” pages on the programme’s website (snow leopard conservancy.org), which in 2008 attracted over 60,000 visits from children around the world, helping ensure that conservationists of the future will be inspired to follow Jackson’s example in protecting the snow leopard.

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