Youth action to protect the wilderness
Milan BK is busy installing camera traps, checking its GPS location and peering through binoculars at outcrops on the other side of the valley for signs of snow leopard movement.
BK is 15 years old and still in school, but he handles the tracking equipment like a pro. He is a member of the conservation group from Thini village in the shadow of Mt Niligiri in Mustang.
Sonia BK is in Grade 7 at the Janwal Secondary School in nearby Marpha, and learnt about snow leopards in class, and is now being trained with her parents in tracking and monitoring the elusive and endangered animals.
“At first, I thought snow leopards were just cats, but after I started learning about their behaviour and habitat in school, I realised why it was important to protect them,” she says.
Milan and Sonia were part of a snow leopard conservation program involving 750 students from Grades 6, 7, and 8 in schools across Mustang and in Taplejung district in eastern Nepal.
Their fieldbook was the Conservation Education Reference Book published by Nepal’s Department of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation, Teka Group Nepal and the US-based Snow Leopard Conservancy.
“The book helps teach students about conservation, involves the community in conservation activities, and enables them to value coexistence between humans and wildlife,” says author Anil Adhikari of Teka.
He adds, “The students will grow up to be the guardians of the community, enabling them to understand the importance of conservation from a young age will have long-term benefits for the protection of snow leopards.”
The young conservationists are now putting their theoretical knowledge into practice by participating in the Snow Leopard Scouts Monitoring Camp and Snow Leopard Nature Tour organised across 12 communities in the cat’s habitats in Mustang and Taplejung.
Snow leopards live on steep slopes at elevations from 3,000-5,500m and are found in 12 countries besides Nepal: India, Bhutan, Pakistan, China, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, and Russia.
The government's census earlier this year put the number of big cat population in Nepal at 397.
The animal is at the top of the Himalayan food chain and therefore an indicator species of a healthy ecosystem. Their presence indicates that their prey base, including sables, ghoral and musk deer are also in abundance.
The mainly nocturnal hunters are endangered due to increasing human-wildlife conflict, poaching, and effects of the climate crisis. In response, Nepal launched the Community-Based Snow Leopard Conservation Program in 2022.
“The children might get bored with regular lessons, but they study this reference book with great interest,” notes Dhruba Baral, a conservation teacher at Janashanti Secondary School in Kagbeni. “The students are aware that snow leopards attack livestock, but there is now greater awareness about safely corralling yaks and sheep, as well as protect snow leopards.”
Read also: Ghosts of the Himalaya, Sonia Awale
Bheshraj Bastola, a conservation teacher at Janhit Secondary School in Jomsom takes students on field trips to see how to minimise human-wildlife conflict, and the role of the community.
“Students understand these issues through factual stories from conservationists and experts, community work and interactions with parents,” he says.
Sanju Sanwa, a Grade 8 student in Taplejung, learned about snow leopard conservation from books. Now, she teaches her parents about protecting the big cats.
“The children in this region have never seen or encountered a snow leopard, but they know about its habitat, diet, and behaviour,” says Chandramani Limbu, a school principal in Taplejung.
Mustang’s Gharpajhong Rural Municipality has now included snow leopards in the curricula for Grades 1, 2 and 3. Taplejung’s Faktalung Rural Municipality has done the same in the east.
Snow leopards are considered culturally and spiritually significant to Nepal’s indigenous mountain communities, and are regarded as ‘God’s pets’. This has helped in conservation efforts.
The indigenous communities in the Himalaya were already bound by tradition and religion to protect snow leopards, the conservation laws came along much later, says snow leopard expert Kamal Thapa.
“The people understand that the snow leopard is a vital part of the ecosystem, and have taken ownership of the animal and its protection,” adds Thapa.
Recently, a snow leopard broke into a livestock shed and killed goats in Mustang. The animal was captured and reintroduced into the wild by Annapurna Conservation Area (ACA).
“Snow leopards are usually rescued and released elsewhere,” explains Umesh Poudel, head of ACA in Lo Manthang. “We operate under the assumption that the animals will not be similarly disruptive in a new area.”
Snow leopards have been trapped or poisoned by local herders. Some animals also venture into lower valleys in winter in search of prey.
“Farmers used to get angry when livestock was killed, but there is now more awareness that the predators need protection,” says Jamuna Thakali Thapa, vice-chair of Gharpajhong. Farmers are also insured so they are compensated in case of livestock loss.
The deeply devout Buddhists here rarely engage in retaliatory attacks against snow leopards because they consider the animal sacred, and also because they are well aware of legal repercussions.
“Learning about snow leopards from childhood makes more people inclined towards conservation, and has a long-term positive impact on the community,” says Narayan Rupakheti, former Under Secretary at the Department of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation.
The youth-led conservation programs in Mustang and Taplejung is now being replicated in other snow leopard regions.