Saving snow leopards: Mushahidullah elected international steering committee chair

Minister says illegal hunting major challenge to 100-200 snow leopards in Pakistan.

ISLAMABAD: Minister for Climate Change Mushahidullah Khan has been elected chairman of international steering committee of the Global Snow Leopard and Ecosystem Protection (GSLEP) Programme.

He was elected at the first two-day meeting of GSLEP steering committee in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan.

Addressing the meeting, the minister assured the participants that Pakistan would join global efforts for protection and conservation of the endangered snow leopard, whose population has declined rapidly in the country because of illegal hunting.

Khan told the participants from 12 countries at the meeting that there were 100-200 snow leopards in Pakistan. He said major challenges to their population world-over were poaching, hunting and climate change.



“Snow leopards are in trouble. We can help them by controlling their illegal hunting,” the minister urged.

He hoped that joint efforts to be pledged at the GSEP meeting in Bishkek will help protect snow leopards from extinction and yield a range of positive results, such as preserving biodiversity.

The minister said that a big part of the GSLEP strategy will be focused on educating rural mountain and herder communities about the need to protect snow leopards, engaging them in conservation efforts, and helping them have sustainable livelihoods. There are 4,000 – 6,500 snow leopards in the world, mostly in South and Central Asian countries.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 23^rd, 2015.