International Snow Leopard Day is celebrated on October 23
- Posted By
10Pointer
- Categories
Biodiversity
- Published
24th Oct, 2020
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- It is also called the World Snow Leopard Day it was first celebrated in 2014.
- It is celebrated every year to create awareness about conservation and preservation of Snow Leopards.
- October 23rdwas proclaimed as the International Snow Leopard Day at the first Global Snow Leopard Forum held in Bishek, Kyrgyzstan.
- 2015 was declared as the International Year of Snow Leopard.
- Global Snow Leopard and Ecosystem Programme : It was initiated by Kyrgyzstan Government.
- India along with China, Uzbekistan, Russia, Tajikistan, Mongolia, Kazakhstan, Bhutan, Afghanistan and Pakistan are signatory to the programme.
- All these countries are in the Snow Leopard ranges. These countries signed the Bishek Declaration as well.
- The programme secures 20 snow leopard landscapes under the “Secure 20 by 2020” initiative.
- A Snow Leopard Landscape is a region that has a minimum of 100 breeding age snow leopards with adequate support of prey population.
- In India, the Snow Leopards are spread in Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir and eastern Himalayan areas.
- The first Snow Leopard Survey in India was conducted in 2019.
- India has 10% of global snow leopard population.
- The IUCN Status of Snow Leopard is “vulnerable”. It was changed from “endangered” to “vulnerable” in 2017. It is listed in Schedule I of Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972. Under CITES, it is listed in Appendix I.
- Project Snow Leopard was launched in 2009 in states where the population of snow leopard are found. They are Arunachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Sikkim, Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh.
