Skip to main content

Endangered snow leopard spotted in north Sikkim

Photo: Dhritiman Mukherjee

  • The snow leopard, an endangered animal, has been found in north Sikkim.

  • It was found in a pilot project by WWF India.(World Wide Fund for Nature)

Efforts made by WWF India for the conservation :

  • Addressing retaliatory killing of snow leopards due to livestock depredation, managing the population of free ranging dogs and securing livelihoods of local communities, especially by targeting community resilience towards climate-induced changes .

  • The camera trap study will be implemented across the entire potential distribution range in Sikkim in multiple phases.

  • The project is the first attempt to fill gaps in conservationists’ knowledge of snow leopards in this important habitat.

  • The complete intensive camera trap study, expected to be completed by 2017.

Snow leopard Facts:

  • The snow leopard  is a large cat native to the mountain ranges of Central and South Asia. It is listed as endangered on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.

  • The snow leopard is the National Heritage Animal of Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Snow leopard range.png
Map depicting snow Leopard Habitat

  • According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), an international organization working for animal welfare, snow leopards are an endangered species. As per IUCN’s estimates, the total estimated population in its range countries—Afghanistan, China, Bhutan, Nepal, India and others—is between 4,080 and 6,590.

    Of those, its population in India is around 200-600. It is also a protected species under India’s Wildlife Protection Act, 1972.

 World Wide Fund for Nature(WWF) facts:

  • The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) is an international non-governmental organization.

  • Headquarters: Switzerland

  • It is working in the field of the biodiversity conservation, and the reduction of humanity’s footprint on the environment, it is also concerned with endangered species, sustainable production of commodities and climate change.

  • Aims:“to stop the degradation of the planet’s natural environment and to build a future in which humans live in harmony with nature”

  • It is the world’s largest conservation organization with over 5 million supporters worldwide, working in more than 100 countries, supporting around 1,300 conservation and environmental projects.

  • Funds collected (2014): 55% of funding from individuals and bequests, 19% from government sources (such as the World Bank, DFID, USAID) and 8% from corporations .

  • WWF publishes the Living Planet Index , giving an overview of the impact of human activity on the world

WWF India Facts:

  • WWF-India is the Indian part of the WWF

  • It is the largest organisation engaged in wildlife and nature conservation in the country.

  • it aims at strengthening individual and institutional capacity in nature conservation and environmental protection through widespread education and awareness.

  • Climate Change and Energy Conservation are among the chief areas of concern.

International Union for Conservation of Nature(IUCN) Facts:

  • International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natural resources.

  • Mission is to “influence, encourage and assist societies throughout the world to conserve nature and to ensure that any use of natural resources is equitable and ecologically sustainable.”

  • IUCN had widened its focus beyond conservation ecology and now incorporates issues related to gender equality, poverty alleviation and sustainable business.

  • IUCN Red list is a system of classifying plants, animals etc on basis of their likelihood of extinction.

IUCN Redlist

“An Endangered (EN) species is a species which has been categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN)Red List as likely to become extinct. “Endangered” is the second most severe conservation status for wild populations in the IUCN’s schema afterCritically Endangered (CR)”

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Inland Waterways in India

Here are some key points you need to know: The bill seeks to add 106 inland waterways to the existing six National Waterways on the recommendations of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Transport, Tourism and Culture and comments of several state governments The bill will also look after the renovation and maintenance of the existing waterways Out of the 106 new waterways, 18 have already been identified. These include five waterways each from Karnataka and Meghalaya, three each from Maharashtra and Kerala, one each from Tamil Nadu and Rajasthan The bill also aims to help the Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI) to develop the feasible stretches for Shipping and Navigation. Let us look at the six existing National Waterways in India: National Waterway 1 (NW1) The National Waterway No. 1 uses a 1,620-kilometre stretch of the Ganges River. It was declared a national waterway in the year 1986 and runs from Allahabad in Uttar Pradesh to Haldia in West Bengal....
Post a Comment
Read more

Environment Ministry notifies revised standards for Common Effluent Treatment Plants

Environment Ministry notifies revised standards for Common Effluent Treatment Plants (CETPs) Across industrial clusters-PIB CETP • The concept of common effluent treatment plant has been accepted as a  solution for collecting, conveying, treating, and disposing of the effluents  from the industrial estates. • The effluent include industrial wastewaters and domestic sewage generated  from the estate. • This CETP concept helps small and medium scale industries to dispose of  their effluents. Otherwise it may not be economical for these industries to  treat their wastewaters or there may be space constraints. • Some of these industries may require to give preliminary treatment (for  removal of solids) so that the receiving sewers can be maintained free  flowing. • It may be required to correct pH or removal of specific pollutant before the  industry discharges in CETP. CETP • CETP is designed on the basis of: – Quality and flow rate of the wastewa...
Post a Comment
Read more

India’s challenge of securing the seas

Three recent events underline India’s efforts to highlight its growing maritime interests and ambitions in order to secure them unilaterally and in partnership with others. The first was the quiet release of the Indian Maritime Security Strategy (IMSS) titled  Ensuring Secure Seas   in October. The second was the holding of the combined senior commanders’ conference, with top officers from all three services, on board   INS Vikramaditya , the Indian Navy’s latest aircraft carrier and its largest platform, in December. The last and most recent was India’s hosting of its second International Fleet Review (IFR) at Visakhapatnam in early February. While the pomp and circumstance as well as the photo-ops of the IFR, which attracted naval vessels from 50 countries, predictably, created the biggest splash, its significance is best understood in tandem with the 185-page IMSS-2015. Although the document is simultaneously comprehensive, conservative and cautious, it conveys on...
Post a Comment
Read more