Management Planning 

Securing 20 landscapes for snow leopards by 2020 is the overarching goal of GSLEP. In order to secure these landscapes, it is essential that Management Plans be created and implemented in consultation with all relevant stakeholders.

As part of GSLEP, range countries developed their respective National Snow Leopard Ecosystem Priorities (NSLEP), where priority actions were identified. On this basis, each range country then identified and proposed landscapes to be brought under enhanced protection.

Zoom in and click on a landscape in the map below to see details.

20 landscapes for snow leopards by 2020

The snow leopard populations and landscapes that have been prioritized to be secured under GSLEP are relatively large (range: 5,000 to 92,000 km2), and many of them share borders with neighboring countries. These landscapes are characterized by several unique features that require the development of customised management plans for effective and integrative conservation and economic development:

• The landscapes include Protected Areas (PA) as well as large tracts of habitat that lie outside PAs in multiple-use zones.
• Snow leopards are landscape species, with very large home ranges, and their populations will not be effectively conserved unless conservation efforts take place beyond PA boundaries.
• Snow leopard landscapes provide essential ecosystem services, including clean water for a third of world’s human population from the rivers that originate here and therefore, conservation efforts cannot be restricted to within PA boundaries. Furthermore, these essential services are under a growing threat from climate change and habitat degradation, making their conservation even more critical in the coming decades.
• Snow leopards and associated biodiversity continue to co-exist with local human communities who have rich and unique pastoral cultures and ways of life.
• Apart from local communities, snow leopard landscapes also tend to have government and nongovernment stakeholders working in sectors such as human welfare, economic development, business and industry and conservation sectors.

Due to such a large interface between people and snow leopards, these landscapes need to be managed as Fragile Ecological Zones with suitable zonation for more focussed effective management:

• Important wildlife habitats and corridors in the landscape are identified based on current distribution and future projections of climate change, and designated as ‘Priority Wildlife Areas’ (Core Zones) within which ecologically damaging land use is minimized.
• In the remaining ‘Multiple Use Areas’, sustainable and climate-smart economic growth programs and green infrastructure models are implemented.

Management plans provide the official frameworks needed for supporting and sustaining policies and activities for improved and integrated conservation and sustainable development of snow leopard landscapes.