New Delhi: Noted snow leopard expert and wildlife conservationist Charudutt Mishra has won the prestigious Whitley Gold Award for his contribution to involving indigenous communities in the conservation and recovery of big cat species in Asia’s high mountain ecosystems.
Princess Anne presented the award to Mishra at London’s Royal Geographic Society on Thursday. This is his second Whitley Fund for Nature (WFN) Award. He got the first in 2005.
In a statement, UK-based wildlife conservation charity WFN said Mishra was given the award for his work in 12 snow leopard range countries including Afghanistan, China, and Russia. “The key to his success has been embedding conservation within local communities,” the statement said. It added the award will enable Mishra to train conservationists on every continent on this “equitable” approach.
In 2017, Mishra wrote a paper on eight approaches to community-based conservation that helped involve local communities in snow leopard protection in the upper reaches of the Himalayas, leading to a reduction in retribution killings of the big cats. UN Biodiversity Conference recognised his approach as an outstanding global practice.
Mishra, who is also the co-founder of Bengaluru-based Nature Conservation Foundation, established India’s first community scheme to save snow leopards over a decade ago. The scheme provides for livestock insurance and community wildlife reserves. Under the scheme, the Snow Leopard Trust provides for solar lighting and funding for community projects if the villagers agree to part with some of the grazing lands for leopard wildlife habitats. This ensured an increase in the number of blue sheep and ibex, a snow leopard’s traditional prey, thereby reviving its population.
{{/usCountry}}Mishra, who is also the co-founder of Bengaluru-based Nature Conservation Foundation, established India’s first community scheme to save snow leopards over a decade ago. The scheme provides for livestock insurance and community wildlife reserves. Under the scheme, the Snow Leopard Trust provides for solar lighting and funding for community projects if the villagers agree to part with some of the grazing lands for leopard wildlife habitats. This ensured an increase in the number of blue sheep and ibex, a snow leopard’s traditional prey, thereby reviving its population.
{{/usCountry}}“The approach has helped to change the attitude of villagers towards snow leopards,” said Mishra.
When he went to a village for the first time where a snow leopard was killed, people were beating the carcass of the animal for killing their livestock. “Now, the same village speaks about protecting snow leopards.”
Mishra said now many villagers in the mountains recognise the importance of snow leopards and pledge their protection. “From being treating them as pests, they now work for their safety.” He added the change has made a clear difference in snow leopard numbers. “When I first started my conservation work, it took me 10 years to see a snow leopard. In my field visit in March to Spiti [Himachal Pradesh], I saw four to five individual snow leopards 11 times over nine days.”
The snow leopard population has revived from less than 1,000 to close to something between 4,080 to 6,590, according to World Wide Fund for Nature.
Snow Leopard Conservation Trust’s Koustabh Sharma called the award a recognition of Mishra’s efforts to revive the snow leopard population and to show the world that people are not against wildlife if their livelihoods are protected.