Global Snow Leopard Ecosystem Protection Program:
Indian scientists recently received international award on behalf of snow leopard conservation alliance.
- Indian snow leopard experts received the Madrid-based BBVA Foundation’s Worldwide Biodiversity Conservation Award on behalf of a 12-nation intergovernmental alliance -The Global Snow Leopard Ecosystem Protection Program (GSLEP).
- The GSLEP is a first-of-its-kind intergovernmental alliance for the conservation of the snow leopard and its unique ecosystem.
- It is led by the environment ministers of 12 countries in Asia that form the home range of the snow leopard.
- These are Afghanistan, Bhutan, China, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Nepal, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.
- The total range spans two million square kilometres.
- The GSLEP Program’s secretariat is based in Bishkek, and is hosted by the Ministry of Natural Resources, Ecology and Technical Supervision of the Kyrgyz Republic.
- GSLEP was created in 2013 when officials, politicians and conservationists arrived at a common conservation strategy enshrined in the Bishkek Declaration (2013) to cooperate in the conservation of this species and its habitat.
