ANNOUNCEMENTS
Secure Himalaya is a project started by “Ministry of Environment ,Forests and Climate change “ with UNDP as an implementing agency which aims to conserve Himalayan landscapes over a period of six years, beginning from 2017.Under this project, GIPL-ICIMOD(a Nepal Based Organization) have been awarded a project to ‘Prepare participatory integrated landscape based strategy in selected districted of Sikkim with special reference to Snow Leopard’. Snow Leopard is the key stone species of this area and conserving snow leopard could go a long way in conserving the landscape. This is simply going a top down approach where we are trying to conserve every trophic level of the food chain with emphasis on the snow leopard(carnivore). But it is endangered because of increased incidence of Human wildlife conflicts and wildlife crime, habitat degradation, climate change etc. For achieving this objective, primary as well as secondary data collection has been done. The major primary collection involves field-based surveys, expert consultations while in secondary mode policy gap analysis has been carried out through desk research. Since it is a participatory approach-based project, community perception holds the main key. The project aims to not conserve potential snow leopard habitats and subsequently their population but also act as a mean to make communities the guardians of these habitats by providing them with alternative livelihood options but also promote conservation.
Key words: Snow leopard, Community perception, Human wildlife conflict, Participatory, Landscape
