Innovative insurance scheme saves snow leopards 10 July 2012 |
Article In the rocky Himalayan Mountains of Baltistan, of
northern Pakistan, the elusive and beautiful snow leopard
(Panthera uncial) is in a battle for survival. Listed as
Critically Endangered on The IUCN Red List of Threatened
Species™, numbers of snow leopards are dropping due to hunting
and the trade of their skin and bones. But that is not the only
reason they are killed. Farmers, who are heavily dependent on
their animals for their livelihood, occasionally kill snow
leopards in retaliation when their herds are attacked. To
discourage these types of killings and to ensure that poor
farmers do not bear the financial burden of successful Snow
Leopard conservation, Shafqat Hussain, an economist and
conservationist who is a member of the IUCN SSC Cat Specialist
Group, devised an insurance plan whereby farmers pay a small
amount to insure their livestock and receive compensation for
every animal that is killed. Controlled and run by local people,