In the footsteps of the snow leopard: the study and restoration of rare animal species

Organizer: Ministry of Natural Resources and Ecology of the Russian Federation

Moderator: Irina Makanova, Director of the Department of State Policy and Regulation in the Sphere of Protected Area Development, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Ecology of the Russian Federation

Speakers:

Chyngyz Kochorov, Head of the Secretariat of the Global Program for Conservation of the Snow Leopard and Ecosystems of Kyrgyzstan;

Krever Olga Nikolaevna, Deputy Director of the Federal State Budgetary Institution “Roszapovedtsentr”;

Shadrikov Aleksander Valeryevich, Minister of Ecology and Natural Resources of the Republic of Tatarstan;

Aminov Anvar Sultanovich, Executive Director of Karym, OOO;

Rozhnov Vyacheslav Vladimirovich, Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences, “IEE RAS” (Institute of Ecology and Evolution, the Russian Academy of Sciences), FSBSI;

Shikalova Elena Alekseevna, Deputy Director for Science, “State Nature Reserve “Sayano-Shushenskiy”, FSBI;

Malikov Denis Grigoryevich, Director of the “Sailugemskiy National Park”, FSBI;

Avdeeva Ekaterina Valeryevna, Member of the General Council, “Delovaya Rossiya”;

Uzdenov Ali Mussaevich, Senior Managing Partner, AFC Sistema, PAO.

Description:

The snow leopard protection plays an important role in the conservation of biodiversity not only in Russia, but also in the neighboring countries. It is known, that the population of this species has sharply declined, in particular, due to the illegal hunting. As a result, the snow leopard was included into the Red Book. Nevertheless, the speakers noted positive trends associated with the restoration of the snow leopard population in many of its habitats. To this day, active work continues on the development of programs, various infrastructure projects and the formation of special centers to expand existing borders and create new protected areas in the habitats of the snow leopard.

In 2013, the “Global Snow Leopard and its Ecosystem Protection Program” was launched, which was an initiative of 12countries of snow leopard’s ranges. Apart from that, the “Strategy for snow leopard conservation” and “Methodological recommendations for monitoring” for this species are being implemented today. Both documents are approved by the Ministry of Natural Resources.

In 2021, the first international census was carried out for evaluating of the number and distribution of the snow leopard on the Russian and Mongolian sides of the Sailyugem Ridge. In 2023, the researchers from Sailyugemskiy National Park established 280 km of high-mountain routes, fixed 116 photo and video cameras, and analyzed 57,969 shots, 538 of them were with the snow leopard.

Active work is underway to develop programs for various infrastructure projects and the formation of special centers to expand existing borders and create new protected areas in the habitats of the snow leopard.

The following proposals were put forward at the session:

• It is necessary to carry out as many educational events as possible, telling about the biodiversity of the Russian Federation;

• It is necessary to improve the regulatory and the legal framework for implementation of protection of the rare species of animals.