The Snow Leopard Fund Annual Report - 2012

 

The Snow Leopard Fund (SLF) was established in 2009 to address the lack in Kazakhstan of government measures and NGO involvement in snow leopard conservation. SLF aims to restore the snow leopard as the symbol of Kazakhstan’s mountains and a symbol of national pride. SLF grew out of Club Irbis, which was formed in 1993.

           

SLF’s accomplishments in 2012 include expanding field activities, strengthening our financial position and becoming the coordinating organisation in preservation of snow leopards inKazakhstan.  We are grateful to Rufford Small Grants Foundation, International Association for Bear Research and Management and the Snow Leopard Conservancy (SLC).  In January 2012, SLF andSLCsigned a Memorandum of Understanding, in order to facilitate the development of conservation and education activities inKazakhstan.SLCprovided seed funding and assisted with proposal writing for additional grants. Thus, 2012 was a key year in SLF’s development.

This report details accomplishments in 2012,

Policy, local and international cooperation:

SLF stays in regular contact with the Forest and Hunting Committee (FHC) of the Ministry of Agriculture of Kazakhstan, which is the main government structure for fauna and biodiversity protection in the country. The committee completely supports our initiatives, such as development of the Strategy of Snow Leopard Conservation in Kazakhstan.  We are pleased with this confirmation of political will in protection of snow leopard in Kazakhstan.

To mark the completion of the UNDP-Kazakhstan project, “Conservation and Sustainable Use of Biodiversity in the Kazakhstan Part of the Altai-Sayan Ecoregion,” a conference was held in March.  Based on the project’s results, the important role of SLF in conservation of snow leopard in Kazakhstan was especially noted, and Stephen Tull, director UNDP-Kazakhstan, presented Oleg Loginov with a Letter of Appreciation.

In December, the Global Snow Leopard Strategy Workshop was held in Bishkek, Kyrghyzstan.  This meeting was organized at the request of the Kyrgyz government, with facilitation by the World Bank, International Snow Leopard Trust, Snow Leopard Network, NABU (German Society of Wildlife Conservation), and several WWF branches.  More than 100 experts attended, from nature protection organizations of all 12 snow leopard range countries.  The National Input Document (NID) in Russian and English was prepared by SLF and approved by the Forest and Hunting Committee.  Oleg Loginov made the report and presentation of snow leopard conservation NID from Kazakhstan. Also from Kazakhstan two experts from the key nature conservation organizations participated: Askar Abdrahmanov from the Forest and Hunting Committee of the Ministry of Agriculture of Kazakhstan, who is also the main expert of Department on Fauna Protection (Astana), and Yury Grachev, PhD from the Institute of Zoology of the Ministry of Education and Science of Kazakhstan, laboratory of theriology (Almaty).

Oleg Loginov reads report from Kazakhstan

The Workshop in Bishkek was the first step in preparation for the World Snow Leopard Conservation Forum which will take place also in Bishkek in August or September, 2013.  That in turn will lead to creation of the Global Snow Leopard Initiative, which will be based on the Global Tiger Initiative (GTI).  Now SLF actually is the co-ordinating organization in Kazakhstan on snow leopard conservation and initiation of actions for preparation for the Forum and further work under the Global S L Initiative.

SLF supports cooperation with international organizations, except set forth above: Snow Leopard Conservancy, Rufford Small Grant Foundation and BSG, also with WWF-Russia, WWF-Mongolia, NABU, IUCN/SSC-Cat Specialist Group, and others. 

Research and monitoring:

SLF advised research assistants from the Laboratory of Theriology, Institute of Zoology, Ministry of Education and Science of Kazakhstan in the design and preparation of a monitoring program for snow leopard. SLF prepared a review of techniques for monitoring snow leopards using photo-traps. The basis for this review was the Snow Leopard Conservation Strategy in Kazakhstan, developed in 2011, as well as other materials developed in Russia. As a result the Science Committee of the above mentioned Ministry confirmed a program to study distribution and structure of population of snow leopards in Kazakhstan for the Institute of Zoology. The Ministry will finance this work at a rate of 5000000 KZT a year (about $33000). In September the first photos of snow leopard and other animals in territory of Almaty reserve have been captured via camera trap.

  

In 2011 Sergey Starikov, the SLF research leader, developed a snow leopard research program within Katon-Karagay national park. The program is approved by Institute of Zoology (Almaty) and confirmed by the Forest and Hunting Economy Committee and the management of this park. In 2012 Oleg Loginov developed a snow leopard monitoring program in East Kazakhstan and in Dzungarian Alatau. This program will be approved by the Forest and Hunting Committee management in the nearest future.  In 2012, SLF made field visits to the Katon-Karagay area, West Altay reserve, in Almaty reserve and Ile-Alatausky National Park and to Tekeli in the Almaty area.

We have begun work on monitoring of snow leopard with photo-traps in Katon Karagajsky National Park. Rufford Small Grants provided six Bushnell remote cameras, and the Toyota Center in Ust Kamenogorsk provided one Reconyx.  Three photo-traps were purchased by Irbis clubman Raphael Kettsjan from Ekaterinburg (Russia). These cameras were deployed atSarymsaktyPass, not far from Tautekeli mountain. Because of extreme snowfall and hard frosts, the work stopped in December. Camera trapping will resume when the weather permits, either at the same site or another.

The East Kazakhstan Fire Service kindly donated a helicopter flight for the survey and photographing of Katon-Karagajsky National Park territory. Vladimir Vorobjev and Sergey Starikov made more than 100 aerial photographs of four ridges: Katunsky,Tarbagatay, Southern Altai and Sarymsakty. These photos allow us to examine from above the basic habitats of snow leopard in the Kazakhstan part of Southern Altai. Photos below show theBelukhamountain (4506 m.) and Katom Karagai village (right)

Education, publications and communication with mass-media:

SLF worked withSLCto design an interactive program with clear action items. Action items should reveal change of attitudes among local communities, in ways that can be measured. Measures might be a combination of interviews, questionnaires and conservation actions taken by the public, NGO sector and the government.SLCfacilitated a cross-boundary cooperation with Kalpavriksh - a non profit organization working on environmental and social education inIndia. A planned visit to Kazakhstan by Kalpavriksh and Snow Leopard Conservancy–India staff was postponed until spring of 2013, but they shared printed materials which will be helpful in our program development. We look forward to their visit to Katon-Karagay and to our interaction and exchange of experience in ecological education.

In 2012 we developed contacts with the Department of Education of East Kazakhstan and schools in the city of Ust Kamenogorsk, Katon-Karagay and Tekeli. Oleg Loginov and Sergey Starikov have made eight trips in Katon-Karagay for meetings with local residents and lectures at local schools about the role of snow leopards in mountain ecosystems, and the necessity of its conservation in nature. We delivered about 50 questionnaires for local residents who well know local fauna, inspectors of wildlife management of protected areas to be filled in with information about local interactions with snow leopards, traces they have seen in the environment, and prey species.

Also in 2012 a regional newspaper published our «Irbis Club News» in their “7 Days” section in seven issues of the paper. The newspaper is published in Ust Kamenogorsk and is distributed in the entire East Kazakhstan area.

In 2011 and 2012 we collaborated with WWF-Russia in the continuing development of ecological educational materials for school children. One collection is entitled “The Snow Leopard - the Owner of Mountain Tops.

-We are applying our experience in developing environmental education programs. For example, in 2009 under UNDP-Kazakhstan, we developed “The Additional Education Program” for schoolboys of classes 5-9. This involved an information package for ecological education “Снежный Барс - Символ Казахстана” (Snow Leopard - a Symbol of Kazakhstan). SLF provided the printed materials to teachers of biology of 10 schools in East Kasakhstan.  The program received a positive, but informal response from the Department of Education ofEast Kazakhstan. We are working to receive formal approval from the Ministry of Education and Science in order to include this package in the school curriculum.

- We have completed the layout and Russian language text for the book, “Irbis - the Snow Leopard,” which was first published by UNDP in English. The book has 140 pages and more than 200 photographs and illustrations.  It is a comprehensive overview of the status and conservation of snow leopards, from Bhutan in the south to Russia in the north.  This book will inform Russian readers across the Central Asian States. We are grateful to Emil Aberle, owner of the dairy firm Emil based in Ust Kamenogorsk, for providing the funds to produce this Russian version.

“Spirits of Sacred Mountain,” by Irina Loginova,  is a 30-page fairy tale for all ages. The story portrays snow leopard as the indicator of mountain ecosystem health. This fairy tale is being translated into the Tatar language, as the 2013 Students’ Olympic Games will be held in universities in Tatarstan, where the snow leopard is a national symbol and is portrayed on a postage stamp. These books will be published in early 2013. Irina’s fairy tale “Духи Священной Горы” (Spirits of Sacred Mountain) has also been published as a children’s coloring book. Copies were given as prizes to children from 160 cities inKazakhstan and Russia (including the new cultural museum in Kosh-Agach,Alta iRepublic,Russia) who participated in a contest for drawing pictures of nature. In addition 250 copies were distributed to schools, libraries and individuals working for conservation. 

In Novosibirsk, Russia, in celebration of the anniversary of WWF, an exhibition of paintings by Victor Pavlushin was opened for the month of September at the Museum of the Siberian Roerich Society. WWF’sRussiaprogram supports snow leopard conservation and education activities in the Altai-Sayan Ecoregion. Pavlushin is well known for his illustrations of fairy tales and other children’s books, and he has created artwork for WWF, Snow Leopard Fund, and Snow Leopard Conservancy to help save snow leopards. Admission to the exhibition was free to the public on certain days, including for a program where Irina presented her fairy tale, a film was shown about snow leopards, and children were quizzed about their knowledge of rare species.

For the 2011 and 2012 Snow Leopard Day Festival held in the Alta iRepublic, Russia, Kazakh children living and attending school in the Kosh-Agach region did performances based on Spirits of Sacred Mountain.  The 2012 Festival in Gorno Altaisk was opened by Lyudmila Kypchakova reading verses from Irina’s song about the Snow Leopard, and explaining to the audience that the children’s performances were based on the fairy tale.

Work on the SLF website was completed.  Please visit  www.slf.kz. The site was designed by Oleg Loginov in English and Russian. The site is hosted by the state company iDhost (division of Kazakhtelecom); Our site is currently the only one in the CIS, devoted exclusively to snow leopard conservation. Also we co-operated for some years with a Russian website: , which is devoted exclusively to big cat conservation.   

On the site, information about Snow Leopard Fund and about snow leopards will be periodically updated and improved.

Renat Minibaev, SLF volunteer and member of Club Irbis, is devoted to environmental education for the people of Kazakhstan, especially the young people from his home town of Tekeli.  Renat owns a small shop there, and he devotes a portion of his profits to operating a ski run for youth, as well as an ecotourism route in Korinsky gorge, Dzungarian Alatau.  It was on that route in 2010 thathemeta snow leopard and made some amazing photos at a short distance. 

 

On photo: Renat Minibaev (on the right) and Georgy Chuprynov “Uncle Gosha”, the bee-keeper from Tekeli. Georgy lives on an apiary in Korinsky gorge and about 10 times saw snow leopards in Dzungarian Alatau. He is a very humane person. Once at his home two goats were missing. Uncle Gosha began to search for them and saw that they were killed by a snow leopard.  Right in front of his eyes, the leopard was eating one goat.  Uncle Gosha approached very close to the snow leopard, without having any weapon. He did not seek revenge on the predator, he took one goat for himself, and left the other for the snow leopard. Uncle Gosha shows us that some shepherds understand predators, and do not always retaliate for the killed livestock.

  

Irina Loginova wrote verses for a song, "The Snow Leopard" put to music by Yury Parfyonov (from left on photo) from St. Petersburg Russia. Simon Patterson (right) from New Zealand who lives now in St.-Petersburg and works as the translator has translated a song into English and has sung .The verses can be found on our website, www.slf.kz. 

Transboundary Education Collaboration:

In September, 2012 Oleg Loginov participated in Festival of the Snow Leopard in Gorno-Altaisk, Altai Republic,Russia (see photos of Oleg Loginov below). Oleg was presented a special letter of appreciation by the festival organizers, Fund for the Sustainable Development of Altai (FSDA).

Lucy О’Dea, Snow Leopard Conservancy Program Officer, (see of photo, left) presented Oleg with six Bushnell photo-traps purchased with funds from Rufford Small Grants Foundation, and which will be used in our cooperative work on conservation of a snow leopard in Central Asia. Thank you very much!

Fundraising - 2012:

We are grateful to our partners, Snow Leopard Conservancy, who have helped in our grant proposals.  From the Rufford Small Grants Foundation we received funds for “Taking Steps to Save Snow Leopards inKazakhstan: Status Surveys and a Conservation Action Campaign. Phase I - Dzhungarian Alatau and East Kazakhstan” for the period with 06-2012 on 06-2013 ($8342).  We also received, from the Snow Leopard Network Small Grants Program, funds for “Saving Snow Leopards inEast Kazakhstan,” for work in 2013.  These grants were big support of our efforts on ecological education and snow leopard conservation inKazakhstan. Many Thanks!

Another SLF program under way is “Conservation status and distribution of two brown bear subspecies: (Ursus arctos arctos and U. a. isabellinus) inKazakhstan.”  This project is supported by the small grant ($6000) from International Association for Bear Research and Management. InKazakhstandistribution of snow leopard coincides in many places with the habitat of these two subspecies of brown bears.  In all ofKazakhstan’s protected areas with snow leopards, there are also bears, and often in common in the same habitats.  We are greatly interested in potential interspecific relations between these species and other questions of ecology, and also the issue of their conservation.

- In March, 2012 the Agreement of Сooperation was signed between SLF and the Biodiversity Conservation Fund of Kazakhstan - BCFK (Astana).  BCFK was created in 2007 within the GEF/UNDP/Government of Kazakhstan project, “Integrated conservation of priority wetlands in Kazakhstan <;, as habitats of migrating birds”.  BCFK has committed to the maintenance of additional long-term financing of the projects directed at biodiversity conservation of Kazakhstan.

Plans for 2013:

In 2103 the Snow Leopard Fund plans to continue work under the projects begun in 2012, with funding from the aforementioned NGOs and foundations. 

Our priority activities in 2013:

- policy and coordination in conservation process of snow leopards inKazakhstan

- development of education programs and publishing projects

- research and monitoring of populations of snow leopard

- fundraising

We have developed active contacts in the governmental structures and international organizations in preparation of the World Snow Leopard Forum in Bishkek 2013, and for the formation of the Global Initiative fromKazakhstan. This work will be a priority direction of our activity as will allow Kazakhstan to be with other countries in the Global project which will provide protection of a snow leopard within all its area.

In November SLF marked it’s third year of operation since its creation in 2009. We have much work, including the edition of several books about a snow leopard, working out of the Snow Leopard Conservation Strategy inKazakhstan, and development of coordination and propagation of this rare species protection.  Despite our two successful grant proposals, we do not have sufficient funding for our programs.  However, we have completed a year of successful efforts, and established SLF’s credibility.  We hope in 2013 to increase our financial base, to  replace our 22-year-old car with a road worthy 4x4, and to cover our salaries, so that we no longer have to take outside contract work during the summer months.

Please contact:

SNOW LEOPARD FUND

Ust-Kamenogorsk, Kazakhstan

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