The resolution recognizes that the snow leopard population is already at risk of extinction
On December 12, 2024, the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution declaring October 23 the International Day of the Snow Leopard, Kazinform reports.
The resolution recognizes that the snow leopard population is already at risk of extinction. The greatest threats to the survival of the snow leopard are habitat loss and fragmentation, prey depletion and illicit trafficking, illegal hunting, including poaching, and climate change, the document reads.
Snow leopards or ounces inhabit primarily mountainous areas of 12 countries: Afghanistan, Bhutan, China, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Mongolia, Nepal, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan.
According worldpopulationreview.com, the total number of snow leopards in the world varies from 4,080 to 6,590. In 2017, the animal was included in the Red List of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). In Kazakhstan, their number does not reach even 200.
In October 2024, specially protected nature areas of Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan signed a memorandum of cooperation aimed at conservation of the population of snow leopards. The goal of the memorandum is to conserve the snow leopards in the Northern Tien Shan mountains within four protected areas: Kazakhstan’s Kolsai Lakes National Park, Almaty State Nature Reserve, Ile-Alatau National Park, and Kyrgyzstan’s Chon Kemin National Park. The five-year agreement was initiated by the UN Development Program in Kazakhstan with the support of the Global Environmental Facility under the six-year (2018-2024) project on conservation of forest ecosystems and biodiversity including the snow leopard in Kazakhstan.
Photo: pikabu.ru.
