Snow leopard research and conservation in Nepal: Past, Present and Future
The Snow Leopard Network is pleased to announce our fifth SLN webinar of 2020 where we travel to Nepal. This Webinar series aims explicitly to feature snow leopard range country national updates and experience. As our SLN committee chair, Dr. Lu Zhi, suggested as she launched the webinar series – it is a pleasure to take this opportunity to learn from each other and build links between our efforts across the snow leopard range.
Nepal has a long and very special history in snow leopard conservation. Research and conservation efforts in Nepal were path finding for the wider snow leopard community. In this month’s Webinar are delighted to welcome Gopal Khanal who is currently working as Assistant Conservation Officer in Shey Phoksundo, the largest National Park of Nepal home to a significant population of snow leopards. We also will be joined by Dr. Som Ale, a member of SLN’s Committee, who has been working in snow leopard conservation in Nepal for over two decades. Together our guests will bridge past and present with a special focus on community based conservation through the lens of policy and research. We will also look towards Nepal’s snow leopard conservation agenda for the next decade.
More on the talk: Nepal is believed to host 10% of the global snow leopard population. Since the early 1970s Nepal has adopted both an ecosystem approach (establishing protected areas) and species approach to conserve, research and monitor the country’s snow leopards. Gopal will share his thoughts on recent developments and give us insights on some promising recent snow leopard research and conservation efforts in Nepal. Som Ale will join as discussant and provide a longer term perspective of Nepal’s conservation efforts and will set this within future snow leopard conservation priorities.
More about our guests:
Gopal Khanal currently works for Shey Phoksundo National Park office, Dolpa as an Assistant Conservation Officer. He has been working on snow leopard research and conservation in the Nepal Himalayas since 2014. He completed his Master’s degree in wildlife biology and conservation. His master’s thesis examined the influence of wild prey and livestock on snow leopard predation on livestock in Nepal.
Som Ale spent over a decade working as a conservation manager in north central Nepal and was Officer in Charge of Nepal’s National Trust for Nature Conservation – Annapurna Conservation Area Project. Som now lives in the United States and serves as a professor of biology and ecology at the University of Illinois – Chicago. Dr. Ale is passionate about protecting the snow leopard in ways that benefit the animals, environment, culture, and community; and has developed powerful, unique, and engaging conservation initiatives.
Date/Time: August 25th, 2020 Tuesday 17:45 Kathmandu time (Please log into the meeting 5 min early to set up)
Location: ZOOM, to join this talk REGISTER HERE
Please note:
- If you have never used Zoom before, we recommend that you try the link 10 minutes before the start of the lecture.
- During the talk, please keep your microphone muted.
- Please feel free to write questions in the comment area and there will be time for questions/discussion at the end of the talk.
- The Zoom event is limited to 100 participants. Please register for the event and also sign in early to ensure your place.