Project launched to save endangered snow leopard (India)

SRINAGAR, FRIDAY, 14 MUHARRAM 1431 AH ; FRIDAY, JANUARY 01, 2010 CE

Project launched to save endangered snow leopard

ARIF SHAFI WANI

Srinagar, Dec 31: The State Government has started work on an ambitious project to save the existing population of the endangered Snow Leopard in its bastion, the higher reaches of Ladakh with focus on its habitat improvement. After receiving financial assistance from the Centre, the wildlife authorities have started work on the ‘Project Snow leopard’ in Ladakh. The project will span 3500 sq kms including Hemis High Altitude National Park in Ladakh. Pertinently snow leopards are mostly found in mountainous regions of Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttaranchal, Arunachal Pradesh and Sikkim. Poached for its attractive fur, organs and bones, just 4500 to 7000 snow leopards left in the world and India is home to approximately 400 to 600 of them. However as sixty percent of snow leopards have been found in Ladakh region, it has been included in the Species Recovery Programme being funded through the umbrella scheme ‘Integrated Development of Wildlife Habitats’. “We have completed micro-planning and identified the areas with huge concentration of leopards in Ladakh. Besides we have started the process to develop infrastructure and capacity building of staff,” wildlife warden Ladakh, Saleem-ul-Haq, told Greater Kashmir. He said involvement of locals in the project, however, was imperative for its success. He said the department has approached wildlife experts from outside who will raise awareness about the leopard among the locals and the wildlife staff. Officials said hundreds of tourists visit Ladakh only to see the snow leopard. “To cash on this aspect, the project has kept a provision for eco-tourism wherein the locals will host the tourists in their houses. This will serve dual purpose of promoting tourism and snow leopard conservation through community participation,” he said. However, he maintained that leopards had no threat of poaching in Ladakh. “People here have strong religious beliefs and love for the wild animals. The only problem is that the leopards kill their livestock. We will stress on mitigating attacks on livestock,” he said. The authorities plan to install special trap cameras in highly concentrated areas of the snow leopard. “The special cameras will record the leopards’ movement and help the scientists to understand their behaviour in their natural habitat,” he said and added this will help in long-term conservation measures. Haq said freezing temperate was the only bottleneck for the project’s speedy implementation. The project includes developing grazing and management policies along with promotion of conservation and education awareness initiatives. Besides construction of Nature interpretation Centre, the project endeavours procurement of high resolution digital cameras, survey and census gadgets and equipments for handling human-wild animal conflicts. “One of the threats to the snow leopard is drastic decrease of its ungulate preys including wild sheep and goats. The project includes compensation packages for livestock depletion. It is mandatory to preserve the natural habitat of snow leopard for its conservation,” said Tahir Shawl a wildlife warden, who has worked extensively on the snow leopard. Pertinently the Project Snow Leopard was launched in January this year. It is being undertaken in five Himalayan states including Jammu and Kashmir with the support from the Wildlife Institute of India (WII) and the Mysore based Nature Conservation Foundation. The Ministry of Environment and Forests has sanctioned Rs 1.26 crore for the project. Importantly the Project Snow Leopard will be treated on a par with other flagship species programmes of the country such as Project Tiger and Project Elephant.

http://www.greaterkashmir.com/today/full_story.asp?Date=1_1_2010&ItemID=56&cat=1

As the glaciers recede… (Ladakh)

Chennai, December 6, 2009

MEENA MENON Ladakh has an unwelcome visitor: Climate change. Retreating glaciers, water scarcity and changes in traditional agricultural patterns are having an adverse impact on this fragile ecololgy.There’ s an old saying in Ladakh that only a dear friend or a serious enemy will reach here; the passes are so high and the land so harsh. Climate change falls in the latter category and is an unwelcome visitor to this remote region which tourists have happily discovered in the last few years or so. Water, or the lack of it, is the main worry for this generation and the next. While the world debates the effects of global warming, Ladakhis who are most vulnerable to the vagaries of nature, are living through it already. The many small glaciers in Ladakh have retreated, natural springs are reducing as also the water flow in the rivers. While there are no scientific studies yet to bear this out, it is the people who are living witnesses to this change.In the village of Stakmo near Leh, villagers testify to the receding glacier nearby, making agriculture very difficult. Over 80 per cent of the farmers in Ladakh depend on snow melt for their needs and any slight change in temperature is a catastrophe. High altitude wetlands are vulnerable to rising temperatures and Ms. Nisa Khatoon, Project Officer, Worldwide Fund for Nature (WWF) has led a study since 2000 to assess the impact of climate change on three major lakes in Ladakh, the Tso Moriri, Tso Kar and Pangong Tso. The lakes offer the only breeding grounds for the Black-necked Crane in India and key species found in the region include the snow leopard, Tibetan Gazelle, Tibetan Antelope, Musk Deer and Hangul. Highly endangered medicinal plants used in the Tibetan system of medicine also grow in the area.

Threat of tourism

The existing threat of climate change is exacerbated by tourism which coincides with the breeding season of the migratory birds, posing a major threat. For the first time, a regular uninterrupted survey on the status of the Black-necked Crane was conducted and during the survey, six new nesting sites were discovered, Ms. Khatoon points out. The study has produced data on the “Status and Breeding Productivity of Black-necked Crane” for more than eight years. Himalayan car rallies in wetland areas have been stopped in cooperation with tour operators too. Instead of this, to boost the local income, home-stays for national and international tourists have become popular.The WWF has also recorded widespread changes as a result of the rise in temperatures and the subsequent snow melt in Ladakh, mainly through oral histories. Eyewitnesses have spoken of glaciers like Siachen, Khardung and Stok in Ladakh, which have either receded or almost disappeared in about a decade. Along with this comes a change in migration routes of nomadic tribes and an increase in the frequency and intensity of pest attacks, particularly the locust, due to rising temperatures.In the Changthang region, where there are 22 wetlands, people of the nomadic tribe, the Changpas, acutely feel climate change. They are dependent on livestock and rear the famous Pashmina goats for their wool. Since about six years, the migration routes of the Changpas have changed due to decrease in pasture land. Untimely snowfall has led to a loss of livestock as well, says Ms. Khatoon. In the Tso Moriri and Tso Kar lakes, migratory birds are coming earlier than expected and one pair of Black-necked Cranes have not migrated. The wild rose blooms now in May instead of June. The Changpas used to extract salt from the brackish lakes but since the water level has risen over the years, this too has stopped. In the Tso Kar area there are 60 Changpa families which have to frequently migrate, while in Tso Moriri, 22 families have settled down there.The summers are getting warmer and winters too and pests like the coddling moth are now found everywhere, says Tundup Angmo of GERES India, an NGO. Rain and snowfall are showing a decreasing trend, according to a baseline survey in 20 villages in Leh and Kargil areas which was conducted by GERES along with experts. In Kargil, water shortage has hit farmers and two villages were relocated in the Zanskar as a result. The cultivation of wheat is now possible due to the warmer climate and the sowing of barely is now pushed to May instead of June.

Urgent concern

Water shortage has led to hotels in Leh digging borewells, some 100 feet deep for water supply and in the Karzu area in Leh, this has led to the drying up of natural streams, says Ms. Khatoon. Concern about water is uppermost in the minds of every Ladakhi. The Women’s Alliance of Ladakh, which spearheaded the successful campaign banning plastic bags in Ladakh, is one of the groups which has members in every village in Ladakh. Fifty-seven-year-old Kunzes Dolma, vice president of the Alliance formed 23 years ago, has been addressing local environmental concerns. Now it has teamed up with the NGO Navdhanya to conduct a survey on climate change in villages, based on a ready questionnaire which asks for information on awareness of climate change, evidence, and environmental changes, apart from changes in agriculture patterns, rainfall and snowfall. The Alliance has initiated several meetings on climate change already.

Lifestyle changes

Kunzes recalls colder winters when she was a child. Now the winters are warmer, she says. The quality of food was tastier then and now vegetables like capsicum, brinjal and cucumber are being grown. There is increased use of pesticides and the Alliance is campaigning against this as well.There is a huge concern about the melting glaciers, and lack of water and even livestock rearing is reducing now with more and more people preferring to look for jobs. The traditional “goncha” a warm woolen dress is not much preferred now. Traditional homes in Ladakh have been designed using ecological and climatic wisdom. However, those mud houses are being replaced by cement structures. Clearly, there is also a cultural aspect to the climate change here. “Our aim is to promote nature conservation and our culture. The modern generation is dropping all our old ways of life and the explosion of cars is damaging the environment,” says Ms. Dolma.Local and global links need to be forged to address climate change if regions like Ladakh are to be rescued from their vulnerability. The question is, who is listening?Keywords: Ladakh, Leh and Kargil, environment http://beta.thehindu.com/arts/magazine/article60508.ece

Support a polar bear or a snow leopard for that matter

Support a polar bear
Monday December 7, 2009

Or a snow leopard for that matter. A ski company is sponsoring the animals and we’re backing them here at PlanetSKI. The new company, Zenith Holidays, is donating funds to the World Wildlife Fund to support the polar bear and will give £10 for every £1,000 of revenue raised through one of its sponsored rooms.“It’s no secret that the Polar Bear’s environment is under threat and as we have a Chalet L’Ours Blanc (Polar Bear) in Montgenevre we thought we should support the Polar Bear so we sponsored it with the World Wildlife Fund,” says Stuart McLeod, the managing director of Zenith Holidays.

For how much longer? “As for the Snow Leopard, there are not many of them left and they can only be found in the mountains of central Asia and the Himalayas so we sponsored them too.”Regular readers of PlanetSKI will know that we are following the plight of the snow leopard as their numbers decrease and watching the breeding in captivity programme too.Sometimes it is succesful and sadly other times not.So if you want to help Zenith Holidays help the animals then see here.http://www.planetski.eu/news/1119

Himachal carries out snow leopard census

Lata Verma Tags : snow leopard, conservation Posted: Friday , Dec 04, 2009 at 0021 hrs Shimla: Bringing cheer to conservationists and animal lovers, a census has found four to five highly endangered snow leopards on Kibber plateau in Himachal’s Lahaul Spiti district. The census, undertaken as part of the centrally sponsored project for conservation of snow leopard being implemented by NGO National Conservation Foundation (NCF), used camera traps to spot the animals. “Four to five snow leopards in this much area is globally accepted as good density for the animal. But we should not consider it as average density for every 100 sq km of the total 7000 sq km area in the district. It would vary because of many reasons,” Dr Yashveer Bhatnagar of the NCF said. The number of snow leopards in India is estimated between 400 and 700, Bhatnagar said. A parallel census of snow leopard’s prey base found around 400 Bharal and a “good number” of Himalayan Ibex around areas where snow leopards were spotted.

Snow Leopard Vodka Management Change

Fri 4 Dec 2009

Graeme Lindsay, marketing director of Whyte and Mackay has left with another job to go to.

Whyte and Mackay has confirmed that Lindsay left his role at the Glasgow whisky brand this week and will take some time out over Christmas and New Year before beginning a new role in February.

At the time of writing it was unclear what the new role was.

He joined Whyte and Mackay as marketing director in December 2007 from rival Glenmorangie.

A spokesperson for Whyte & Mackay said: “Graeme chose to leave the business to pursue other opportunities and we wish him all the best. He worked for us for two years, and helped build the international capability of our marketing team and also of some of our brands. At this stage we have no plans to replace him or that role.”

Meanwhile, The Drum has also learned that luxury vodka Snow Leopard, which partners with Whyte and Mackay has appointed Lutchford APM without a pitch.

The London-based agency has been tasked with handling the PR, event management and product placement for the vodka brand and work beginning to appear early next year.

Snow Leopard, which was launched three years ago by founder Stephen Sparrow, sells 1,000 cases a year but is looking reach nearer the 100,000 cases to reach its aim of saving the animals, of which only 3,500 remain.

Material Marketing, which was recently appointed as Whyte and Mackay’s marketing agency, created the sales and support collateral for Snow Leopard earlier this year. http://www.thedrum.co.uk/news/2009/12/04/12135-lindsay-leaves-whyte-and-mackay-as-snow-leopard-appoints-agency

Indian trail of ‘the ghost of the mountains’

A tourism initiative is helping Indian farmers learn to love the endangered predator that targets their flocks. Adrian Phillips reports

Sunday, 6 December 2009I’m sitting on the floor wrapping dough round my fingers. Alongside me, my hostess pulls and pinches her paste into delicate bows, all the while watching my fat-fisted efforts with a gap-toothed grin you could post a parcel through. As dinner is served, we’re joined by the head of the house, wearing a mauve sweatshirt that remains unchanged during the three days I spend in the village. His has the furrowed face of an elderly man, but his body is as lithe as a meerkat’s and his broad hands could crack walnuts. Both he and his daughter (my amused pasta partner) have the gentle, feline features typical of those from this part of India. As we eat cross-legged on cushions, they nod and smile at me, and I nod and smile back, and in between nods and smiles and chews and swallows I struggle to imagine these people crushing the skull of a snow leopard. They may not have done, of course, but other farmers in the region have. I’m in the village of Rumbak, high in the Ladakh range of the Himalayas, near the border with Tibet, and this is the terrain of the snow leopard. Nobody knows precisely how many of the creatures live here – not for nothing is the cat called the “ghost of the mountains” – but possibly 50 in Hemis National Park and 500 in the Indian Himalayan range as a whole.This is a globally important population of a precariously endangered species, but its presence hasn’t been welcomed by all. Picture the scene. You wake one winter morning, head out to check on your livestock, and find your enclosure a gory smear of slaughtered animals. During the night, a snow leopard has broken through the roof and jumped down among the sheep and goats. Unable to get out again, it now cowers tight to the wall in a corner, wide-eyed and spitting up at you. It has wiped out your entire livelihood in a few minutes of frenzied bloodlust. Graceful animal or destructive pest? Is it impossible to sympathise with those distraught villagers who raise sticks and stones to the cause of such devastation?A survey in 1999 revealed that 12 per cent of farmers’ livestock here was killed each year, the snow leopard the primary predator. Shortly afterwards, the Snow Leopard Conservancy India Trust was established to resolve this conflict between the interests of man and beast. What was required was an economic incentive to shift local attitudes towards the leopard. Rinchen Wanchuk, co-founder of the trust, gathered the villagers together and put an idea to them: why not set up a network of traditional homestays that would provide trekkers with an alternative to canvas, and an authentic local experience to boot? The scheme has proved a roaring success. A co-operative spirit infuses the whole enterprise; each of the village houses takes its turn to receive guests, and a portion of the income is put into a central pot that is used for programmes of land management, conservation and even insurance against livestock losses. A family might host 30 visitors a year, and earn three times more than it did in the past. Villagers guide visitors to the leopard hot spots, and sightings are now greeted with excitement rather than worry – the animal embraced as an asset more valuable alive than dead. And the leopard appears to be prospering as a consequence. In the late 1990s, a BBC camera team took more than six weeks to capture one on film; now the trust estimates that half of the week-long winter trips it organises in search of leopards are successful. It’s 7am and I’m sure I’m crouching over a pile of snow-leopard droppings. My patient guide, Chosgan (Chos for short), is equally sure I’m crouching over a pile of donkey droppings. I put his muffled sigh down to the breeze through the willows. Life starts early in Rumbak. When I rose from my bed at 6am, the day was already in full swing. Our hosts had herded the animals from their pens beneath the house, and the village was filled with a bleating flow of sheep heading to pasture. Chos and I are on a trek along the Jingchan Valley, aiming for the peak of Ganda La, a few kilometres away. I’m told there’s no realistic chance of seeing a snow leopard in autumn – the leopards don’t venture this low until winter – but I’m undeterred, and Chos has assured me earnestly that he’ll keep his eyes peeled for clues. A stream babbles alongside us and mountain partridges skit away as we approach, sending trickles of pebbles in their wake. The bare rock of the valley flashes in the sunlight, its colour changing with every step – now white as a seagull’s feather, now the polished grey of a gun barrel, now the rich hue of lavender. On the slopes above, a nervous herd of sheep stands rigid as we pass; golden eagles hang in the air as if on strings. It’s hot work and sweat runs into the crooks of my elbows. This is the most beautiful place I’ve ever seen. And then a rustle and a snap and a shadow in a clump of bushes to our left. Please – surely – it must be? Is that the shape of a snow leo …? “Cow!” Chos says, without a backward glance. Our quest continues …COMPACT FACTSHow to get thereAdrian Phillips travelled to Ladakh courtesy of Mahindra Homestays ( 020-3140 8422 020-3140 8422; mahindrahome stays.com), which offers rooms for £35 per night, inclusive of all meals. Adrian also stayed at the Trendy B&B in Delhi, which charges £56 per room per night, including breakfast, and at the Hotel Kang-Lha-Chen in Leh, which offers rooms for £50 per night, including all meals. Jet Airways ( 0808 101 1199 0808 101 1199; jetairways.com) offers return flights from Heathrow to Delhi for about £450, and return internal flights between Delhi and Leh from £145.http://www.independent.co.uk/travel/asia/indian-trail-of-the-ghost-of-the-mountains-1834834.html:p>

Photographer Steve Winter’s snow leopard photographs currently on display in London

December 1, 2009

Story behind the picture: Snow Leopard, 2008

Photographer Steve Winter on his candid picture of the elusive cat

Steve Winter

The editor of National Geographic asked its photographers: “What would be your dream project?” I wrote “snow leopards”. I’d read a book about them years before I started photographing animals. We did a recce in Hemis National Park in Ladak, northern India, and met local people. Standing in the valley, it felt like being on the Moon: no trees, just rock. I’m a jungle guy, used to hot and steamy but I thought, I can do this. It took us four days to get our equipment in by horse and set up a base camp. Snow leopards are habitual: they mark locations by rubbing their necks on rocks to leave a scent, especially during the mating season. To see one, you have to find a trail: you won’t see one just walking around. I found a trail with the help of a local man named Tashi. We set up 14 remote cameras that use an infrared system with a laser beam. I wanted the photograph to be composed the way it would have been if I were lying on the ground, taking it myself. I wanted to make people say “wow”. This project was the hardest thing that I’ve ever done. We spent six and a half months in the valley and at night, it reached -50C (-58F). I spoke to my wife at night on the satellite phone until my hands were freezing. We would check the cameras every one to two weeks so that we didn’t leave our scents there and put the leopards off. There was one camera with a frame that I loved, but the cats never went past it. Then one day there was this shot of a leopard in a snowstorm at night. I couldn’t have asked for better. You look at it and your jaw just drops. Steve Winter’s Snow Leopard is on display at the World Press Photo exhibition at the Royal Festival Hall, London, until December 13, 2009. www.southbankcentre.co.uk http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/visual_arts/article6937721.ece

Foreign Policy: A Beary Good Surprise In Kashmir

November 18, 2009 Kashmir are one group that is pleased by all the conflict there. Authorities estimate that their population has gone from 800 in 1990 to 3,000 now. They (and other endangered species in the area, presumably) are benefiting it seems from lingering fear of violence, which stops poachers and hunters, as well as the dearth of hunting rifles after the Indian authorities confiscated them as an attempt to quell the separatist revolt that started twenty years ago. press reports worried about the impact the army and paramilitary troops deployed in the area has on endangered species such as the Snow Leopard. And others are talking about a “man-animal conflict” across the region, with some articles talking about 5 deaths and 80 humans injured this year. One bear even joined the human conflict and killed a couple of militants earlier this month. Not that the humans are staying above the fray, as one bear found out when he was burnt to death by a frenzied Kashmir mob in 2006.80 percent of the armed conflicts between 1950-2000 took place in these areas important to maintaining plant and animal diversity. Detrimental effects on population and habitat, such as those suffered by the DRC’s gorilla population are well known.Kashmir bear evidence and the Korean DMZ, seems to be that when conflict pauses, the animals benefit as well as the humans. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=120529712

Illegal January 2009 argali helicopter hunting case in the Altai Republic reopened

Illegal Hunting Case Reopened After Huffhttp://www.themoscowtimes.com/news/article/illegal-hunting-case-reopened-after-huff/389296.html

12 November 2009By Maria Antonova

Investigative Committee chief Alexander Bastrykin reopened an investigation Wednesday into whether charges should be filed against survivors of a party of government officials who were illegally hunting endangered sheep when their helicopter crashed in January.

Bastrykin’s announcement came as an outcry grew over his decision to quietly close the investigation in August and — embarrassingly — just a day after his committee awarded Altai Governor Alexander Berdnikov, whose deputy is a suspect in the case, with a medal for cooperating with investigators.The Investigative Committee first opened an investigation into the illegal hunt of argali sheep in the Altai republic in April, about three months after the crash of the helicopter carrying Altai Deputy Governor Anatoly Bannykh and the president’s envoy to the State Duma, Alexander Kosopkin. While Bannykh was among the four survivors, Kosopkin was one of seven people who died in the crash.The investigation was closed in August because “all the people who can be charged in this case … died during the crash,” while the survivors, including Bannykh, “did not take any actions to pursue or shoot the animals,” Bastrykin said in a written statement sent to the Altai legislature after local lawmakers asked him for an update on the investigation in September.

The statement, a copy of which was obtained by The Moscow Times, lists five deceased people as suspects of illegal hunting by helicopter, is dated Oct. 13 and is signed by Bastrykin himself.

The statement only surfaced last weekend, inciting public outrage over Bastrykin’s decision to blame only the dead for breaking the law.

Moreover, Berdnikov, the Altai governor who also has been implicated in the hunting trip by national media, received a medal from the Investigative Committee on Tuesday during Police Day celebrations. The medal, “For Cooperation,” was presented to Berdnikov by Bastrykin’s deputy Andrei Mushatov for Berdnikov’s “cooperation in the effective work of investigators,” according to a statement on the regional government’s official web site.

On Wednesday, the Investigative Committee suddenly showed interest in the case again, with Bastrykin ordering “procedural control authorities to closely look at the case’s materials … and check the completeness of the investigation,” according to a statement posted on the committee’s web site.

In response to a phone inquiry of what this means and whether the case had been reopened, a spokeswoman refused to comment and hung up.

A few hours later, the committee posted a statement on the web site saying Bastrykin had reopened the case.

Environmentalists, whose efforts helped prompt investigators to open a criminal case in the first place, criticized Bastrykin’s explanation to Altai lawmakers that the surviving passengers were not part of the hunt. “Kosopkin and Bannykh were the two most highly placed officials on the helicopter, and the hunt never would have happened if they had opposed pursuing the animals,” said Alexei Vaisman, a researcher with the World Wildlife Fund.

But reopening the case at the height of a public outcry smacks of a public relations stunt, said security analyst Andrei Soldatov. “They are likely to close the case again when the situation quiets down again, like they did after reopening the case of Shchekochikhin,”

Soldatov said, referring to the mysterious death of Novaya Gazeta reporter and State Duma Deputy Yury Shchekochikhin in 2003.

Alexei Gribkov, an environmentalist from Barnaul in the neighboring Altai region, said a thorough investigation was unlikely because it would probably “unravel many nasty details implicating people from beyond the region, like Kosopkin’s superiors.”

He said it was still not clear who had financed the hunt in the Gazpromavia-owned helicopter. “For us, it is very important to set a precedent with this … hunt because it was certainly not the first incident,” he said by telephone.

Berdnikov, whose term expires in January, flew to Moscow on Wednesday to attend President Dmitry Medvedev’s state-of-the nation address Thursday. He was unavailable for comment, said a woman who answered the phone at Altai’s representative office in Moscow.

KYRGYZSTAN: By 2050, only 2% of glaciers may remain and temperatures could increase by 4-6 degrees centigrade by the end of the century

KYRGYZSTAN: Fewer glaciers = more deserts

BISHKEK, 16 November 2009 (IRIN) – Rapidly melting glaciers in mountainous regions of Kyrgyzstan over the next few decades could lead to increased desertification and land degradation, according to experts.

By the end of the century, we could see temperatures rising 4-6 degrees centigrade, and by 2050 the number of glaciers could fall from 8,200 to 142, Zukhra Abaikhanova, environment programme adviser with the UN Development Programme (UNDP) in Kyrgyzstan, told IRIN. The figures are also contained in Kyrgyzstan‘s submission to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.

“In the last few decades, we have witnessed the melting of our glaciers. Many have disappeared… The result could be desertification and soil degradation,” she said.

According to Bakyta Mamytova, a specialist in mountain soil biology at the Kyrgyz Academy of Sciences, such a temperature rise, assuming precipitation remains at its current level, would lead to increasing desertification.

The result would be soil erosion which “could affect living standards, the economy and the environment. We are experiencing this today already,” Mamytova said.

Deputy Director of the State Agency for the Preservation of the Environment and Forestry Aitkul Burkhanov said some of the land currently used in Central Asia for grazing and growing crops may not be fit for purpose in a few decades.

He said glacier melt would reduce the amount of water available for drinking and irrigation.

Agricultural zoning

Ninety percent of all water in the country is used for irrigation, said UNDP’s Abaikhanova. We need to reconsider “agricultural zoning” to ensure food security; and more efficient use of water at household and state level needs to be implemented, she said.

On “agricultural zoning” (moving crops to other areas or introducing new ones), Abaikhanova said work on that front was just beginning. “There will be a pilot project in the northern province of Chui. The main aim is to assess the prospects of agricultural adaption in the identified area, taking into consideration climate, temperature and humidity changes… We need to identify how the soil will change, what type of adaption measures will be needed in crop production, animal husbandry and preserving pasturelands in Kyrgyzstan.” A June 2009 World Bank report entitled Adapting to Climate Change in Europe and Central Asia warned that climate change’s impact in the Europe and Central Asia Region could be exacerbated by post-Soviet era environmental mismanagement and poor infrastructure.

Marianne Fay, the author of the report, said: “Increases in temperature are affecting hydrology, with a rapid melting of the region’s glaciers and a decrease in winter snows. Many countries are already suffering from winter floods and summer droughts – with both southeastern Europe and Central Asia at risk of severe water shortages. Summer heat waves are expected to claim more lives than will be saved by warmer winters.”

A joint report, entitled Global Glacier Changes: facts and figures, by the UN Environment Programme and the World Glacier Monitoring Service released on 1 September 2008 said mountain ranges in Central Asia function as water towers for millions of people. “Glacier runoff thereby is an important freshwater resource in arid regions as well as during the dry seasons in monsoonal affected regions,” the report said, adding that during the 20th century, the glacier area is estimated to have decreased by 25-35 percent in the Tien Shan area of Kyrgyzstan.

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