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SLN Summer Exchange 2023; more details!

Summer Exchange 2023 Schedule

We are thrilled to showcase a diverse range of topics and resource persons from seven different organizations as part of our upcoming Summer Exchange. Each week, we will delve into various aspects of conservation and research, offering valuable insights and opportunities for knowledge sharing. Join us as we explore a wide array of tools, techniques, and approaches that play a crucial role in wildlife conservation and habitat protection.

To participate, please register through the following link, and we look forward to welcoming you to the event!

 

Register Today

 

Please note that all sessions take place at 14:00 pm, Bishkek time.

 

Tuesday, 13th June

SMART Tools

The use of technology in conservation efforts has revolutionized data collection and analysis. The Wildlife Conservation Society will present the Spatial Monitoring and Reporting Tool (SMART), a technology designed to monitor and protect wildlife in protected areas. Discover how SMART is applied in surveys for endangered species, such as snow leopard prey species. Learn about data collection methods, management, and analysis using the SMART survey tool.

Samantha Strindberg

is a Conservation Scientist and Wildlife Statistician at the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS). She specializes in wildlife survey techniques, statistical analysis, and conservation management. With a Ph.D. in Statistics focused on Wildlife Population Assessment, Samantha has extensive experience in the field.

 

Antony Lynam

is an ecologist and conservation scientist at WCS. With over 30 years of experience in wildlife conservation and management, he has pioneered the use of technology for conservation purposes. Antony has expertise in camera trapping, GPS navigation, and law enforcement monitoring databases.

 

 

Tuesday, 20th June

Intro to QGIS

Join our online workshop, Introduction to QGIS, and discover key tools for everyday data visualization, spatial analysis, and mapping. This concise introductory session focuses on practical skills using QGIS, a powerful geographic information system widely used in conservation and research. Engage in interactive activities and discussions to gain a solid understanding of essential QGIS tools and their applications in real-world projects.

Justine S Alexander

Justine Shanti Alexander is a Senior Conservation Scientist at the Snow Leopard Trust and the Executive Director of the Snow Leopard Network. As a snow leopard conservationist, she frequently employs QGIS in her everyday work and has conducted training sessions on the software for field teams, including protected area staff, who have found the acquired skills highly useful for their conservation efforts.

Tuesday, 27th June

AI Camera Trap Management

Join us for an online workshop where the ShanShui Conservation team will introduce their newly developed software designed to streamline camera trap image processing. This software focuses on efficiently removing images that do not capture any animals and simplifying the creation of Excel sheets with the corresponding time and date information. While the workshop will not cover artificial intelligence for species or individual identification, it will provide valuable insights into the team’s ongoing efforts to develop software tools that will enhance camera trap data analysis in the future.

Wei Chunyue

started her journey in wildlife conservation from camera trap data processing and analysis working with Shan Shui Conservation Center. She then participated in snow leopard monitoring and conservation work on the Tibetan Plateau. Chunyue takes strong interests in applying technology tools to facilitate camera trap data management. Chunyue holds a BSc. in Environmental Engineering from Tsinghua University and a MSc. in Environmental Engineering from Stanford University.

Dong Zhengyi

has 6 years of experience in wildlife conservation on the Tibetan Plateau. He participated in many snow leopard surveys in the southeastern part of the Plateau. He is now dedicated to enhancing wildlife monitoring with cutting-edge technology and promoting the integration of biodiversity data across various fields. Zhengyi holds a BSc. in Biology Science from Peking University and a MSc. in Conservation Biology from Lund University.

Thursday, 06th July

Intro to Occupancy and SCR methods

Explore the PAWS toolbox, focusing on occupancy models and spatial capture-recapture (SCR) methods. Understand survey design, data collection, management, and analysis for assessing snow leopard distribution and abundance. Gain insights into interpreting and communicating results effectively.

Ian Durbach

is an ecological statistician with expertise in wildlife surveys. He has supported snow leopard camera trap surveys and provided design and analysis assistance across the PAWS network.

 

 

 

Koustubh Sharma

is an experienced wildlife conservationist and the International Coordinator of the Global Snow Leopard and Ecosystem Protection Program. With more than 20 years of experience, he coordinates snow leopard research and conservation efforts.

 

 

 

Thursday, 13th July

Conservation and People: Champion Networks

Learn about community-led conservation and the importance of building working relationships and trust with local communities. Deepshikha Sharma from the Nature Conservation Foundation – SLT India program will share experiences, challenges, and lessons learned in working with community champions in the trans-Himalayan mountains of India.

Deepshikha Sharma

Deepshikha Sharma is actively involved in community-led conservation in snow leopard habitats in Himachal Pradesh and Ladakh. She focuses on reducing human-wildlife conflict and raising awareness among local communities.

Thursday, 20th July

Data collection and visualization

This session explores the best practices for designing questionnaires and utilizing the data collection tool KoBoToolbox. Discover how to create well-structured surveys and efficiently collect data. Additionally, explore Looker, a powerful data analytics platform, and learn how to create interactive dashboards.

Altynai Adabaeva

is a freelancer specializing in environmental data analytics. She has extensive experience in conducting surveys and using data analysis for research and conservation projects.

Thursday, 27th July

Nature Education

Nature education plays a vital role in conservation efforts. This workshop highlights the theories and practices from education, ecology, and psychology that can be applied to design effective nature education projects. Engage in interactive discussions and activities to learn how to create content and resources that foster a deep connection with nature.

Vena Kapoor

founder of Nature Classrooms, collaborates with primary school teachers and educators, offering training workshops and co-developing nature learning activities. With expertise in conservation leadership and ecology, Vena holds an MPhil from the University of Cambridge and a Masters in Ecology from the University of Pondicherry.

 

Thank you to all the organizations and Resource Persons supporting the Summer Exchange!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

SLN Summer Exchange 2023; it’s happening!

We are delighted to announce that the Snow Leopard Network’s Summer Exchange will take place this summer, starting next month. We are excited to share with you the incredible lineup of scientists and conservationists who will be joining us to discuss practical and innovative approaches to safeguarding snow leopards and mountain ecosystems.

This free resource is designed to provide practitioners who are passionate about snow leopard conservation with the opportunity to stay up-to-date on the latest developments in the field. We are deeply grateful to our snow leopard community for coming together to make this possible. Without the contributions and support of our members, we would not be able to provide this valuable resource to practitioners around the world.

SLN’s Summer Exchange will showcase a diverse lineup of experts from 8 different organizations. Topics include SMART tools, QGIS, upgraded camera trap data management, occupancy and spatial capture-recapture methods, training workshops, data management, and nature education.

Please register on the link before June 2nd and join us for this free resource. It is open to SLN and non SLN members. Stay tuned for more updates and details!

 

 

 

Ensuring a future for Kenya’s lions & other large carnivores through community-led conservation

 

Welcome to our next SLN webinar where we’re excited to introduce you to Ewaso Lions, a Kenya-based conservation organization working to promote coexistence between people and wildlife, specifically large carnivores such as lions. In an upcoming presentation, Ewaso Lions’ Founder & Executive Director, Shivani Bhalla, and Director of Impact and Operations, Toby Otieno, will share how their various community programs with pastoralist communities seek to build local agency and decision-making in carnivore conservation and promote human-carnivore coexistence. Ewaso Lions firmly believes that community-led conservation efforts are key to the success of lion conservation.

SLN Webinar: Ensuring a future for Kenya’s lions & other large carnivores through community-led conservation

Welcome to our next SLN webinar where we’re excited to introduce you to Ewaso Lions, a Kenya-based conservation organization working to promote coexistence between people and wildlife, specifically large carnivores such as lions. In an upcoming presentation, Ewaso Lions’ Founder & Executive Director, Shivani Bhalla, and Director of Impact and Operations, Toby Otieno, will share how their various community programs with pastoralist communities seek to build local agency and decision-making in carnivore conservation and promote human-carnivore coexistence. Ewaso Lions firmly believes that community-led conservation efforts are key to the success of lion conservation.

Discover innovative community-led programs and gain valuable insights for successful conservation efforts, applicable not only to lions but also to snow leopards and other endangered species. Don’t miss this opportunity to learn and work together towards our shared conservation goals.

About the talk

Ewaso Lions conserves Kenya’s lions and other large carnivores by promoting coexistence between people and wildlife. We firmly believe that the success of lion conservation hinges on the involvement of the local people who live alongside lions. In this talk, Shivani Bhalla, Founder & Executive Director, Ewaso Lions and Toby Otieno, Director of Impact and Operations, Ewaso Lions, will discuss the decline in the lion population across Africa before focusing on the ways in which Ewaso Lions’ various community programmes seek to promote human-carnivore coexistence and build local capacity for carnivore conservation.  Learn how, as a result of community-led conservation, lions have started to make a comeback in the community areas where Ewaso Lions operates.

About our Guests

Shivani Bhalla. Born and raised in Kenya, Shivani believes the key to lion conservation is working in partnership with local communities. She founded Ewaso Lions in 2007 to promote coexistence between carnivores and people. Shivani is a member of the IUCN Cat Specialist Group, African Lion Working Group, Kenya’s Large Carnivore Taskforce and a founding member of the Pride Lion Conservation Alliance. Shivani has a BSc. in Environmental Science from Lancaster University, received her MSc. in Wildlife Biology and Conservation from Edinburgh Napier University and was awarded her DPhil in Zoology from Oxford University in 2017.Previously, she has worked for the Kenya Wildlife Service and Save The Elephants. Shivani moved to Samburu in 2002 and lives in the Ewaso Lions Camp in Westgate Conservancy with her two dogs Kura and Nanyori.

 

Toby Otieno has vast research and field experience throughout Kenya whilst working with the National Museums of Kenya’s mammalogy department and the Mpala Research Centre in Laikipia. Toby has applied his skills to implement research design, conduct field activities, write research proposals, and author publications in peer reviewed journals. As Ewaso Lions Director of Impact and Operations, Toby takes the lead role in all monitoring activities and research programme management in order to provide data to support our mission. Toby holds a BSc. in Wildlife Management and Conservation from University of Nairobi, and a MSc. in Wildlife Management from Karatina University.

 

Our Facilitator

 

Koustubh Sharma is the International Coordinator of the Global Snow Leopard and Ecosystem Protection Program (GSLEP) and the Science & Conservation Director at the Snow Leopard Trust. With more than 20 years of experience in ecological research, wildlife conservation and training, he helps build collaborations and coordinate alliances at multiple levels for snow leopard research and conservation.

Date/Time

Friday, May 5th, at 14:00pm Bishkek time

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.
  • Please feel free to write questions in the comment area and there will be time for questions/discussion at the end of the talk.
  • Please note that the session will be recorded and later featured on the SLN website. If you have concerns about this please let us know before the session.

 

 

Using ranger-based monitoring data for predicting poaching pressure

The webinar will focus on the pressing issue of illegal hunting and its impact on large herbivores, specifically mountain ungulates. Despite increased conservation efforts, many species are still at risk of extinction, and more effective interventions are needed. Our speaker, Arash Ghoddousi, will share his research on analysing ranger-based monitoring data to inform adaptive management. He will present a case study from Golestan National Park, where they identified the main determinants of illegal hunting, such as accessibility, law enforcement, and prey availability. Our discussant, Munib Khanyari, will also share his insights on human-nature relationships in the Trans-Himalayan region of India.

 

Snow Leopard Reports 1st Issue: Call for News

 

Dear SLN members,

Snow Leopard Reports is preparing the journal’s First Issue! This is a call for any News pieces to be considered for the First issue of Snow Leopard Reports (coming out March/April 2023). Please consider sharing any relevant updates or news related to the scope of the journalSnow Leopard Reports (previously unpublished information, up to 200 words following the guidelines listed here). 

News pieces should be submitted by emailing us directly. Please use the following News Template provided here. Please note that if Snow Leopard Reports receives more submissions than can be published, the journal Editors will make a selection. Please submit all News pieces before the deadline of March 7th 2023.

Please also consider submitting any Research or Conservation Notes for publication all year round. For more information about this and Snow Leopard Reports, please visit our website: https://publicera.kb.se/slr  

Many thanks and looking forward to your updates,

SLN Annual Report 2022

 

We are happy to share our Annual Report for 2022 with you and would like to direct you to the opening address from our Steering Committee Chair – Dr. Sandro Lovari, (see page 3). 20year  of snow leopard practitioners & scientists coming together around challenges of mountain ecosystem conservation. This remains a very unique & thriving community; that we are proud to be a part of!

Link to our report: https://snowleopardnetwork.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/SLN-Annual-Report-2022.pdf

Week 1: Mountain Ungulates

Hosted by Dr. Munib Khanyari

Asia’s mountain ungulates play an important role in maintaining ecosystems by influencing vegetation structure and nutrient cycling. There is a need for more information about the population status of these ungulates, which carries special significance in the protection of the snow leopard across its range. This session will explore a range of mountain ungulate monitoring and conservation approaches. Dr. Munib Khanyari will facilitate the session. He works with the Nature Conservation Foundation as a Program Manager. He works primarily across the Trans-Himalayan region of India, aiming to build positive human-nature relationships.

 

New Article to the Bibliography

 

Title: Large Carnivore Ecology and Conservation in the High Mountains of Central Asia

Author: Kachel, S.M.

Abstract: Predators shape their ecosystems through myriad interactions with prey, other predators, and humans. However, the effects of these interactions may be contingent on multiple contextual factors, hindering prediction in any given community and impeding a general understanding of the ecological effects of predators. Despite their prominence as conservation flagship in the mountains of Central Asia, even basic aspects of snow leopard (Panthera uncia) ecology remain underexplored and poorly understood. The ecology of wolves (Canis lupus), sympatric with snow leopards throughout that species’ range, has been even more neglected in the region, notwithstanding the significant impact of livestock depredation on pastoralist communities. This dissertation examines the interactions underlying the coexistence of wolves and snow leopards, including those with humans and their joint effects on prey, with the broader goal of improving our understanding of the context-dependence of the
non-consumptive effects (NCEs) of predators. In Chapter 2, I explore the patterns of spatial, temporal, and dietary niche overlap between wolves and snow leopards in the Eastern Pamir Mountains of Tajikistan. I show that in
light of dietary and temporal overlap, the two predators’ coexistence may depend on strong spatial partitioning. In Chapter 3, I explore the consequences of this spatial partitioning by investigating how shared prey with distinct escape tactics, ibex (Capra sibirica) and argali (Ovis ammon), navigate the tradeoffs posed by the two predators in the Central Tien Shan Mountains of Kyrgyzstan. Each ungulate responded to each predator in a manner that was predictable based on the compatibility of their respective evasion and hunting-mode traits, suggesting that non- consumptive predator effects depend not on predator hunting mode or prey escape tactics, but rather on their interaction. Furthermore, short-term predation risk may upend each ungulates’ long-term risk avoidance strategy, suggesting that emergent effects of multiple predators may have important consequences in this system. In Chapter 4, I develop a novel approach to investigate large-scale patterns of livestock depredation
risk and occurrence for wolves and snow leopards, but also lynx (Lynx lynx) and bears (Ursus arctos), in the Western Pamirs of Tajikistan. Livestock depredation was commonplace, with most communities exposed to multiple predators, highlighting that conservation efforts meant to reduce conflict between people and carnivores should aim to reduce depredation as it is experienced by human communities – a threat from the entire carnivore guild. Overall, my results suggest that single-species approaches to conservation in the mountains of Central Asia may be inadequate for ecosystems and people. This dissertation advances the cause of conservation in Central Asia by providing an empirical perspective on how snow leopards and wolves coexist and shape their ecosystems, and by providing practical insight into the challenge of livestock depredation and conflict, a primary threat to wolves and snow leopards in the region. By showing that the non-consumptive effects of predators cannot be pr
edicted based solely on prey escape tactics or predator hunting mode alone, it also contributes to a more comprehensive understanding of the role of predators in shaping ecosystems.

URL: https://snowleopardnetwork.org/b/show.php?record=1697

Week 2: Climate Change 

Dr. Eirini Skrimizea

Participatory climate risk assessment for integrating climate change considerations into development and conservation efforts. Climate risk assessments allow to understand climate risk and vulnerabilities, and can support in identifying and selecting adaptation strategies aligned with development goals and conservation efforts. The meaningful inclusion of the communities in the process is necessary in order to obtain valuable information, raise awareness and ensure adaptation actions that are relevant to the local contexts. In this module these issues and more will be discussed. Participants will be introduced to basic climate change related concepts, and exposed – through an interactive exercise – to a method for participatory climate risk assessment based on the ‘Climate impact Chains’ analytical approach. The module will draw on the example of participatory climate risk assessments in Kyrgyzstan showing how these integrated considerations on human-wildlife conflict with focus on snow leopards. Dr. Eirini Skrimizea  will facilitate the session. Eirini Skrimizea is a postdoctoral researcher with a background in planning and sustainability research. She has expertise on governance of socio-ecological development and the social aspects of climate change in the Global North and South.