India’s snow leopard population stands at 718, reveals first-ever scientific survey

A pioneering scientific initiative, SPAI, has reported a population of 718 snow leopards in India. This comes the Indian Minister of Environment, Forest, and Climate Change, Bhupender Yadav, unveiled the outcomes of the inaugural Snow Leopard Population Assessment in India (SPAI) Programme during the National Board for Wildlife meeting in New Delhi on Tuesday (Jan 30).

The population estimates are as follows - 477 snow leopards in Ladakh, 124 in Uttarakhand, 51 in Himachal Pradesh, 36 in Arunachal Pradesh, 21 in Sikkim, and 9 in Jammu and Kashmir.

Facilitated by the Wildlife Institute of India (WII) as the National Coordinator, the SPAI was executed with the collaborative support of all snow leopard range states and two conservation partners, the Nature Conservation Foundation, Mysuru, and WWF-India.

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Spanning over 70 per cent of the potential snow leopard range in India, the SPAI systematically covered approximately 120,000 square kilometres of critical snow leopard habitat. It includes the trans-Himalayan region, such as Ladakh and Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Sikkim, and Arunachal Pradesh.

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Conducted from 2019 to 2023, the SPAI used a meticulous two-step framework.

The first step involved assessing snow leopard spatial distribution, aligning with the 2019 guidelines of the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC).

In the second step, snow leopard abundance was estimated through camera traps in identified stratified regions.

Throughout the SPAI exercise, a comprehensive effort was made, including surveying 13,450 km of trails for recording snow leopard signs and deploying camera traps at 1,971 locations for 180,000 trap nights.

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The results revealed snow leopard occupancy in 93,392 square kilometres, with an estimated presence in 100,841 square kilometres, capturing images of 241 unique snow leopards.

Historically, the snow leopard range in India was undefined due to a lack of extensive nationwide assessments.

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"The report also mentions the need for establishing a dedicated Snow Leopard Cell at WII under the MoEFCC is proposed, with a primary focus on long-term population monitoring, supported by well-structured study designs and consistent field surveys," as per a release.

Consistent monitoring is deemed essential for ensuring the long-term survival of snow leopards, and the report suggested adopting a periodic population estimation approach, every fourth year, in the snow leopard range in a bid to spot challenges faced and also lay out conservation methods.

(With inputs from agencies)