Chapter 42 - Conservation of snow leopard in Nepal

Abstract

Peter Matthiessen's classic 1978 book “The Snow Leopard” catapulted this majestic cat into the general public's attention, establishing Nepal as the snow leopard land. Thinly spread across the most rugged landscapes in the country's northern districts, along the Chinese and Indian borders, the snow leopard is a protected species in Nepal under the National Parks and Wildlife Conservation Act of 1973. The 1970s and 1980s witnessed groundbreaking research accompanied by the establishment of protected areas across the country, culminating in the 1990s with the dawn of social conservation. With the endorsement of the Snow Leopard Action Plan in 2005 and its subsequent revisions in 2012 and 2017, supported by ongoing research and conservation projects at the local level, Nepal has shown a long history of snow leopard conservation, research, and monitoring.