News

MP members hold event at snow leopard forum

28.08.2017

The side event “Practitioner’s Lab on community-based conservation in the Central Tien Shan for the protection of snow leopards and their prey species” took place in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan on 24 August 2017 in the framework of the Global Snow Leopard Forum, which was hosted by the Government of Kyrgyzstan. The side event was organized by the Mountain Partnership Central Asia Mountain Hub (CAMH), which is hosted by the University of Central Asia, jointly with the Global and Local Information Partnership and supported by the World Wildlife Fund and the United States Agency for International Development.

Through an interactive format of exchanges, the participants of the Practitioner’s Lab analysed the processes, variables and factors affecting community-based conservation in the Central Tien Shan region. The event provided a unique opportunity to gain first-hand information from local community representatives on their success stories and lessons learned on dealing with community-based conservation. This included such topics as the challenges of linking conservation to livelihoods and rural development aspects.

For the session discussing an alternative management model for governing “the common pool resources”, five panelists were invited from the three mountain villages of Akshyirak, Enilchek and Karakolka. These villages are located in snow leopard habitat in the Issyk-Kul region of Kyrgyzstan, bordering China. The panelists included a representative of the local authorities, a ranger from the Sarychat-Ertash State Nature Reserve, a school teacher who leads the eco-theatre ‘Ak-Ilbirs, and the heads of a local revolving fund and a women’s handicraft group.

More than 70 participants attended the side event, including conservation professionals, researchers, non-governmental and governmental representatives, and development partners engaged in conservation and environmental protection work.

Along with the side event, an exhibition of researcher Marc Foggin’s photography, titled “Living with snow leopards: people, livelihoods and landscapes of the Tibetan Plateau and Central Asia”, was organized by CAMH together with the Mountain Societies Research Institute (MSRI) of the University of Central Asia. Marc Foggin has worked in close partnership with Tibetan herding communities in the Yangtze River headwaters for over 20 years. He has provided support to the emergence of civil society in the area and contributed to community development and environmental conservation on the Tibetan Plateau through his organization Plateau Perspectives. Marc also co-leads a programme of research on sustainable mountain development through his senior role at MSRI. His work and travels have enabled him to document through photographs the extraordinary yet rapidly changing landscapes and livelihoods in the mountains of Western China and Central Asia.

See photos from the Global Snow Leopard Forum
See the photo exhibition “Living with snow leopards: people, livelihoods and landscapes of the Tibetan Plateau and Central Asia”
Learn more 

News and photos by CAMH/Alma Karsymbek