Receding glaciers pose severe threat to snow leopards

Islamabad: The glacial area in Pakistan’s north provides remarkable habitat to the endangered snow leopard, but receding glaciers pose a severe threat to this rare species, Minister for Climate Change Mushahidullah Khan said.
He was talking to the media at the Benazir Bhutto International Airport before leaving for Bishkek, capital of Kyrgyzstan, where he will attend first two-day meeting of the Global Snow Leopard and Ecosystem Protection (GSLEP) Programme’s steering committee.
Citing major reason for the declining population of the snow leopard, he said, they are actively hunted for their body parts, which some cultures believe have great medicinal value.
Mushahidullah Khan said only about 4,000-6,500 snow leopards are alive today but the number is falling due to poaching, hunting and change in climate in the Northern Areas.
“Snow leopards are in trouble, and only humans
can help them by joining efforts aimed at controlling their illegal hunting and poaching at all levels,” he said.
He hoped that joint efforts across countries to be pledged at the GSEP meeting in Bishkek would help protect snow leopards from extinction and yield a range of positive results, such as preserving biodiversity.
The minister said the meeting in Kyrgyzstan would present an excellent opportunity to review and sharply align the various elements of management and implementation of the programme, and to infuse a measure of urgency in the programme’s implementation at the frontline.