It happened to be my birthday. Later that night, I sat near the fire, listening to indigenous women sing enchanting ancient songs in celebration. I could think of no better way to spend my birthday.
***
The year 2024 didn’t give humanity much to celebrate. There were 56 active armed conflicts around the world—the highest number our planet has seen since World War II—destroying lives and the environment[1].
Climate change continued to accelerate, with climate disasters around the world taking countless human and non-human lives and costing the global economy an estimated USD 38 trillion annually—six times the cost of limiting global warming to 2 °C[2]. Yet, the recently concluded meeting of nearly 200 countries at the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change failed to deliver any new announcements to cut emissions, and the climate finance pledges fell woefully short.
We are already feeling the impacts of global inaction.
Earlier in August, I had hiked with our India team for five days to reach a Himalayan glacier at the headwaters of the Pare Chu River. Nearly 60% of the glacier had melted since I was last on it 28 years ago. Our partner communities living downstream face existential challenges due to global warming.
***
Today, as we look to the new year, and I look for reasons to stay hopeful amidst the continuing onslaught on Mother Earth, it takes me back to that birthday evening at the start of last year.
For more than a month prior to that magical evening, our field staff and community partners had been tracking the snow leopard siblings, but their mother was nowhere to be seen. The last time she was spotted was on 9th November 2023, when the siblings were about 18 months old.
Although nearly grown up and ready to disperse, the siblings still retained their adolescent awkwardness. They were clumsy hunters against the escape skills of their supremely capable mountaineering prey such as the ibex. On their own, and without a mother to guide them, they would probably stand little chance. But the young snow leopards overcame the limitations of being novice hunters using a simple but highly effective strategy: partnership. Working together, the snow leopards honed their hunting skills, brought down wild prey, and shared their meals. In partnership, there is strength.
After spending time with the young snow leopards in the Indian Himalayas, I had headed straight to Samarkand in Uzbekistan for the Steering Committee meeting of the intergovernmental conservation alliance of snow leopard range countries. Environment Ministers and senior civil servants from 11 of the 12 snow leopard range countries had gathered for the meeting, where we discussed progress and best practices in ethical snow leopard conservation with them. At the end of the meeting, the Ministers issued a joint resolution[3].
This award-winning intergovernmental platform called the Global Snow Leopard and EcosystemProtection Program, is as unique as it is exceptional. It is unique as there aren’t many examples around the world of such long-term and effective intergovernmental cooperation for nature conservation. Most recently, thanks to this program and our amazing GSLEP Secretariat team, 23rd October was formally designated as International Snow Leopard Day by the United Nations, and in celebration, we collaboratively hosted a snow leopard exhibition at the UN headquarters in New York.
It is exceptional because many of its 12 member countries have had recent and active armed conflicts with each other. Some currently do not have bilateral relations due to geopolitical disputes. But snow leopards bring them together. These countries partner with each other—and with us—for snow leopard conservation. In partnership, there is hope.
***
It is nearly a year since I last met the snow leopard siblings. I know in my head that, by now, they would have long gone their separate ways. Yet, in my heart, I have an irrational hope that I might again see them together. That’s unlikely to happen.
But I begin my year with much hope, as our field teams are poised to expand our snow leopard research and conservation in scale and impact in 2025. The Ethical Conservation Alliance, our recent collective effort to create synergy for more impact, ethics and social justice in snow leopard conservation and in nature conservation worldwide, is beginning to flourish. Conservation and Indigenous leaders from 33 countries are already partnering in the Alliance. They are jointly creating conservation toolkits, delivering trainings, and engaging with international treaties to bring greater Indigenous leadership and strengthen ethical practices in nature conservation worldwide.
I am also thrilled to share with you that the village of Kibber, one of our community partners who—like many others—used to persecute snow leopards, has just received the “Wildlife and Tourism Initiative Award of 2024” in New Delhi, India. The snow leopard siblings were deprived of their mother’s care, but they had an entire village caring for them.
In partnership, there is conservation impact.
Together, we can create a better planet.
I thank you all for your partnership, and I wish you a most joyful and fulfilling year ahead.
Charu
Dr. Charu Mishra is the Executive Director of Snow Leopard Trust
- Vision of Humanity (2024) Global Peace Index, Highest number of countries engaged in conflict since World War II: https://www.visionofhumanity.org/highest-number-of-countries-engaged-in-conflict-since-world-war-ii.
- Kotz, M., Levermann, A. and Wenz, L., 2024. The economic commitment of climate change. Nature, 628(8008), pp.551-557.
- https://globalsnowleopard.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Samarcand-Res.pdf
Photo credits: Shreeram MV, NCF/SLT, SARA, SLT/GSLEP, TOFT