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Snow leopard conservation measures win female friends in high places

Posted on by Tim Knight

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Radhika Timbadia reveals how a second Conservation Leadership Programme (CLP) award is helping to support her team’s innovative wildlife protection work in the Himalayas.

It was three years ago, after a long, tiring journey up the road from Leh to Kaza, that I first visited Spiti, in the northern Indian state of Himachal Pradesh. Having heard countless stories about its pristine beauty, I was excited to explore its fauna and high mountains. We were mesmerised at 4,590m by Kunzum-La, the pass that connects Kullu and Lahaul valleys with Spiti valley. After travelling for more than 24 hours, I received a phone call with the news of my niece’s birth, which made this trip unforgettable for me. Ever since my first visit I have fallen in love with the people who are always sunny, positive and cheerful despite the remoteness and biting cold.

Nature Conservation Foundation, with support from the Snow Leopard Trust, has been working exceptionally hard to conserve and protect snow leopards and their prey species on the Indian side of the Trans-Himalayan landscape for more than 15 years. A CLP Future Conservationist Award in 2011 helped our team identify some of the main reasons for negative attitudes towards snow leopards and wolves in the region. Our CLP Conservation Follow-Up Award in 2015 is now allowing our team to test multi-pronged approaches that aim to reduce the impact of conflict with snow leopards, and improve attitudes of local pastoralists.

Snow Leopard Enterprises, working under the local name of Shen, is one such conservation programme that has generated interest among the local women, a key focus group that typically gets left out of conservation dialogues. Shen, meaning snow leopard in the local Spitian dialect, is an enterprise to increase income and safeguard wildlife in the region. The enterprise involves 50 women from two villages, Kibber and Chichim, in the Spiti valley. The kind and talented Dr Mala Srikanth, an experienced knitter, braved the frigid November temperature (-4 to -14 degrees Celsius) to provide them with handicraft training.

Livelihood enterprise_Chichim_Radhika Timbadia

Conducted over a two-week period, the training focused on crochet and knitting skills enabling the women to make well finished contemporary products like hand-crocheted red fox bookmarks, sheep hot pot holders, jute baskets and knitted cowls, socks and many other items. This was followed by a further seven days of training, held in Bangalore in early January, which focused on block printing and embroidery. Thanks to support from CLP these training sessions were provided at no cost to the women. The trainers have now gone back to their respective villages to teach other women.

The products have been sold in exhibitions in the cities of Bangalore and Delhi in the last year. They sell for up to Rs. 800 (approximately US$12). In the coming year we hope to sell online and in shops, in addition to targeted exhibitions. We expect the women to make at least US$2,000 in total from conservation-friendly sales in 2016, and we expect to start working with one more village that has shown interest in the past.

Dastkar_Radhika Timbadia

The sale proceeds from these products will help diversify their income and provide an incentive for them to participate in the conservation of species like the snow leopard, wolf, fox, bharal and ibex. To strengthen the conservation linkage we have had several conversations with the women culminating in an agreement to have a strict no poaching rule in both villages.

Hunting is already illegal, but it happens occasionally, usually because people coming from outside these villages are unaware of the law. The women now take the responsibility to make them aware, and to report any incidences of poaching to the relevant authorities. The women are paid for the products they make irrespective of poaching activity, but they receive a 20% conservation bonus at the end of the year if there has been no poaching or if the right preventative steps have been taken. It is similar to the system used successfully in Mongolia for the past 10 years.

The warm, loving, funny and vibrant women are making this enterprise come together. We participated in our first big exhibition, Dastkar, over Christmas in New Delhi. It was an enlightening experience and we were touched by the support given to us. Together we have learned and achieved many things, but we still have a long way to go. Our aim is simple: to protect and ensure a bright future for the wildlife and local communities of the Trans-Himalayan landscape.

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From the Himalayas to the Czech Republic

Posted on by Kate Tointon

By: Martina Anandam (India)

Martina with owlets © Martina Anandam

Last year I hosted my friend and fellow CLP alumnus, Felipe Ennes Silva, for a CLP Learning Exchange Programme in India. The experience provided many stories to tell over dinner and on rainy nights. This year, I won a CLP Travel Grant to present at two conferences in the Czech Republic. I resolved to make this trip a lasting adventure and an experience equally fit enough to be etched in my memory.

Petr Colas, my friend and Director of Ostrava Zoo in the Czech Republic invited me to attend the Old World Monkeys Meeting at Ostrava Zoo and the Prosimian Taxon Advisory Group (TAG) Meeting. I readily accepted his invitation. After a 20 hour flight, I was very happy to shed off the accumulated claustrophobia and march into Prague.  Lined with historical sites on one side and graffiti ridden walls on the other, the city is a perfect conglomeration of the present and days gone by. Jana, the primate curator of Ostrava Zoo picked me up and kindly drove me to Prague Zoo. We were to spend the day there and be amused! I enjoyed looking at the polar bears, orang-utans and the nocturnal primate exhibits. I am not much of a zoo enthusiast but this was an extraordinary experience. After a tired day at the zoo, Jana drove me to my destination, Ostrava Zoo.

Ostrava is a city about 280 km from Prague and a good four hour drive away. I was only too happy to settle down to sleep when my interest was piqued by the sound of a constant chatter. I soon discovered that I was right next to the flamingo exhibit. The beautiful Ostrava Zoo, established back in 1948 was then 6 hectare property. It is now a booming zoological park of 350 animal species spread over 100 hectares. The speciality of Ostrava Zoo is its Himalayan exhibit, Chitwan, which houses Himalayan black bears and Himalayan langurs. All langurs were faithfully christened with Indian names such as Shiela, Delhi and Balachandra with the fair exception of Baruska, Balachandra’s mom. This is a good example of globalization, a Czech mom with an Indian son!

The Old World Monkey conference was a wonderful opportunity to meet and interact with zoo keepers and zoo biologists from all over the country. It was insightful to learn the nuances of captive breeding and management and opened up a whole new vista for me. The opportunity to present my work on the Himalayan langur and reiterate the importance of on-the-ground conservation was encouraging. The Prosimian TAG Meeting was equally interesting and I got to meet up with some of my old professors at the lovely Plzen Zoo. The conference offered an opportunity to meet with potential donors from zoos from all over Europe, providing me with a platform to make my case for conservation in the Himalaya. I am extremely thankful for the fundraising opportunity.

Basilica in Olomouc © Martina Anandam

While the conferences demanded my attention, I managed little escapades to Zlin and Olomouc zoos. Zlin is a beautiful city and the heart of the world famous Bata factory.  My time in Zlin was further spiced up when the zoo keepers kindly allowed me to feed the Bactrian camels and the gentle tapirs as well as tape the ‘behind-the-scenes’ action as they vaccinated meerkats and bathed elephants. A visit to Olomouc Zoo was the cherry on my travel cake. Olomouc Zoo, located right next to a world famous Basilica, is set right in the middle of a postcard town. I took a break from the zoo and had a little sojourn to the Basilica. The old age church, built to fulfil a promise to a patron saint, was full of history and art and more than I could have asked for to complete my eventful afternoon.

I was happy to get back to my mountains in India as we have a lot to do there from keeping black bears from farms to studying new species of langurs across the Himalaya! (Read more of our work here).

The places I’ve been to visit, the people I met and the lovely memories will forever linger in my mind.  A CLP Travel Grant made this possible and I am forever grateful. I hope all CLP alumni get to realize such adventures and experiences through these useful grants! Thank you, CLP!

Celebrating 30 years of CLP

Posted on by Kate Tointon

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Reflecting on turning the big 3-0.

This year marks the 30th anniversary of the Conservation Leadership Programme. It got me thinking about the year 1985 – the year CLP gave out its first award. What was happening back then?

I did a little research on the Internet and found out that it was a year in which several big ideas took hold that have transformed the world as we know it.

In March 1985 a company called Symbolics became the Internet’s first registered domain name. Now, 30 years later, there are approximately 275 million domain names. The Internet is connecting people from Brazil to Brazzaville and we now have at our fingertips access to an unbelievable amount of information. It truly is a “world wide web”.

Also in 1985, one of the first mobile phone calls in the UK was made from London announcing the Vodafone network was up and running. At that time, no one could have imagined the impact that phone call would have across the globe. Today, there are 6.8 billion mobile phones in service worldwide, revolutionizing the way we connect and communicate.

Another important event, which may have gone undetected back in 1985, was an idea launched in Cambridge, UK – the “Conservation Expedition Award” – aimed at supporting young scientists collecting data on globally threatened species.

The inaugural award sent a team of British students on an expedition to study birds in Madagascar. This award has grown into what is known today as the Conservation Leadership Programme.

While our numbers are not in the billions, or even millions, what started as a lone award in 1985 has grown into a global programme and an international partnership that has funded nearly 700 projects and 2,500 individuals in 100 countries. You only need to look at our interactive map to get a feel for the breadth and diversity of CLP.

CLP’s offerings of awards, training, internships, mentoring and networking opportunities have had a great impact on the development of young, up-and-coming conservationists.

These enthusiastic individuals are integrated into a dynamic “world wide web” of conservation practitioners working across a range of environments. With more than 90% of grantees continuing to work in conservation after completing their projects, they infuse the conservation sector with renewed hope for a more sustainable future.

CLP projects have had significant impact and recognition by local and national governments. Here are just a few examples:

  • In 1988, Gola Forest Project was implemented to survey the forest’s avifauna. The Gola Forest is the largest area of lowland rain forest remaining in Sierra Leone, and is one of the most important sites for the conservation of threatened wildlife in the country. The CLP project led to further research and conservation by BirdLife International, and as a result in 2010 The Gola Rainforest National Park was established as a protected area by the government of Sierra Leone.
  • In 1996, Project Swallow Reef later resulted in the establishment of a permanent marine research and monitoring station on Layang Layang, a previously little known archipelago that is now recognized as one of the richest coral reefs for marine biodiversity in Malaysia.
  • In 2009, a 3,000 hectare nature reserve was established in Guangxi province, China to conserve the world’s rarest primate, the Critically Endangered cao-vit gibbon, and its habitat as a result of a CLP-funded project.
  • In 2015, a CLP team formally described a new species of Titi monkey in Brazil.

This year, we expect to support 30 high-priority conservation projects and internships, as well as support peer-to-peer mentoring exchanges and train nearly 100 individuals at our local and international training events. Keep an eye out for news of the 2015 CLP Team Award winners in April!

In celebration of the last 30 years of achievements, we will be posting a series of blogs this year from CLP alumni from each of the four decades of the programme.

It has been a joy and a privilege to reach out to and reconnect with alumni from across the history of the programme and to discover the range of accomplishments and influence these individuals are having. The positive responses we have had from so many are a testament to the strength of the network and ongoing support CLP offers.

We look forward to the next 30 years!

Looking for langurs through a CLP learning exchange

Posted on by Stuart Paterson

Langurs

Martina Anandam recounts a learning exchange visit during which she hosted another member of the CLP alumni network.

‘Martina! This is extraordinary!’ exclaimed Felipe, trying hard to get pictures of the galloping langur at distance. ‘I can’t believe I am looking at it. The langur… It is beautiful! This is unbelievable!’

Spoken like a true primate enthusiast!

Felipe Ennes Silva and I met in 2012 at the Conservation Leadership Programme’s Conservation Management & Leadership Training Workshop in Canada. We had both been part of separate CLP-funded Team Conservation Awards: Felipe, for a project to protect a small Marca’s marmoset (Mico marcai) in Brazil; and me for our Chamba sacred langur (Semnopithecus ajax) project in the Himalayas. Although our projects are continents apart, our conservation challenges are similar. In Canada and thereafter we thought about how we might be able to help each other first hand. We brainstormed possible solutions and laid the foundations for inter-continental conservation knowledge sharing and learning. Two years later, thanks to a CLP learning exchange grant, we were able to meet again in India, at my very own field site in Chamba Himalaya.

Felipe arrived in Chamba straight from the International Primatological Society Conference in Hanoi, Vietnam. Vishal, my team mate was assigned the complicated responsibility of locating and identifying Felipe at the crowded Chamba bus station. After a gruelling 17 hour bus ride from Delhi, Felipe arrived at the field station, surprisingly fresh faced and brimming with excitement and enthusiasm.

‘How did you find him?’ I asked Vishal. ‘The CLP T shirt! It wasn’t that difficult!’ chuckled Vishal.

Langur apparitions:
Felipe was both excited and a little worried about our planned field activities. As anyone who has been out on wildlife surveys knows, catching sight of seldom-seen primates can be a thing of luck, as well as good planning and technique. The langurs were near our field station a few days before Felipe’s visit, but now we were out looking for them they were nowhere to be seen.

It was hard to hide our disappointment and just as I wondered how we could try and make the best of the situation, Vishal called out: ‘Oye! Langoooor!’

‘Where?’ I asked impatiently, needing verification after several false alarms. ‘Are we hallucinating langurs again?’

And there he was. A handsome male langur, galloping down the mountains before disappearing again. Chamba sacred langurs are shy of humans and prefer to stay hidden within the dense deodar and pine forests. Deforestation and many unsustainable developmental practices force the langur out of their degraded habitat, into fields and human settlements which often results in conflict. This solitary male was indeed fleeing from a field, being chased by the irritated owners.

The land of langurs…
We spent the next day packing and warming up for Kangra Valley, a small town about 150km from Chamba. Kangra Fort is a tourist hotspot of historical importance as a Mughal stronghold and is also an excellent place to find Chamba sacred langur. We set out early that morning, climbing to an altitude of 2,400m. Through the post monsoon showers the mist was folding and unfolding over the mountains, setting the scene for the unforgettable drive.

The outlook soon changed when we descended down the mountain, to the valley at an altitude of 600m. The cool breeze was blasted away by scorching heat and dust. After a quick wash and the ever soothing chai, we set off to see some of the local sites. The Brajeshwari Devi Temple in Kangra is an age old architectural marvel and Felipe experienced a riot of colours, music and culture.

The following morning, we visited the fort – built in the early 4th century and the site of many conquests and calamities. We trudged our way through the ancient walls, baking, as we were, under the repressive sun. As we were about to enter the main fort, we saw something stirring within the trees. Langurs! These individuals looked very different from the langurs we were expecting to see and they demanded several hours of our keen observation.

… and lamas
Nestled amidst the Dauladhar Ranges of western Himalaya, with peaks ranging from 1,400-4,000m, Dharamshala boasts beautiful high altitude deodar and pine forests, and our langurs of course. Despite our many attempts to find the langurs in Dharamshala, they proved elusive and we were unsuccessful. But the gentle monsoon showers and the picturesque mountains made the experience worthwhile. Felipe was also able to spin the prayer wheel and meet the lamas which was a unique experience.

We will meet again!
During Felipe’s visit, we were able to exchange ideas and discuss points from our personal points of view. Together, we were able to lay down our challenges on a singular plan, look at them objectively, dissect and analyze the issues and arrive at solutions. We realized that some of our conservation challenges are almost identical and it was essential to share such cross-country knowledge and experience to arrive at holistic solutions.

It was a great ten days with Felipe and, as we said our goodbyes, we wondered when our next meeting might be. Conservation is a tough, demanding and sometimes lonely line of work! But we can all benefit from meeting and learning from like-minded peers. We are not alone in our fight!