A study published last week in Conservation Biology confirms the critical role of Tibetan Buddhist monasteries in the fight to conserve the endangered snow leopard.
Led by Dr. Li Juan, Snow Leopard Trust staff member doing postdoctoral research at Peking University, the study confirms that over 300 monasteries inhabit the same sky-high region as the snow leopards of the Tibetan Plateau, and protect more snow leopard habitat than local nature reserves. The study, Role of Tibetan Buddhist Monasteries in Snow Leopard Conservation, was coauthored by Panthera’s Dr. George Schaller and Dr. Tom McCarthy, the leading Chinese Shan Shui Conservation Centre and the Snow Leopard Trust. It showed that nearly half of the monasteries are found in snow leopard habitat, while 90% exist within 5 km of snow leopard range in the Plateau’s Sanjiangyuan region.
Monks on the Tibetan Plateau serve as de facto wildlife guardians. Tibetan Buddhism considers the snow leopard and its habitats strictly sacred, and the monks patrol wild landscapes surrounding monasteries to enforce strict edicts against killing wildlife. Senior monks, including the Rinpoche and Khenpos, are important influencers in their communities, positively impacting followers’ attitudes and behaviour towards wildlife. The study shows that Tibetan Buddhism is practiced across an extraordinary 80% of snow leopard range, and so monastery-based snow leopard conservation could apply over a much broader area than the Tibetan Plateau.
Panthera’s Vice President, Dr. George Schaller, explained, “Buddhism has as a basic tenet the love, respect, and compassion for all living beings. This report illuminates how science and the spiritual values of Tibetan Buddhism can combine their visions and wisdom to help protect China’s natural heritage. Such an approach to environmental conservation needs to be emulated by all the world’s faiths.”
He shared, “There is evidence that traditional culture and social institutions may play a critical role in changing people’s mind and behaviour. With Buddhist education, Tibetan people have lived in harmony with nature for thousands of years. Now like everywhere else, the traditional culture on the Plateau is facing the challenge of modernisation. Conservationists should work closer with social institutions, integrating scientific methodologies with cultural approaches for better solutions.”
Between 3,500 – 7,000 snow leopards currently remain in 12 Asian countries, with an estimated 60% of their population and habitat occurring in China. Panthera, Shan Shui and the Snow Leopard Trust have been partnering with four Tibetan Buddhist monasteries in the Yushu Prefecture of Qinghai Province since 2009. The program focuses on mitigating human-snow leopard conflict and training monks to monitor and protect wildlife. It also supports monasteries in teaching tens of thousands of people about the conservation value of snow leopards through festivals and educational programs. In three years there have been no reports of snow leopards being killed in the study area.
Watch the stunning footage of snow leopards playing in the snow while Snow Leopard trust Executive Director Brad Rutherford narrates how they work with the people sharing snow leopard habitat to protect this endangered species:
Panthera’s Snow Leopard Program Executive Director, Dr. Tom McCarthy, explained, “Snow leopards share their mountain habitat with poor herding families whose lives are dependent on livestock. When a snow leopard kills a sheep, goat, yak or even a young camel, it is a huge economic loss to the herder. Thanks to this unique program, we now have highly-respected community leaders mitigating conflict and acting as spokespeople for snow leopards by weaving the message of conservation with their religious convictions, and paving the road for the snow leopard’s future on the Tibetan Plateau and beyond.”
The research team believes that this model — collaboration of conservationists with buddhist monasteries — could also contribute to snow leopard conservation in other areas where there is a strong influence of Tibetan Buddhism, such as Northern India, Nepal, Bhutan and parts of Mongolia.
The research is supported by Snow Leopard Trust, Shan Shui Conservation Center, Peking University and Panthera.
(Source: Panthera press release, 05.09.2013; Wiley press release, 02.09.2013; Snow Leopard Tracks — the newsletter of Snow Leopard Trust, Fall 2013)