Facilitating Snow Leopard-Human Coexistence in Chang Tang
Category: Community Engagement Poster
Author(s): Matalyn Garcia
Presenter(s): Matalyn Garcia
Mentors(s): Veronica Yovovich
Snow leopards (Panthera uncia) roam the lands of Central and South Asia and have been the subject of conflict with the ranchers that inhabit the area. As humans encroach on their habitat through human expansion and livestock grazing conflict has increased. This has led to retaliatory killings, loss of wild prey, and habitat fragmentation. As climate change forces these cats to lower elevations, conflict with Tibetan pastoralists is on the rise. This has had devastating impacts on the goats, yaks, sheep, and cattle of the Changpa people along with a decline in a precarious snow leopard population. This project aims to illustrate effective ways for people in Chang Tang, China to coexist with their wild counterparts through non-lethal deterrent methods, environmental outreach, and financial tools.