Aruna Kumari Negi in leopard habitat area in Kinnaur Himalayas.

In recent years, there have been increasing cases of livestock depredation and human killings by leopards in many parts of Kinnaur Himalayas of Himachal Pradesh in India resulting in conflicts between communities and leopards. At some high altitude pockets in Kinnaur Himalayas, the human-leopard conflict (HLC) situation is becoming a serious issue gradually as the leopards frequently intrude into the human habitation areas creating terror among local communities. Wildlife poaching, developments, road networking, hydro electricity projects and illegal green felling are some of the key factors affecting ecological health of this zoogeographical mountain region. The proposed project will map the HLC sensitive areas in Kinnaur through a fact finding survey, GPS mapping of the habitat and carry out a community-based HLC mitigation and big cat conservation awareness campaign through conservation education and HLC mitigation capacity building training programmes.

Leopard Conservation Outreach, Moorang School.

The local forest department, communities and shepherds will be the main stakeholders of this project. The proposed leopard conservation awareness campaign and capacity building initiative will not only promote community awareness to protect and preserve the Himalayan biodiversity, it will also help the community stakeholders to get feedback to minimize the HLC conflict in Kinnaur Himalayan region and live in harmony with the wild animals in general and leopards in particular. This project will help develop community-based leopard conservation as well as site-specific HLC mitigation plans:

- Enhancing community awareness and understanding of the threats to the big cats due to habitat loss and increasing human activities in leopard range mountain habitats in Kinnaur;

- Capacity building training to the villagers and shepherds on the cattle shed designs and on protective methods they need to adopt to keep their livestock safe in the open grazing fields at night. conservation education about big cats;

- Human-leopard conflict mitigation training for the forest staff and villagers;

- Promoting collaboration between the local NGOs and forest department on community-led programs that can benefit the leopards and the villagers;

- Habitat mapping through GPS;

- HLC mitigation education campaign and distribution of HLC mitigation manuals among the villagers;

- Habitat improvement education through plantation by the villagers;

- Educating village women to adopt alternate income generation strategies for sustainable livelihood.

The purpose of this proposed HLC mitigation plan is to reduce human pressure on the mountain forest resources.