CEC Co-Organized International Snow Leopard Day Celebration in China

The theme for this year’s International Snow Leopard Day event is “Join Snow Leopard Conservation, Protect the planet that we share”. Zhang Xinsheng, President of IUCN, made the opening speech for the event in Beijing, he reflected on the event theme saying “Protecting wildlife and the ecosystem is also protecting ourselves and our future. Snow Leopards are flagship species of high-mountain ecosystems, which acts as important barrier and indicator for climate change, biodiversity loss and other ecological crisis that we are now facing.”

The opening ceremony was also joined by Luo Youqing, Vice-principle of Beijing Forestry University, and Chen Fengxue, President of China Wildlife Conservation Association, as well as government officials from the National Forestry and Grassland Administration of China, who showed their support for the protection of Snow Leopards.14 outstanding volunteers who contributed towards the conservation of Snow Leopards through their volunteering work at  Eco-Bridge Continental (EBC) were awarded by the guests to encourage the participation of next-generation conservation enthusiasts.

One of the major goals of this public event was to showcase the progress China and the international community have made in the research and conservation of snow leopards, and to promote the concept that such achievements are as a result of a joint effort of governmental agencies, NGOs, grass root level management sectors, local communities and also public participation, which meets the mission of IUCN CEC: to reach to broader audiences and raise awareness through effective communication and education.

The event provided a platform to connect with the public through a number of activities. During the event, 2 short videos documenting snow leopard survey by EBC and the Wildlife Institute, Beijing Forestry University (WI-BFU) team in the snow mountains of Qinghai and Tibet province were  released, which realistically documented the true working environment of wildlife conservationists which might have not been widely known by the public. The talk session in Beijing was joined by high-level speakers from all professionals, including Professor Shi Kun, snow leopard expert and a long-term CEC member, Liu Yi, National Coordinator of UNDP’s Global Environment Facility Small Grants Programme in China, Zhou Qing, Documentary film director, Wang Jun, snow leopard research specialist, and Li li, traditional Chinese painting artist. The guests shared their stories and experience on snow leopard conservation, they further expressed the idea that passion for snow leopard conservation can bring people together from different industries, everyone in the society can contribute to snow leopard and ecosystem conservation in their own ways.

This event reached over 500 public participants across two venues and more than 30,000 audiences through online livestream. During the event, there was a  consensus on the following actions to protect snow leopard and their habitat:

• Actively participate in and support actions to protect snow leopard, focus on capacity building of local communities;
• Determinedly resist the production, circulation and use of snow leopard and wildlife products and any activities related to poaching;

Promote energy conservation and emission reduction, mitigate the effect of climate change on snow leopards and their habitats through eco-friendly lifestyle.

Author:
SHI Kun (CEC member, Director, Wildlife Institute; Professor, School of Ecology & Nature Conservation
Beijing Forestry University; Chairman of the board, Eco-Bridge Continental)