I just received a notification from the Snow Leopard Trust about an exciting new development. Nearly 8,163 square kilometers of land is about to be turned into a Nature Reserve, a designation that will benefit both wildlife and local people.
Mining, hunting, and construction will be banned in this area; whereas traditional activities that do not significantly harm the environment (such as sustainable livestock grazing) will still be allowed. This is appropriate, because local people were major champions for the creation of this new protected area. They began working with the Snow Leopard Conservation Foundation back in 2008 to protect the Tost region in Mongolia, and their efforts have paid off.
Snow leopards (Panthera uncia) will also gain a great deal from the Nature Reserve. Tost is an important area for the species, because it is the location of one of the most important snow leopard studies to date. Additionally, it will connect the Gobi Gurvansaikhan National Park and the Great Gobi Protected Area, creating one of the world’s largest protected snow leopard habitats.
To learn more about this new Nature Reserve, please read the Snow Leopard Trust’s article on the topic. I would also recommend learning more about the Snow Leopard Trust. They are one of my favorite non-profit organizations, and are deserving of our support.
The Jaguar 
What a wonderful win for the snow leopard and the amazing people trying to make sure it has a future.
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Yes, and a major win for all the local pastoralists who’s livelihoods won’t be negatively affected by damaging enterprises. Of course we also mustn’t forget about all the other wonderful creatures who live in the Tost area too. That’s one of the reasons I like big cats so much: protecting them helps to protect entire ecosystems. So as challenging as their conservation is, it has the potential to reap considerable rewards.
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Well said, I couldn’t agree more.
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Wow….nice efforts are being put here..The snow leopard wins along with the locals who made this possible
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Yes, this story really is encouraging. So often local people and big cats are portrayed as being in conflict, and here a solution was found that benefits both the cats and the people who live with them. And the local people were important advocates for the new protected area! To me this shows how much we stand to gain when we take the time to get to know local people and build relationships with them.
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Yeah…really this type efforts efforts should be put to have coordination between people,nature and animals….
Keep writing …
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Wow! This is an amazing news, Josh :)
I am very happy to hear that. Snow leopards deserve to be protected.
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Indeed, and the people who live with them deserve to be protected from development and mining projects that threaten their way of life. I’m glad that both they and the snow leopards now have a brighter future :)
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I am glad, too :)
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I’m always happy when I get to read good news here! It’s great that some people keep making the effort to protect big cats :) and I also love to see how much you care about them, your vision and passion is really needed!
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Aw shucks, thank you Monika! I appreciate your support :)
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Great news!
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Indeed it is! I think these community-driven initiatives are the way forward for protected areas. They’ll help us to safeguard crucial habitats from large-scale development while minimizing the burdens that local (and often marginalized) people have to bear.
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Wonderful news for the Snow Leopard! Great article! I gave it a share on Twitter. We need more people that really care about issues like this in our world! Keep up the good work, Josh!
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Thank you for sharing this, Sarah! I think that more people would care about wildlife conservation if it got more coverage in the popular press. That’s why it’s good to share these stories with our friends.
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My pleasure, Josh! I totally agree with the message you’re sharing. I think our message to the world is a basically the same. We need to care more about the world around us! <3
I also think bloggers should share "good" articles written by others as a show of support. I'm always happy to do that.
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Protected the Snow leopards attest to things seem to be evolving in full circle, we’re more consciously and intellectually aware how the ecosystem (nature), animal life, and mankind are interrelated. So, we are finding innovative ways to preserve all and assure we co-exist as harmonious as possible. Plenty work to be done, but raising awareness and moving in the right direction are all a part of the progressive process. Thanks for continuing to keep us informed and aware.
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Love this! It’s always great to see people recognize that we need to do more to protect the wild animals that we all love.
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Thanks Hev! I couldn’t agree more :)
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