A community-based approach to mitigating livestock depredation by snow leopards

Jackson and Wangchuk described a community-driven model for reducing snow leopard depredation and building tolerance, drawing on work in Ladakh and Nepal. They detailed participatory methods in which herding communities identify problems, predator-proof corrals, establish livestock-insurance funds, and develop income from wildlife tourism, with conservation agreements embedded in the process. The authors argued that locally owned, appreciative-inquiry approaches generate durable commitment far better than externally imposed schemes. The paper is a frequently cited template for community-based carnivore conservation, articulating how to combine technical fixes with social institutions and economic incentives to shift herders from antagonism toward stewardship of an elusive high-mountain predator.