In December 2012 two Wildlife Institute members, Wang Jun and Peter Damerell undertook three short visits to key sites for snow leopard conservation within China. A key aim of the trip was to train local Forestry Bureau and National Reserve staff on the techniques for monitoring snow leopard within their jurisdiction. This work falls under the UK Darwin Initiative funded project “Building capacity for wild felid conservation in China” and helps to build working relationships with staff across China that are vital to our research activities. A second goal of the trip was to utilise local expert knowledge to identify the location and extent of both anthropocentric and biological factors of importance to snow leopard conservation. This was done through participatory mapping exercises where we learned important information about snow leopards and their prey, grazing activities and development projects such as mining.Our visit to Zhangye in Gansu province allowed us to build on our strong relationships with staff working to conserve biodiversity in Qillianshan National Reserve as well as making new working relationships with staff from Subei and Min le counties. Further north In Gansu province we made a first visit to Akesai province where local staff made a large effort to introduce us to the work they are doing in the region and to the exciting opportunities present in this Kazakh enclave of Gansu province. Finally a trip to Sichuan province and Gonggashan National Reserve allowed us to experience a very different style of high altitude habitat, assist the preparation of a community supported camera trap survey and to enjoy Tibetan hospitality.
The trip was conducted at a very high tempo but despite the heavy workload we thoroughly enjoyed the opportunities for interesting excursions and enlightening conversations provided by the staff we worked with.
We are all confident that this trip will act as the foundations for some very interesting and productive research and conservation work in the future.
The trip was conducted at a very high tempo but despite the heavy workload we thoroughly enjoyed the opportunities for interesting excursions and enlightening conversations provided by the staff we worked with.
We are all confident that this trip will act as the foundations for some very interesting and productive research and conservation work in the future.