ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Climate change Mushahid Ullah Khan has said that receding glaciers in Pakistan’s north pose a severe threat to the snow leopards.
Citing other another major reason for their declining population is that they are actively hunted for their body parts, which some cultures believe have great medicinal value. As demand has grown so has the sophistication of poaching rings, the minister says.
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He was talking to media at the Shaheed Benazir Bhutto International Airport Islamabad on Monday before leaving for Bishkek, capital of the Kyrgyzstan, where he will attend first two-day meeting of the Global Snow Leopard & Ecosystem Protection (GSLEP) programme’s steering committee.
The minister said, “Glacial area in Pakistan’s north is spread over 16933 square kilometre, which provides remarkable habitat for the endangered snow leopard but these habitats are vanishing due to rapidly melting glaciers as average temperatures in the northern pars soar.”
The meeting will begin on March 19 in Bishkek and will be attended by ministers of 12 countries including Pakistan, India, Afghanistan, Bhutan and Russia. The GSLEP steering committee is a high-level body tasked with guiding the Global Snow Leopard & Ecosystem Protection Plan’s implementation.
This meeting will present an excellent opportunity to review and sharply align the various elements of management and implementation of the program, and to infuse a measure of urgency in the programme’s implementation at the frontline.
