ISLAMABAD: Rapid infrastructure development, primarily roads, potentially degraded the snow leopard habitat, disrupting the big cats’ movement and increasing human-wildlife conflict in Gilgit-Baltistan (GB).

This was revealed in a WWF-Pakistan’s baseline research study undertaken through a project, ‘Building ecological and sustainable transport/linear infrastructure for now leopards in the Hindu Kush Karakoram Himalaya landscape in Pakistan (BEAST)’.

The project was supported by With Snow Leopards Small Grant (SLSG) initiated by Tencent Foundation and Shan Shui Conservation Centre with support from Huatai Foundation, Amity Foundation and Pecking University Centre for Nature and Society.

The study said prey species of the snow leopard such as the Himalayan ibex and domestic livestock were also killed due to heavy traffic on highways. It recommended striking a balance between boosting infrastructure development and conservation of threatened wildlife such as snow leopards in the region.

The report stated that the GB region was home to diverse wildlife, including vulnerable snow leopards, pointing out that the linear infrastructure development that cut through the landscape such as roads had fragmented the snow leopard habitat and their prey species.

The study gathered evidence on infrastructure-related threats to snow leopards and their habitat in GB. It collected data on wildlife-vehicle collisions, investigated the impact of increasing infrastructure on human-wildlife interaction and analysed land use changes in known snow leopard hotspots over the past 20 years.

It covered two major roads – Karakoram Highway (KKH) and Gilgit-Shandur Road – which bisect snow leopard habitat. In the backdrop of the surging infrastructure growth in the region, WWF-Pakistan launched the sustainable infrastructure initiative in 2019 aimed at building the capacities of relevant stakeholders, raising awareness and advocating for sustainable and green infrastructure planning and development in the Hindukush-Karakoram-Himalaya (HKH) region.

Commenting on the study, WWF-Pakistan Director General Hammad Naqi Khan said infrastructure development projects helped boost trade and tourism but they should not overlook the environmental and species conservation aspects.

He noted that the detrimental impacts of the development projects could be avoided through meticulous planning, sustainable infrastructure, and an integrated approach that promotes biodiversity conservation and protection of the natural ecosystem.

The report indicated that large-scale transport infrastructure development and burgeoning hospitality projects had posed a threat to the local biodiversity and pristine landscape in GB.

It proposed that following the current laws regulating wildlife, linear development, and human encroachment should be prohibited in the protected areas. It also recommended that the construction of wildlife corridors and crossings in potential wildlife habitats could help minimise the access of wildlife to high-traffic roads and could reduce wildlife-vehicle collisions.

It suggested that the deployment of devoted law enforcement and traffic personnel along wildlife hotspots could help thwart the hunting and poaching of snow leopards and their prey species. Besides, infrastructure-related development projects should take proactive mitigation steps to safeguard the native ecology and wild species.

Various studies indicated that the snow leopard was an elusive animal, and it was difficult to record its exact population in the distribution range across Central and South Asia. However, in 2020, WWF research indicated that fewer than 7,000 snow leopards remained globally of which approximately 200 to 420 inhabited the northern mountain ranges of Pakistan, including GB, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and Azad Jammu Kashmir (AJK).

Published in Dawn, April 6th, 2024