LEH: Chief Conservator of Forests, Ladakh Region and Project Director of Ladakh Renewable Energy Development Agency, Leh, Jigmet Takpa received the prestigious Sanctuary Asia Wildlife Service Award, 2016 at a function held at Tata Theatre, National Centre for the Performing Arts, Mumbai on 2nd December.
The award was presented by Principal Secretary to the Chief Minister of Maharashtra, Praveen Pardeshi to Jigmet Takpa in the presence of Chief Minister Maharashtra, Devendra Fadnavis.
Jigmet Takpa belongs to the 1990 batch of the Indian Forest Service (IFS) and has served in different parts of Jammu and Kashmir. It is said that Takpa has pioneered a holistic approach to snow leopard conservation in Ladakh, through the involvement of local communities, harnessing the tourist sector and the use of renewable energy. “The results of his work are evident in reduced extraction of scarce resources, improved livelihood strategies for communities living in biodiversity-rich areas and conservation of globally threatened species such as snow leopard, Tibetan argali, Ladakh urial, Pallas’ Cat,” said an official release.
Ladakh is today regarded as the ‘snow leopard capital of the world’ due to the high population density of these elusive cats. “In the past, this would be directly linked with increased conflicts but the efforts taken under the leadership of Jigmet Takpa have changed the dynamics of the relationship between people and wildlife,” it claimed adding that Takpa has initiated a landscape-level conservation approach, rather than a protected area-centric model. In addition to this, he focussed on building socio-economic resilience amongst communities that live in these landscapes. By harnessing eco-tourism, it ensured that these communities had alternative sources of income and valued the snow leopard and other wildlife that shared the landscape with them.
Takpa also included renewable energy technology to reduce the resource dependence of these communities and the resulting degradation of the ecosystems. As a result of these efforts, communities have become wildlife guardians and the snow leopard population has grown dramatically. It is said this model is now being adopted in other snow leopard range countries, and also being adapted for the conservation of other species.
Takpa has also been instrumental in micro-level planning process and the drafting of the Ladakh Vision Document 2025 and the Ladakh Eco-tourism Policy of the Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council, Leh.
“Your work on innovative conflict-resolution programmes that reduce monetary losses and improve tolerance of the communities, and efforts to improve their livelihoods through alternatives such as ecotourism has borne great results,” award citation admires Takpa.
On this occasion Takpa said, “Sustainability is the most important issue in conservation. This includes sustainability of a project through involvement of all stakeholders and sustainability of the environment on which we all depend. This can only be done through strengthening conservation-related value systems of local communities with support for income generation. This award is recognition of the years of hard work that the Department of Wildlife Protection has invested in strengthening conservation processes across Ladakh.”