At the Lal-Ded auditorium in Bhaderwah, a four-day national workshop on “Techniques for Wildlife Monitoring in Snow Leopard Landscapes” that is being held by the Institute of Mountain Environment (IME) Bhaderwah Campus and the Department of Wildlife Protection got underway today.
The workshop will discuss how to save and preserve the potential habitats of snow leopards in Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh. Participants include wildlife enthusiasts, conservationists, researchers, and managers from different parts of the country, along with officials of the wild life department, scholars, and students.
While ADC Bhaderwah Dilmir Chowdhary served as the main guest and Warden Chinab area Majid Bashir served as the guest of honour, the opening ceremony was presided over by the regional wild life warden for Jammu, Dr. M. K. Kumar.
According to Dr. Neeraj Sharma, head of the department at the Institute of Mountain Environment, the main goal of the four-day workshop is to give participants practical experience and instruction in the use of contemporary scientific methods, techniques, and tools needed for the assessment of biodiversity and the monitoring of birds and butterflies in the snow leopard habitats.
“The workshop is positioned to be a focal point for the improvement of wildlife conservation in the region’s snow leopard habitats. In particular, it focuses on the elusive and fragile snow leopard and its prey base, and it marks a significant turning point in the continuing effort to strengthen conservation measures and wildlife monitoring systems, according to Dr. M. K. Kumar (IFS), Regional Warden Jammu.
As the protection of many species depends on the preservation of one, he asked the researchers and students to serve as conservation’s brand ambassadors.
The Institute of Mountain Environment’s attempts to draw attention to the conservation concerns in the area were praised by Dil Mir Choudhary, Additional Deputy Commissioner, Bhaderwah. He expressed his confidence that this workshop will serve as the perfect arena for discussion and the search for solutions in light of the rising incidence of human-wildlife conflicts in the region.
