Whitley Gold Award

Whitley Gold Award

Subject: Environment

Section: Conservation

Context- Snow leopard conservationist Charudutt Mishra wins Whitley Gold Award for efforts to involve local communities.

Concept-

• Charudutt Mishra, a snow leopard conservationist, was awarded the Whitely Gold Award on April 27, 2022, at the Royal Geographical Society in London, for his efforts to involve local communities in conserving the enigmatic big cat of Inner Asia.
• This is Mishra’s second WFN Prize. He had won the award previously in 2005.
• Six other conservationists were awarded prizes during The 2022 Whitley Awards Ceremony. They are:

1. Emmanuel Amoah from Ghana, for work on the West African slender-snouted crocodile
2. Micaela Camino, Argentina, for empowering communities to defend their human rights and conserve Argentina’s Dry Chaco
3. Pablo Hoffmann, Brazil, for nurturing wild plant diversity in the Araucaria Forest region
4. Sonam Lama, Nepal, for work done on red pandas
5. Estrela Matilde, São Tomé and Príncipe, for efforts to save sea turtles
6. Dedy Yansyah, Indonesia, for work on the Sumatran rhino

About Whitley Award:

• Whitley Awards are presented annually by the Whitley Fund for Nature.
• It is presented to recognise grass root level conservation leaders.
• The Whitley Fund for Nature was established by Edward Whitley in 1994. It has so far given 16 million pounds to support the work of two hundred environmental heroes.

About Snow Leopard:

• Scientific Name: Panthera uncia
• Snow leopards act as an indicator of the health of the mountain ecosystem in which they live, due to their position as the top predator in the food web.
• Habitat: Mountainous regions of central and southern Asia.
• In India, Western Himalayas: Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Eastern Himalayas: Uttarakhand and Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh.
• Snow Leopard capital of the world: Hemis, Ladakh.
  • Hemis National Park is known for a good presence of Snow Leopard.
• Protection Status:
  • IUCN-Red List : Vulnerable
  • CITES :Appendix I
  • Indian Wildlife (Protection) Act 1972 : Schedule I
• It is also protected by several national laws in its range countries.
  • The 12 snow leopard range countries include, India, Nepal, Bhutan, China, Mongolia, Russia, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan.