Snow leopards, the iconic, well equipped cats that roam the steep mountains of Central Asia, are facing extinction. According to recent estimates per range country, approximately 7,500 individuals may remain in the wild. Making reliable estimates on their population size is quite difficult due to their secretive nature, sparse distribution and the tough remote terrain. As challenging as it is, there is a strong commitment from conservationists to save the solitary ‘ghost of the mountains’. In Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan and Tajikistan, these efforts are now supported by IUCN Save Our Species.
Nearly one quarter of the world’s primates are found only in Madagascar. These primates, lemurs, are seed distributers, helping to engineer the many different ecosystems of Madagascar. While incredibly diverse (ranging from the size of a mouse to a small child), they are also extremely vulnerable. The world’s lemur populations are declining. Nearly one-third of lemurs are Critically Endangered and 98% are Threatened with extinction. Many of these lemurs are hunted.
Across both IUCN Save Our Species and the Integrated Tiger Habitat Conservation Programme (ITHCP), our grantees have achieved some magnificent results. We are incredibly proud to support conservation actions that are making a difference across the globe.
More than 90% of the 113 known lemur species are facing extinction. Almost all lemur species only exist in the wild in Madagascar (only two species also occur in the Comoros). The island is, in fact, a biodiversity hotspot: over 90% of its wildlife exists nowhere else.
Indigenous peoples manage or have rights to more than a quarter of the world’s surface, and their territories host a significant proportion of Earth’s remaining biological diversity. As such, they play a critical role in the conservation of landscapes and wildlife.
