The Snow Leopard Trust works with mountain communities to create and implement  livestock insurance programs.  These village-managed programs help compensate families living in snow leopard areas for losses of livestock to predators.  As part of the program, the herders help  protect the snow leopard.  

The Snow Leopard Trust, the Nature Conservation Foundation, and other local partners helped herders in the Spiti valley of the Indian Himalaya set up and finance a village-run insurance program for valuable livestock including yaks, horses, cattle, yak-cattle hybrids, and donkeys.  As part of the program, the herders agree not to kill snow leopards or their prey species, and to leave some room for the snow leopard's prey species to graze.

Quick Links:

• How the livestock insurance program saves snow leopards

• How the livestock insurance program helps families

• How the livestock insurance program helps communities
• Livestock insurance in India

How the livestock insurance program saves snow leopards

The livestock insurance program saves snow leopards by reducing human-snow leopard conflicts.  When herders are compensated financially for occasional losses to predators they are less likely to kill snow leopards in retaliation.  

The program is also designed to reduce conflicts by making snow leopard predation on domestic livestock less likely in the first place.  This is done in two ways:

1. The program provides sustainable incentives for good herding practices that keep domestic livestock away from snow leopards.  Bonuses are paid out of the insurance fund to herders who have no livestock lost during a coverage year, or to the herder who has the least losses.
2. In one of the participating villages, herders agree not to graze their livestock on a portion of the village's land, leaving more forage for the snow leopard's wild prey.  (The village receives a fee that is based on the fair market rent for grazing land in the area.)  When wild prey is abundant and healthy, snow leopards are less likely to turn to domestic livestock for food.  

Indeed, the population of bharal, or blue sheep, in the area has increased three-fold since this grazing reserve was started.  Bharal have also been observed grazing in the area in the summer and autumn, their normal pattern, rather than only in the summer, as they were before the grazing reserve was established.  

How the livestock insurance program helps families

The livestock insurance program helps families by compensating them financially for livestock lost to snow leopards, leading to higher, more stable household incomes.  Families no longer have to fear financial ruin as a result of snow leopard predation and have more money to meet their basic needs.

In the region of India where the livestock insurance program is taking place, a herder's annual income averages $400-600 (US).  In this area, a yak is worth an average of $213 (US), and a horse $170 (US).  In other words, loss of an animal to a snow leopard or other predator represents a real financial hardship for herding families.

How the livestock insurance program helps communities

The livestock insurance program helps communities because it is entirely village run, an arrangement that strengthens the structure of the community.

In most of India's Trans-Himalayan region, villages are traditionally led by a village council, which is made up of community members appointed on a rotating basis. and.  The village council, which functions democratically to settle disputes and make other collective decisions, has played an important role in the livestock insurance program from the beginning.  

When the livestock insurance program was being developed, the council led discussions about how insurance claims would be evaluated and paid, and helped set compensation levels for different kinds of livestock.  The council also collects the monthly insurance premiums from villagers, investigates claims when an animal is killed, and gives out payments from the insurance fund.

In addition, payments for the grazing reserve go to the village council, which uses them for development projects that benefit the entire community.

Finally, by coming together and sharing the financial risk from livestock predation, people contribute to the good of the village as a whole and feel a greater sense of community.

Livestock insurance in India

The livestock insurance program was started in 2002 in the village of Kibber, in the Spiti Valley of India's northern state of Himachal Pradesh.  (The grazing reserve had been initiated three years before, in 1999.)  About 41 of the 68 herding families participated in the livestock insurance program between 2003 and 2004.  In all, 184 head of livestock were covered by the insurance program.

In 2004, the program was expanded to include three smaller villages nearby--Gete, Tashigang, and Kee.  More than 60 percent of the families with insurable livestock in those villages have already enrolled.  Implementation of a livestock insurance program is also underway in the village of Chichim.

Eventually, it's hoped that all the families in these five villages will be part of the program.  The Trust and its local partner organizations also hope to expand the program to other parts of northern India.  Discussions with community leaders have already begun in the Gya-Miru region, in the Indian state of Ladakh.

The Trust has gradually been decreasing its financial support of the livestock insurance program, as the insurance fund has built surplus funds year by year.  By 2010, it's hoped that the program will become self-sustaining.

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