GDC Drass marks International Snow Leopard Day and unveils a Human-Wildlife Interaction Atlas
27 October 2026
The Department of Zoology at Government Degree College Drass in Ladakh marked International Snow Leopard Day 2026 and unveiled a Human-Wildlife Interaction Atlas of Drass District. The atlas is a student-led citizen science project that documents reported human-bear interactions across 17 villages of Drass, and it involved 32 student researchers and three faculty members. Dr Javed M. Iqbal, the Principal Investigator, presented it. The keynote was given by video by Dr Koustubh Sharma, Director of Global Partnerships at the International Snow Leopard Trust and International Coordinator of the Global Snow Leopard and Ecosystem Protection Programme. He said he would highlight the college's initiative at the Convention on Biological Diversity Conference of the Parties. A student talk titled 'The Ghost of the Mountains: Understanding and Conserving the Snow Leopard' and an augmented reality activity under the global #23for23 campaign were also held.
In plain words
GSLEP Global Snow Leopard and Ecosystem Protection Programme — The joint programme of snow leopard range countries for conserving the species and its habitat.
CBD Convention on Biological Diversity — The international treaty on conserving biological diversity, whose members meet at a Conference of the Parties.
Citizen science Citizen science — Research in which ordinary people, such as students, collect the data.