In the Annapurna Conservation Area in north-central Nepal, conservation and social development are inextricably linked as the success of saving wildlife and improving local livelihoods rely upon each other. For centuries, local communities have coexisted with dangerous wildlife including the snow leopard, even when the high-alpine predator would often kill livestock especially yak. When the conservation area was proclaimed, strategies to protect the rare and endangered snow leopard focused on strengthening law enforcement and threats of fines without much consideration of the livestock losses due to snow leopard.
While laws are important to protect endangered wildlife like snow leopards, conservation must also seek strategies that go beyond the conventional policing approach. Especially where the majority of tangible impacts are negative (such as livestock loss), solutions that bring positive benefits to local people and communities are essential to improve the value local people attach to saving snow leopards. Typically, this all-too-common issue is addressed through ‘outreach and awareness’ campaigns that theorize that if the people just knew more about snow leopards and their threats than they would help protect them. While certainly sharing information about snow leopard biology and what they need to survive are important, we believe that harnessing the snow leopard’s currency to create opportunities that provide tangible benefits especially to youth by supporting activities they value will demonstrate that securing a future for snow leopards is also helping enrich lives and livelihoods. We reinforce this by engaging with celebrities in Nepal to help bring this message of hope and coexistence to the communities that bear the bulk of the burden. In essence, we believe that by harnessing three key emotions (pride, gratitude, and compassion) for snow leopard through football we will make significant contributions towards improving the situation for both youth and their snow leopards. In our conservation context, we believe harnessing these emotions will help offset some of the negative feelings and impacts of living with snow leopards and improve the value they attach to saving them. Given the popularity and importance of football in Nepal, it is hard to imagine a more fitting mechanism to connect youth in rural communities with protecting their snow leopards by creating new opportunities to play football that is sponsored by and catalyzed from successful and lasting snow leopard conservation (see our simplified Theory of Change below).
The first friendship match for conservation certainly delivered on this objective. Three separate matches in three different villages ensured that the positive conservation messages carried by the celebrity Himalayan snow leopard team be it from the 16 highly-visible banners and posters at each match, to the awards and recognition given to the local leaders and team members after the matches, to simply the vibrant uniforms adorned by some of Nepal’s most popular celebrities who posed for endless photos with local people, were diffused broadly. It also meant that more local people could become directly engaged in the events whether joining in each welcome ceremony, watching and cheering for the home teams at a match, or attending an evening event with traditional dances, speeches and, in one case, displaying dozens of heartfelt drawings and messages of hope to snow leopards from the local school children. Given the sheer number of individuals involved, it was hard to imagine anyone not somehow being exposed and inspired by the energy and enthusiasm – brough to Manang from their Snow Leopards.
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