SECURE Himalaya Project
The SECURE Himalaya project was launched by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC) in collaboration with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). It aims to conserve biologically significant high-altitude landscapes across the Himalayan states of Jammu & Kashmir (now Ladakh and J&K UTs), Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Sikkim, and Arunachal Pradesh.
- The project specifically targets the ecologically fragile and sparsely forested high-altitude regions—typically above 3,000 meters in the Western Himalayas and 4,000 meters in the Eastern Himalayas—spanning an estimated 1,29,000 km² within India.
- Closely aligned with the objectives of Project Snow Leopard, SECURE Himalaya adopts a landscape-level conservation approach, covering all biologically important habitats within the snow leopard’s range, regardless of land ownership. This includes protected areas, community lands, and government-managed terrains.
- The overarching goals of the project are to conserve the snow leopard and its habitat, enhance the ecological resilience of the Himalayan ecosystem, and improve the livelihoods of mountain communities dependent on these landscapes.
Key Focus Areas
- Strengthening and expanding the protected area network to cover vital snow leopard habitats.
- Implementing landscape-level conservation strategies to promote ecosystem integrity beyond traditional protected boundaries.
- Preventing poaching and curbing illegal wildlife trade through enhanced enforcement and monitoring mechanisms.
- Mitigating human-wildlife conflicts, especially in regions where livestock grazing overlaps with predator habitats.
- Regulating and managing tourism in wildlife-sensitive zones to ensure ecological sustainability.
