Leopard Conservation Science Project

Little is known about the leopard’s conservation status. There has long been an assumption that leopards can cope in human-dominated landscapes and persevere despite pressures such as habitat fragmentation due to their great adaptability. However, conservation scientists agree that leopards may be more vulnerable to extinction than previously thought. On either side of the argument there is very little research that can direct successful conservation efforts for leopards.

AWF believes that the key to ensuring the future of the leopard lies in an integrated approach to conservation that looks not only at the species itself but at the needs of local people, land use and the ecosystem as a whole. This year AWF launches the Greater Kruger Leopard Conservation Science Project, in and around the Kruger National Park in South Africa.

The project will not only document leopard behavior and populations, but will do so in the context of environmental tourism and the economic opportunities it can bring to local communities living in leopard habitat. Equally important, this project will provide further opportunities for African researchers to get involved in conservation – an initiative that AWF believes is critical to the long-term success of wildlife conservation in Africa.

Private game reserves near the Kruger National Park will be the base for AWF’s project operations. The Huntington community, which is adjacent to the reserves, will be a research focal point because of the numerous incidents of leopard-human conflict recorded there and the potential to bring profitable tourism to the area, benefiting both leopards and humans alike.

The Greater Kruger Leopard Research Project is designed to achieve the following objectives:

• Establish the population of leopards, their habitat use and ranging patterns, and prey-species abundance in and across the Sabi Sands-Huntington-Kruger area.
• Determine the key threats to leopards in the region.
• Initiate leopard-human conflict mitigation measures in the Huntington community.
• Increase local capacity to manage conservation issues proactively.

AWF’s Leopard Project will play a key advisory role in formulating management plans and techniques to promote leopard-human coexistence in South Africa. Another significant outcome will be the training and capacity-building of young South African conservationists who will be involved with this project – learning under the tutelage of the AWF research team.

Habitat protection, research and empowerment of local communities are the key to the future of the leopard – but these efforts depend on the help of the whole world to make them successful.