Future4Leopards Foundation is grounded in science. With special consideration to the preservation of natural habitats, to climate change, and to the needs of a range of stakeholders, our scientists have developed innovative approaches both to achieving the Project’s aims and to effectively convey information to stakeholders and others working to conserve the leopard in other parts of the world.
We draw on science so that we can apply the latest conservation tools and methods, make links between leopards, local people and government agencies, and tackle emerging threats. Our conservationists track dynamic needs of wildlife protection and lead regional and national attempts to halt developments that threaten some of the promising leopard landscapes and the other species that depend on them. We also rely on science to ensure that our on-the-ground conservation programs are effective and producing measurable results.
Leopards are one of the most studied cats in the world – except in areas at high elevations in the Middle East. Persian leopards, which are listed as endangered by the International Union for Nature Conservation (IUCN), are reduced to a population of some 1,000 individuals surviving in Afghanistan, Turkmenistan, Iran, Iraq, and Caucasian countries. Iran, with more than two-thirds of the wild population, is the species’ main stronghold in the region. However, Persian leopards face various threats that will drive them to extinction if evidence-based conservation is not implemented in an effective way. This is the aim of the Future4Leopards initiative.