India
Last year the UK Trust invested funds in a Livestock Insurance Programme in India. The programme enables herders to take out insurance on their yaks, horses, cattle and other valuable livestock. The insurance programme is administered by a rotating, locally-elected committee that collects premiums and investigates and pays claims. Families are financially compensated for insured animals lost to snow leopard attacks, and an annual monetary reward is given to the herder who loses the fewest animals to predation. The award encourages careful herding by making it a matter of pride — herders take turns watching their entire village’s livestock herds and no one wants to be responsible for losing someone else’s animal. As part of the programme, herders sign a conservation contract with the Trust agreeing not to kill snow leopards or their prey species. The insurance programme is entirely village run, an arrangement that strengthens the structure of the community. This model has not resulted in increased livestock herd size, which would be counter-productive. It has, however, significantly improved peoples’ tolerance towards wild carnivores.
The Livestock Insurance Programme was introduced by the international Trust in 2002 in Kibber, and was soon replicated in four other villages within Spiti Valley. At the programme’s inception, each village is financially supported; however, as the programme grows so too does the insurance fund and, usually within 3-5 years, the programme becomes financially self-sufficient within the community. Once self-sufficient, the international Trust expands to new villages. The international Trust monitors the conservation contracts of all villages participating in the programme, even once they become self-sufficient. The Livestock Insurance Programme is active in nine villages: five in Spiti and four in Ladakh. Last year, four out of five of the villages in Spiti became self-sufficient, and the fifth will soon follow suit.
Thanks to the support of the UK Trust, more than 100 families in Spiti are participating in the Livestock Insurance Programme, along with four new villages in Ladakh.
