Rinchen Wangchuk

Mr. Rinchen Wangchuk is the Program Director of SLC- India. Based in Leh, Ladakh, Rinchen works closely with livestock herding communities to predator-proof nighttime corrals. He trains local people, especially women and young men, in ways of enhancing their income generation skills in activities closely linked with the conservation of snow leopards, and assists local non-government organizations build capacity for protecting India’s rich mountain biodiversity. Rinchen is responsible for rural tourism initiatives under an acclaimed UNESCO-sponsored project that enabled SLC and its partners to launch the award-winning Himalayan Homestay program. Rinchen’s commitment to working for the welfare of wildlife and rural people has grown out of his own Ladakhi village upbringing and his experiences as a skilled mountaineer and more recently, a nature tour guide. With fellow Indian climbers, he summited the 24,660-foot Saser Kangri II in Ladakh’s Nubra region. He received special training in community-based tourism from The Mountain Institute (Nepal) and RECROFT (Thailand). Rinchen also assisted researchers to develop the Earth watch program, “Land of the Snow Leopard.” He has served as a naturalist and assistant on several documentaries filmed in Hemis National Park, including the widely acclaimed “Silent Roar: Searching for the Snow Leopard.”

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