Since 1986, the snow leopard, Panthera uncia, has been listed in the Conservation of Migratory Species (CMS) Appendix I, requiring strict protection of this species from range states.
As a species that requires very large home ranges, “designated protected areas . . . are often too small . . . to (provide for) the conservation of viable populations. Thus, concerted landscape-wide measures are necessary to ensure the survival of the species’ populations.” According to CMS, “up to one-third of the known snow leopard population might have a range located less than 50 – 100 km from the international borders of (its) 12 range countries. Therefore, strengthening of transboundary collaboration is particularly important for the conservation of the snow leopard.”