23 October 2014: The first-ever International Snow Leopard Day was celebrated 3 October 2014, with special awareness raising and educational events held in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan. To mark the Day, the Snow Leopard Network published the revised Snow Leopard Survival Strategy, which establishes a scientific baseline and identifies priorities and best practices in protecting the species.

In 2013, on the initiative of Kyrgyzstan, representatives of the twelve Central Asian snow leopard range States came together for the Snow Leopard Forum held in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan. The Forum endorsed the Global Snow Leopard and Ecosystem Protection Program (GSLEP) to conserve snow leopards and the high-mountain ecosystems on which they depend, and called upon range States to declare the year 2015 as the International Year of the Snow Leopard, and October 23 as an annually celebrated Snow Leopard Day.

The Global Snow Leopard Forum was coordinated by the Global Tiger Initiative of the World Bank along with partners. [CMS News] [The Global Environment Facility (GEF) News] [University of Central Asia News]