Hana Raza – Rediscovering the persian leopard in the Kurdish mountains

Hana Raza is well-known for her ground-breaking work for the conservation of the Persian Leopard, a leopard subspecies which lives in Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, the Caucasus and Central Asia.

Hana is a graduate in Ecology and Wildlife Conservation and works for the NGO Nature Iraq. In 2011, Hana and her team rediscovered the once thought to be extinct Persian leopard on the mountains of the Kurdistan region of northern Iraq. Since then, she dedicated her career to establish a program for conserving this globally endangered species.

With Hana, we talk about:

- Her incredible story of rediscovering the Persian leopard in her native land

- Why the Persian Leopard is so unique

- The threats and challenges that Persian Leopards face in their habitat

- How Hana and her team intervene to protect the species

- How the war site that Iraq once was, has been converted into an attractive ecotourism site

Hosting this podcast episode is Rosamira Guillen, co-founder and Executive Director of Fundación Proyecto Tití, a Colombian NGO protecting the cotton-top tamarin, a tiny monkey that exists only in one small forested area in northern Colombia.

For more information, see:

- About the Land Acquisition Fund

- How to support the Land Acquisition Fund

- Twitter page

Produced by Lucia Guaita.