Karma's World

The Ladakh region was once characterized by a strong agro-pastoral economy. Even 60-70 years ago, almost all households of Ladakh owned farmlands as well as several livestock such as yak, goat, cow, dzo, dzomo, and horses. The local populace in those times were dependent on subsistence agriculture with a diverse variety of crops including barley, Sowa, wheat, and black pea to name a few.  Livestock rearing formed the backbone of the economy given the high demand for milk, wool, butter, and meat in the region. However, the system started changing post the Indo-China war. With the advent of defence forces post-1960s, the road network grew drastically. Once the war was over, Ladakh became better connected with the rest of India, as well as the global economy. Post 1974, better road access opened Ladakh for tourism and Leh slowly became a hotspot of tourism activity. Abundant crop fields and grazing pastures were increasingly usurped by buildings such as hotels, markets, and lodges...

Shangdong to Stupa: A prayer for the wolves in Ladakh : On World Wildlife Day today, read about a successful communities-based conservation initiative launched in Ladakh. Local communities that once trapped and killed wolves, are now pledging to...

   Karma Sonam The present picture of Ladakh is a very different one from what the scenario was during my childhood. People used to follow a sustainable way of life which had components of local culture and practices ingrained in it. We had a traditional mud house in the lower slopes of our village in Rumtse, near a small stream, which is a tributary of the Indus. Rumtse lies on the Leh-Manali highway, at a distance of 79 kilometres from Leh. People relied on livestock rearing and agriculture to make a living. Cash crop like green peas was yet to replace barley. Most of us had a minimalistic lifestyle like sleeping on the floor inside our mud houses with gunny sacks spread on the floor to protect ourselves from the cold floor. In the agro-pastoral society that prevailed, people had few livestock as well along with the agricultural land, but there were herders who relied only on livestock rearing for their livelihoods. The livestock was a means of livelihood and ...

Earth has many self-regulating living communities, interrelated and nestled in her lap, in the form of plants, animals, and humans. She is our source of life, nourishment, and learning and provides everything we need to live well.   15 million species of plants and animals have been discovered so far, including humans that inhabit Mother Earth and many more are still being discovered. Every living community play different roles, which allow them to live harmoniously without causing an imbalance within them. Just as human beings have human rights, all other beings also have rights, which are specific to their species; a fixed role and function within the communities in which they exist. Sadly, enormous changes are happening within human society, over the last several decades. Human society has begun to dominate for the sake of money and power, and its capitalist promotes all forms of depredation, exploitation, abuse, and contamination causing great destruction, degradation, ...

Photo- Karma Sonam A sudden encounter with a solitary snow leopard turns in to a conservation opportunity One morning in spring last year 2014 , our team set out to visit Kyungyam , (a tiny hamlet in Eastern Ladakh) with the purpose of interacting with the community about potential wildlife conservation initiatives. We had been working in the adjacent villages on a series of activities (e.g. education and awareness) and decided to expand our reach. We reached Kyungyam at about mid-day and realized that most of the villagers were busy in their fields, and were unable to gather for a discussion. Weary of travel, we decided to get some rest hoping to speak with them later in the day. The village representatives kindly offered to put us up at the rest house nearby where the old caretaker, Tashi Namgail, chatted with us for over an hour, narrating stories about the snow leopard. He mentioned that since about a week or so, the cat had been prowling in the village and ha...