Natural Heritage of Ladakh

Tibetan Argali (owis ammon hagdsoni) at Tsaba Gya. Argali, Mongolian word, for this wild biggest sheep.

potential for human-wildlife conflict  

Black-necked crane (Gurus nigricollis)

 Pedicularis longiflora (Logri-mentok) 

(Himalayan Nature Club) through this, we educate
students about nature

I was a construction worker with the BRO. Then I met an inspirational figure in the form of Karma Namtak, from Achinathang the education coordinator at LEDeG during that time. His kind-hearted suggestion of working with LEDeG was the turning point for me. I was working as an agricultural assistant in the organization. After a stint of 7 years and many rewarding experiences, I met another great person, my good friend, Dr.Tsewang Namgail, a wildlife researcher pursuing his Ph.D. with Nature Conservation Foundation (NCF), at the time. Dr. Namgyal saw potential in me to help in wildlife conservation work in Ladakh, my home! I was offered the post of Field Coordinator by the co-founder and senior scientist of NCF, Dr. Charudutt Mishra. This opened a completely new chapter in my life as I had no exposure to this kind of work before. My only previous association with wildlife was watching Argali (Nyan) and bharal (Napo) around my village in Rumtse.

At NCF I was gently ushered into the concept of wildlife conservation and the underlying philosophy of this institution. Dr. Yashveer Bhatnagar and Dr. Mishra guided me through the process and I’m deeply indebted to them for that. I feel fortunate that someone like me, with little acquaintance with nature and wildlife, is able to associate with the likes of this organization.  I am happy that I’ve had the chance to contribute towards understanding and conserving Mother Nature in my own small way over the past 14 years with NCF. I got the opportunity to visit the Western Ghats, one of the biodiversity hotspots of India, is composed of many landscapes including high-altitude shola forests, evergreen forests, and moist deciduous forests comprising unique floral and faunal diversity. It seems like every landscape has its own set of conservation challenges and I learned a lot about this from various researchers and experienced scientists like Dr. Divya Muddapa and Dr. T.R. Shankar Raman working in the Western Ghats. And of course, I also got the opportunity to extensively explore the Himalayas, my home, through the NCF’s high altitude program.

The thought of those journeys still makes me feel like I have left a part of my soul in those fascinating destinations. The walks in solitude with nature were spiritually enhancing and those memories will always be imprinted deep in my heart.

The Himalayas are geologically a young mountain range that is still growing. The name of the range is derived from the Sanskrit word ‘Himā-laya’ meaning "Abode of Snow"(from ‘himá’ meaning "snow" and ‘ā-laya’ meaning "dwelling"). The mighty Himalayas support a rich cultural heritage and its age-old civilization and traditions are unique from the rest of the world. Broadly speaking, just as the Himalayas have different landscapes like pine-oak-deodar forests, birch-rhododendron forests, and lush alpine meadows, it also has people of different cultures and traditions ranging from nomadic herders of the Changthang and middle Himalayas, to the traders of Kashmir, Ladakh and Johar valley in Uttarakhand, to semi-nomadic agro-pastoralist communities like the Mon-pas of Arunachal Pradesh.

Ladakh, located in the trans-Himalayas, is home to numerous species of flora and fauna some of which are found exclusively in this part of the world. Major species of plants are Aconite, Columbine, Seabuckthorn, Common Juniper, Himalayan Mayapple and Ratanjot. Major species of mammals found here are Snow Leopard, Wolf, Eurasian Lynx, Pallas Cat, Red Fox, Tibetan Argali, Asiatic Ibex, Ladakh Urial, Blue Sheep, Chiru, Wild Yak, Tibetan Gazelle, Himalayan Marmot, Pika, Hare, Stoat and Weasels. Important avifauna includes Black-Necked Crane, Tibetan Sandgrouse, Tibetan Snowcock, Golden Eagle, Saker Falcon, Little Owl, Mallard, Merganser, Ruddy Shelduck, Bluethroat, and Black and White-Winged Redstart. There are also several reptilian species and invertebrates inhabiting the landscape.

Some of the ecosystems within the Himalayas are fragile and are prone to harm at the slightest disruption in their balance. Threats due to human actions are the primary cause of this imbalance. Global warming is already having a significant impact on the environment and its biotic components around the world and one can see its effects occurring in this landscape as well. I personally witnessed some of these changes myself. I have seen glaciers reduce over the years, which is having a significant impact on the livelihood of local people who are very much dependent on these sources for their water requirements, in this already dry landscape. The rise in temperature is also promoting the growth of different species of pathogens which never occurred here before and are spreading new diseases in livestock and wild ungulates. Climatic change has escalated in the past few years and its impacts are amplifying as time passes. Habitat degradation by increased human activities, increase in construction of roads, predation of wildlife by feral dogs, poaching and increase in human-animal conflict and increased tourism are major threats that the Ladakh ecosystem is facing.

It is a miracle how a dry landscape with sparse vegetation holds such unique biodiversity! There are so many species inhabiting this landscape in their own unique way, that even the slightest of changes could alter their lifestyle or lead to their detriment. In recent times these changes are so rapid that the natural ecosystem of Ladakh is not able to cope up, which leads to the extinction of several species. If something is not done to tackle these threats, more and more species will be driven to extinction.

Humans in general are an arrogant species. We consider ourselves different and more superior than other forms of life. However, we don’t realize that all the life forms are interconnected to each other in one way or another, like a web, and if any part of this web is disturbed, it will definitely affect the entire system. So even if the smallest of all species suddenly disappears from the web of life, it will affect all the species, big or small, inhabiting the ecosystem. One will be amazed to see how important marmots (Phia) and pikas are and how valuable they are to other species. Marmots and pika regulate vegetation growth and plant species diversity by consuming certain species while avoiding others. They often dig soil and help in improving soil nutrition, texture, and aeration. This helps pastures to be healthy. Wild ungulates and livestock of herders graze on such pastures and remain healthy. Similarly, an apex predator like the snow leopard also contributes to the smooth functioning of the ecosystem by consuming herbivores as prey. Without apex predators like snow leopards, wild ungulates may potentially increase in population to a level that might degrade pastures drastically. In turn, leading to a crash in their own population and negatively affecting forage availability to the livestock of herders.

  

Talking about conservation, this is where NCF comes in. Here we aim to use scientific methods to understand the wildlife-human interface for effective conservation action. We work with the local communities and try to understand their situation on the matter and figure out ways to satisfy both nature and human needs in a harmonious way. In order to minimize livestock depredation, we help herders build predator-proof corals that shield livestock from frequent attacks. In cases of livestock depredation in villages, we have involved the community in livestock insurance programmes in order to help them make up for losses incurred by depredation due to predators like snow leopards and wolves. This helps in reducing the retaliatory killing of carnivores.

It is important to educate the children and youth and to inculcate values promoting respect for nature and wildlife as it can go a long way in preserving our environment for the future. We formed nature clubs at various schools in Ladakh to raise awareness among children about the biodiversity in the landscape and its importance in the environment. We also conduct outdoor activities to get them to see the beauty of nature in Ladakh.

We try our level best to implement all our plans across this vast remote landscape, but with my experience, what I have learned so far is that no matter how hard you work, if you’re relations With the local communities are weak, all of your efforts will go waste. Again, as I mentioned earlier, we are all part of the same system, and working together is the only way to succeed in our goals. There is no one exact solution for such a complex scenario, each area has its own unique problems, and believe me no matter how hard we try the solution will never be perfect because there are things that each and every organism needs to do to survive and thus, need to compete for it. However, I believe that we can come to an agreement where we minimize the damage on both sides by understanding the problems and necessities of wildlife and humans equally. I was very lucky to work with local people in the remote corners of Ladakh to help and give aid to wildlife conservation and also received valuable suggestions in ideas from the communities to tackle certain problems. Some communities have allotted large chunks of livestock grazing-free pastures for wild ungulates to graze. Many have given up the practice of using Shangdong (deep pits which are traps for Wolves and Snow Leopards) as an act of making up for taking the lives of so many predators. Village communities have come together to stop retaliatory killings and tolerate some level of damage that wildlife causes to their crop fields. These were some of the many ways in which we have worked together to conserve wildlife with mutual trust, respect, and support. Together, we appreciated the long-term benefits of coexisting with wildlife, which is our ultimate motive. I wish to see more and more people, especially the younger generation, developing this kind of attitude towards nature. Each and every one of us should be a part of this movement and should embrace nature as our own heritage and live in harmony with each other.