Changing rangeland use by the nomads of Samad in the highlands of eastern Ladakh,
India.
Master of management of natural resources and sustainable agriculture.
Noragric, Agricultural University of Norway
By Wenche Hagalia
Supervisors: Dr. Joseph L. Fox, University of Tromsø. (UiTø) and Dr. Yash Veer Bhatnagar, Nature Conservation Fund, and formerly of the Wildlife Institute of India. (WII)
The Centre for International Environment and Development Studies, Noragric, is the international gateway for the Agricultural University of Norway’s (NLH) twelve departments, associated research institutions and the Norwegian College of Veterinary Medicine in Oslo.
Established in 1986, Noragric’s contribution to international development lies in the interface between research, education (MSc and PhD programmes) and assignments.
The Noragric M.Sc. theses are the final theses submitted by students in order to fulfil the requirements under the Noragric M.Sc. programme “Management of Natural Resources and Sustainable Agriculture” (MNRSA) and other M.Sc. programmes.
The findings in this thesis do not necessarily reflect the views of Noragric. Extracts from this publication may only be reproduced after prior consultation with the author and on condition that the source is indicated. For rights of reproduction or translation contact Noragric.
© Wenche Hagalia, November 2004 [email protected]
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Photo credits: Poul Wisborg, Ian Bryceson, Jens B. Aune
Cover design: Spekter Reklamebyrå as, Ås
Declaration
I, Wenche Hagalia, declare hereby to the Senate of the Agricultural University of Norway that the present thesis is my original work based on my own research. The present work has not been submitted to any university other than NLH for any type of academic degree.
Ås, November 2004 Wenche Hagalia
Declaration
I, Wenche Hagalia, declare hereby to the Senate of the Agricultural University of Norway that the present thesis is my original work based on my own research. The present work has not been submitted to any university other than NLH for any type of academic degree.
Ås, November 2004 Wenche Hagalia
Acknowledgments
My greatest dream has been fulfilled and I have been given the possibility of living together with nomads in one of the most remote areas of the world, together with thousands of livestock,rare wildlife and high mountains The mountains of the Trans- Himalayas with the old monasteries, monks and smiling herders dressed in colourful local clothes will be remembered for the rest of my life. I will be ever grateful to Dr. Joseph L. Fox that has given me the opportunity to learn about the remote area of the Changthang, its people and culture.
The help Dr. Fox has given me is invaluable and cannot be described with words and I hereby thank him for his help and for his patience with me throughout the two years of study.
After a few years of working, I followed an advice from Dr. Fox at the Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, at the University in Tromsø (UiTø), from where I had my bachelor degree in ecology, to fulfil my interest in working with the people and wildlife in the Himalayas by taking a master degree in “Management of Natural Resources and Sustainable Agriculture” (MNRSA) at NORAGIC at the Agricultural University of Norway (NLH). At The MNRSA programme, I could combine my interests of working with inter-disciplinary research and working in the mountain areas of Asia. The MNRSA programme included two months of education at the Tribbuhvan University in Pokhara, Nepal and two months of fieldwork of own interest. I again requested Dr. Fox for help regarding fieldwork and luckily he had an ongoing project in collaboration with the Wildlife Institute of India (WII), in Changthang, in the eastern part of Ladakh, northernmost India. Dr. Fox was extremely helpful and included me in the project and arranged a residence at the WII in Dehra Dun where I met the participants of the project and received supervision from Dr. Yash Veer Bhatnagar. I am deeply grateful to Dr. Fox for giving me the possibility to work in the Changthang, which will be one of the best memories of my life.
I will also thank Dr Yash Veer Bhatnagar at the WII for helping me with the preliminary work at the WII before going to the Changthang. I will thank Tsewang Namgail at the WII, a native of Ladakh and an earlier student of Dr. Fox, and who became a good friend in Dehra Dun, listening to all my questions. He was also of invaluable help in Ladakh where he helped me getting in touch with local people, government officials and travel agents I will also thank
Dr. S. Sathyakumar, Dr. G.S. Rawat, Dr. A. Awasti and Dr. S. Uniyal for the help they have given me at the WII.
Dr. Mohammad Ali, from the Jammu and Kashmir Sheep Husbandry Department at Leh, Ladakh, deserves many thanks for the help he has given me during my stay in Ladakh and my meeting with the nomads of the Changthang. Dr. Ali presented me to the nomads of Samad, helped me with transport and answered lots of questios regarding development activities in the Changthang. Much of the success of my project is due to Dr. Ali and his knowledge and interest in the nomads of the Changthang.
I will thank Prof. Per Mathiesen at the Department of Social Anthropology, University of Tromsø, for his interest in my work and his visit to Ladakh. I will also thank Camille Richard for her help throughout my study and for commenting on my thesis. I am also thankful to Tor Arve Benjaminsen from NORAGRIC and Marius Warg Næss from the UiTø for reading through my thesis and giving comments. I will also thank my two translators, Sonam Phuntsok and Sonam Tsering, for accompanying me in the field and providing invaluable help for interacting with the nomads. They also helped me by answering questions after completion of the fieldwork and showing great interest in my work. I will thank Tsewang Phuntsok and Skarma for cooking and helping me in the field during a cold winter.
Not the least, I will thank my father for being patient and sponsoring parts of my study, for believing in me and listening to my never-ending stories about mountains and nomads. I will always remember the support he has given me during my education and the time in the field, while he was worried to death about the border dispute in Kashmir and me travelling alone at 4,600 metres altitude in minus 20 degrees. I will also thank my mother for always supporting me in my decisions and letting me go my own way, even if it has caused her a lot of worries.
Last I will thank the nomads of Samad, and especially the family of Skarma Samstan for including me in the household and treating me like a member of the family. I will be ever grateful to Skarmas family and I hope I will meet them again soon. The family taught me about life in the extreme environment of the Changthang, and about their culture and values.
Little Kusang Thinley, Skarmas son, threated me like his sister and followed me everywhere in the field. The little boy touched my heart and his smile and happiness will always be remembered.
“…..if I die before you come back, I will fly over you and see you from heaven and remember what you have done for us…” (Kalzang Juskit, Skarmas wife)
Table of Content
Page
Declaration……….. … i
Acknowledgements……….. ii
Table of Contents……… ……… iv
List of Figures……….. vii
Abstract………. ix
Part one: Background to the Study Chapter 1 Introduction 1.1 Context and Problem Setting……….. 1
1.2 Pastoralism and Modernisation……… 2
1.3 Objectives of the Study……… 3
Chapter 2 Historical background 2.1 The Ladakh kingdom……… 4 2.2. The Nomads of Changthang………..
2.3 Border Dispute between India and China ……….
2.4 Loss of Winter Rangeland and Influx of Tibetan Refugees to Changthang…………..
2.5. Changing Movement Pattern
2.6 Abandonment of Polyandry ………..
2.7 The Leh- Manali Highway and Tourism in Changthang
2.8 Commersialisation and Pashmina Development………
2.9 Changthang Proposed as a Protected Area ?………
2.10 Development Activities in the Changthang………
2.11 Summary
Chapter 3 The Study Area
3.1 The Study Area………
3.1.1 The Tso Kar Basin
3.1.2 The Skyangchuthang area
3.2 Climate………..
3.3 Flora and Fauna………..
Chapter 4 Methodology
4.1 Locality and Timeframe………..
4.2 Gathering of Information………
Part two: Results and Discussion
Chapter 5 The Nomads of Samad: Social Organisation and Pastoral Production system
5.1 Samad ………..
5.2 Human and livestock Population………..
5.3 Social organisation………..
5.3.1 Community Organisation………..
5.3.2 Household Organisation………
5.3.3 Seasonal Work……….
5.3.4 Daily Routines………
5.4 Pastoral production system………
5.4.1 Livestock and Livestock Products……….
5.4.2 Slaughtering……….
5.4.3 Household Economy………..
5.5 Summary………..
Chapter 6 Rationale for Mobility; Flexibility and Risk Avoidance
6.1 Introduction………..
6.2 Environmental Risk and Uncertainty……….
6.2.1 Resource Variability………..
6.2.2 Blizzards and Heavy Winter……….
6.2.3 Livestock Diseases………..
6.2.4 Predation……….
6.3 Risk Aversion Strategies………
6.3.1 Livestock Mobility………..
6.3.2 Opportunistic Stocking Strategy……….
6.3.3 Herd Diversification……….
6.4 Influences on Decision- Making………..
Chapter 7 Grazing Pattern in Samad
7.1 Introduction ………
7.2 The Grazing Unit of Samad ………
7.3 Movement pattern………
7.3.1 Winter movements in the Tso Kar Basin………
7.3.2 Summer Movements in Skyangchuthang Area………
7.3.3 Movements of the Yaks………
7.4 Summary………
Chapter 8 Changes in the Use of Resources in Samad
8.1 Introduction………
8.2 Historical events with impacts on the traditional pastoral resource use…….
8.2.1 Pressure on the Rangeland………
8.2.2 More Shift of Settlements……….
8.2.3 Construction of Highway………..
8.3 Present Development in Changthang………..
8.3.1 Health Facilities………..
8.3.2 Education………
8.3.3 Pashmina Development……….
8.3.4 Wildlife Conservation………
8.3.5 Tourism………
8.4 Migration to Centralized Areas………..
8.5 Local Changpas versus Tibetan Refugees………
The Tso Kar Basin as a Social Pressure Area………..
Summary………..
Chapter 9 Summary………
References………
Appendix 1
Population of people and animals in Samad ………
Appendix 2
Pastures and settlements in Samad ………..
List of Figures
List of Maps
Figure 1: Location of Changthang………
Figure 2.1: Location of Samad in Changthang………
Figure 2.2: Location of Samad, Korzok and Skagjung………..
Figure 7.1: Samad grazing unit………
Figure 7.2: Seasonal and spatial grazing pattern in Samad………….
Figure 7.3: Satellite photo of the Tso Kar Basin……….
Figure 3.1: Satellite photo of the western Changthang and Samad……….
List of Pictures
Figure 2.3: A soldier in Ladakh………
Figure 2.4: The market in Leh………
Figure 3.2: The Tso Kar Basin……..
Figure 5.1: Nomads of the Changthang…………..
Figure 5.2: A monk………..
Figure 5.3: Nomad woman milking a dimo………..
Figure 5.4: Nomad woman with Changra goats………
Figure 6.1: Nomad family………..
List of Tables
Table 4.1: Objectives and Methods………..
Table 5.1: Human and Livestock population in Samad………
Table 5.2: Livestock population in Samad……….
Table 5.3: Livestock population in Samad for the years 1987-88, 1988-89 and 2003……
Table 5.4: Seasonal work and activities in Samad……….
Table 6.1: Diseases that affect the livestock in Changthang……….
Table 6.2: Livestock mortality in Samad in 2002-2003………
Table 7.1: Campsites in Samad………
Table 7.2: Winter settlements for local Changpas and Tibetan refugees………
Table 7.3: Yak grazing areas in Samad………
Figure 8.1: Migration from Kharnak, Samad and Korzok ………
Abstract
Traditional pastoralism has been exposed to a number of externally driven factors that have had major impacts on the use of natural resources in the eastern part of Ladakh, northern India. This particular case study deals with the nomadic community of Samad, one of three communities of nomads in the region, and analyses the changes the community has experienced since the Sino-Indian conflict of 1962. I investigated the resident nomads’
resource use pattern both in a historical perspective and within the context of recent socio- economic changes. Government officials and non-government officials were interviewed regarding development activities in the study area. The aim of this investigation was to identify the present use of the rangeland by the nomads in light of the development activities and the socio-economic changes that have affected the traditional livestock-grazing pattern.
The number of livestock has apparently almost doubled since the 1970’s and the Jammu &
Kashmir Animal Husbandry Department, herders and conservationists have all raised concern over degradation of pastures. The increase in the livestock population, partly associated with an influx of Tibetan refugees, and the more recent rapid increase in tourism and development activities has resulted in pressure on the land and a difference in opinion among herders, wildlife managers and developmental agencies regarding land and livestock management in the area. The herders are producing some of the finest pashmina (cashmere) in the world and the government is interested in enhancing the pashmina production in the region and to increase the livelihood of the nomads. At the same time, the Jammu & Kashmir Wildlife Department have proposed the Samad rangeland as part of a wildlife sanctuary, due to the abundance of wildlife that is living there. The traditional pastoralism and the use of the natural resources are changing and due to the cold winters and hard life, more families are choosing to leave the traditional life as livestock herders in search of a better life in centralized areas.
Part one: Background to the Study
Chapter 1: Introduction
1.1 Context and problem setting
A pastoral nomadic lifestyle is an adaptation to a harsh environment, which is unsuitable for agriculture, due to a cold or dry climate. According to Miller (1998) nomadic pastoralism on the Tibetan Plateau is characterized by a harsh environment where the grazing lands are divided by rugged mountain ranges, deep river valleys, and large lake basins that give rise to a great diversity in topography, climate, vegetation, and pastoral production practices. Nomadic pastoralism on the Tibetan plateau differs from pastoralism in the semi-arid regions of Eurasia and Africa due to ecological factors (Miller, 1998). Water is normally the limiting factor in the nomadic areas of Africa and Eurasia, while high altitude is a characteristic for the nomadic communities of the Tibetan Plateau, not lack of water (Miller, 1998). Historically, nomadic pastoralists have moved their herds over large areas to manage uncertainty and risk (Scones, 1995), and for converting sparse vegetation into human food. Khazanov (1994:17) gives a definition of pastoral nomadism:
“….pastoral nomadism may be defined from the economic point of view as a distinct form of food-producing economy in which extensive mobile pastoralism is the predominant activity, and in which the majority of the population is drawn into periodic migrations.”
Traditional pastoralism has been the only way of surviving in the high elevation alpine steppe rangeland of eastern Ladakh, in northernmost India. Traditionally, pastoralists have used strategies like year-round migration for utilizing the changing seasonal and spatial availability of resources, among a set of complex herd management strategies for avoiding risk and uncertainties like heavy snowfall, predation and starvation. Traditional pastoralism faces a number of changes that are affecting their way of living, use of rangelands and livestock management due to exogenous factors such as market forces, political systems and international and national funding (Niamir-Fuller, 1999). The challenge should be to adapt to theses changes at the same time as sustaining both the livelihood and the natural resources (Niamir-Fuller, 1999). There have been lessons learned from development activities in pastoral communities in arid environments in inner Asia as well as from Africa and the
Middle East, where external factors may have had detrimental effects on the traditional pastoralism and the sustainability of the natural resources (Niamir-Fuller, 1999).
The Wildlife Institute of India (WII) and the University of Tromsø (UiTø) are currently conducting a collaborative project related to human- wildlife interaction in the Himalayan region, with the Tso Kar basin in the Changthang, easternmost Ladakh, as a primary study site. The project addresses rangeland ecology considerations and wildlife – livestock interactions within the basin, with the goal to generate a background for better understanding and formulation of long-term conservation planning in the region. This study complements the ecological work in providing a basis for viewing the pastoral use of the rangeland within the study area.
1.2 Pastoralism and Modernisation in the Changthang
The Changthang means the northern plains and it is a high altitude plateau, bounded by Tibet (China) in the east and the Zanskar, Ladakh and Karakorum mountain ranges in the west (Fig 1.2). The region is geographically situated in the eastern part of Ladakh, the easternmost part of the state of Jammu and Kashmir. The nomads that move with their livestock across this plateau are known as the Changpas, or “people from the north”. The Changthang is situated on the western extension of the Tibetan plateau and the people have cultural and linguistic similarities with Tibet (Goodall, 2004: 218), and Ladakh is the only region in India with a Buddhist majority.
Figure 1. The Changthang is located in the eastern part of Ladakh in Jammu and Kashmir State, northern India.
The nomads of the Indian Changthang plateau have been exposed to major changes during the last forty years due to political factors as well as increased development activities and interaction with the outside world. Major changes occurred in the wake of the Sino-Indian border dispute in 1961-1962, where India discovered that Chinese had annexed a large area in the border region in association with Chinese exertion of control in Tibet (Ahmed, 1996;
Chaudhuri, 2000). Thousands of Tibetan refugees entered India and settled in the border region, in towns and all over the Indian Changthang. The Changpas were essentially forced to leave behind large winter grazing areas near the border due to a high number of refugees and soldiers in the area. The migration pattern changed and the nomads had to search for new winter rangeland. At the same time, the Changpas had to increase their population with hundreds of Tibetan refugees with thousands of livestock. In addition to changes in migration pattern and increased population, the nomads were facing socio-economic changes, due to externally driven influences from development activities and improvement of infrastructure.
The border dispute brought about a high degree of military activity in Ladakh. Roads were built and thousands of soldiers entered the region. The army brought in highly subsidised food and supplies that the nomads could purchase inexpensively, which led to an end of the old trading routes and a change from subsistence economy into market economy (Ahmed, 1996).
The nomads of the Changthang produce the finest pashmina wool in the world, which is the thin and fine inner wool from the changra goat. Pashmina is also known as cashmere, and the fine quality is due to the harsh climate on the high mountain plateau where the goats are reared. The government has shown great interest in the pashmina production and they have recently started supporting the nomads of the whole Changthang area with various incentives to promote the pashmina production and to reduce the livestock mortality (ICIMOD 1999).
The Changpas are dependent upon the market for selling their pashmina wool, thus in the absence of a minimum support price, they are not always able to get a good price for their products.
At the same time as the government is enhancing the livestock productivity the Wildlife Department of Jammu and Kashmir has moved to declare a substantial part of the Changthang region a wildlife sanctuary. The Tso Kar Basin in the Changthang has been of great interest for the Wildlife Department and conservationists due to the wildlife in the area, but it is also used by the Changpas for winter grazing. The increase in livestock number in the area raises the question of impacts of grazing pressure on the rangelands and on the human-wildlife
interaction. The western Changthang opened up for foreigners in 1994 and thousands of tourists are entering the area during the summer season and groups of trekking tourists are camping in the nomadic land, with pack animals that graze the pastures (Tshangspa, 2000).
In spite of all the development activities and social transformations that may be taking place in the Changthang, there is recent evidence of nomads leaving their traditional lifestyle, to move to Leh and other settled villages (Chaudhuri, 2000; Goodall, 2000). These transformations may have far reaching consequences on the livelihoods of people as well as conservation and there is thus an urgent need to assess the impacts of such changes on the people’s economy in particular and the ecosystem in the area as a whole.
The traditional way of living and management of the livestock in the Changthang are changing due to externally driven factors, and there is an urgent need to understand the present use of the rangeland for a better understanding of the impacts of the changes that are taking place. Traditional nomadic pastoralism in the Changthang is based on mobility of the livestock due to the fact that the animals have to be fed throughout the year. Social organization, production system and herd management are all based on flexibility in relation to the variable environment, and there is an urgent need to understand the complexity of the pastoral use of the rangelands, and a need to understand the importance of mobility and risk management as a whole to understand the impacts of the changes that are occurring, for managing a sustainable livelihood of the nomads, for sustainable use of the natural resources and co-existence between human and wildlife (Fox et al., 1994; Miller, 1998; Schaller, 1998;
Niamir-Fuller, 1999).
1.3 Objectives of the study
The objective of this study is to identify the current use of the rangeland in Samad in light of the external changes that have taken place, and to understand the impacts the changes have had on the traditional use of the natural resources. The current use of the rangeland cannot be explained without knowledge about historical grazing and movement patterns of the Changpas, as well as detailed information on present spatial-temporal movement patterns.
The specific objectives were to:
1. Identify the current use of the rangeland of Samad 2. Gather information about the historical grazing pattern.
3. Identify the changes that have affected the nomadic use of the rangeland and the implications of these changes.
Chapter 2: An introduction to the field of study
2.1 The Ladakh Kingdom
Kashmir in the northernmost part of India has long been called the jewel of India and the abode of the Gods, with its surrounding Himalayan and Karakoram mountain ranges. About 900 years ago, Ladakh was an independent kingdom, with dynasties descending from the kings of old Tibet (Ahmed, 1996). Ladakh was known as the best trade route between Punjab and central Asia and for centuries caravans carried textiles and spices, raw silk and carpets, dyestuff and narcotics (Margolis, 2000). The famous pashm (cashmere), the oily under wool of goat, was produced by the pastoralists on the high altitude plateau of Changthang and western Tibet and it was made into world reknowned high quality shawls (Margolis, 2000).
This trade attracted the ruler of Jammu, Gulab Singh and the British East India Company sold Kashmir to him in 1846. At India’s independence from England in 1947, the people of Kashmir were left to decide whether to join India or Pakistan due to the high number of Muslims living in the region. The situation led to an unresolved and well-known border dispute between India and Pakistan (Margolis, 2000). Both India and Pakistan have large numbers of troops on the border to claim their rights of the area and Ladakh has hosted military presence during the last fifty years, which has resulted in a shift from the traditional subsistence agriculture and trade to dependence upon market economy and subsidised goods imported by the central government (Goodall, 2004: 218). The army constructed roads that went from Manali in the south, through the nomadic rangeland in western Changthang towards Leh and further towards the border to Pakistan.
2.2 The nomads of the Changthang
In the past there were two groups of true nomads in the Changthang; namely Rupshu and Kharnak. The nomads of Rupshu used grazing land, which stretched from the Taklangla pass in eastern Ladakh in the west into Tibet in the east (Ahmed, 1996; Sabharwal 1996), and the area included Hanley and Nyoma near the Tibetan border (Jina, 1995). The nomads of Kharnak used grazing land east of Rupshu, called the Kharnak valley. According to Sabharwal (1996), Rupshu is from where the nomads had their origin in Changthang. She
writes that in the past, the king of Stok1 appointed a headman, Goba, to look after his province Rupshu where five families established themselves in the vicinity to provide their services to the monastery and the Goba. Rupshu consisted of Samad, which means the lower part, and Korzok, which means the upper part of a larger area (ICIMOD, 1998). The Goba of Rupshu had his palace near the Tso Moriri Lake in Korzok. The monastery,or Gonpa, was also located at Tso Moriri in Korzok while a branch was located in Samad at Thukje in the Tso Kar Basin (Sabharwal, 1996).
Figure 2.1. Trekking map of a part of the Changthang including the nomadic communities of Samad and parts of Kharnak and Korzok. (Map: Trekking map of Ladakh, 2000)
1 Stok is a village in Ladakh, where one of the many monasteries is located in addition to one of the two palaces of the old kings of Ladakh. The heiress of the king is still living at Stok.
The Rupshu Goba was powerful and known as the king. He had much power and he was responsible for maintaining law and order in addition to collecting tax for the king (Sabharwal, 1996). According to the nomads, stories tell that the Goba knew what people were thinking, and if they had bad thoughts about others, he would bury them alive. Until the 17th century the Goba ruled over Changthang and after his death, Changthang was divided into several village level administrative units (Sabharwal, 1996). The last Goba of Rupshu died in the 1950`s and he left a wife and two young sons. His wife ruled for about ten years, until the nomads took the power. From that time, the new Goba was chosen democratically for three years (Sabharwal, 1996). Old herders said that Samad divided from Korzok after the death of the Goba and now they choose their own Goba for one year. The nomads said that the reason for the split was that they did not want to participate in the village activities in Korzok and that they wanted their own grazing unit.
Old herders from Samad and Korzok said that they used to move towards the Tibetan border for grazing their livestock in the past. They used the rangelands of the Rupshu plain including Korzok and Samad with yearly winter movements to Skagjung on the Tibetan border where better grazing conditions were available in the heavy winter. The migration towards Tibet and Skagjung started after the Tibetan New Year, losar, at the end of December. The nomads of Samad started the trek from Tso Kar, where they had celebrated losar at Thukje, while the nomads of Korzok started from Tso Moriri. According to old herders, Skagjung was located south of Korzok along the upper Indus valley.
Figure 2.2. Approximate location of Samad , Korzok and the old winter rangeland Skagjung.(Map: Microsoft Encarta world atlas, windows xp 2000.)
According to the herders, Skagjung was a huge grazing area, with relatively low altitude, little snow and plenty of grass. The nomads used to stay at Skagjung for about six months before returning to Rupshu. They said that the journey took 7-8 days and they needed many yaks for carrying their equipment. Usually Samad and Korzok people left together for the journey, and a few households shared tents to reduce the workload. At that time, they only had tents made of yak wool, which are very warm but heavy. The nomads said that the tents became very heavy when they were getting wet under heavy snowfall. At the time the nomads used the rangeland at Skagjung, the families were able to keep 500-1000 livestock each. There were about 80 households from Rupshu, and one or two families would be selected by rotation to stay at Skagjung throughout the year to protect the grassland from encroachment (Chaudhuri, 2000).
Until the 1960’s Tibet supplied most of the Himalayan region with salt. The Tibetan Changpas brought salt into Ladakh and the Rupshu nomads went into Tibet to collect salt themselves (Ahmed, 1999; Chaudhuri, 2000). Each year, when the nomads from Rhupshu went to Skagjung after New Year, losar, some of them went to Mindum and Kyeltse salt lakes in Western Tibet to collect salt (Ahmed, 1999). Herders brought 2-300 sheep to the salt lakes for carrying the salt on their backs. Those with smaller herds would accompany them in exchange for the favour of carrying the loads (Ahmed, 1999). The salt was eaten both by the humans as well as the livestock. The nomads brought enough salt that they could trade in exchange for barley with agriculturalists in Zanskar, the Kashmir valley and Skardu in Baltistan. In early autumn, usually August, the Rupshu nomads went towards the south to Domchul near Himachal Pradesh and traded the salt for tea, sugar, spices, rice and other food (Ahmed, 1999).
2.3 Border Dispute between India and China
At the same time as India and Pakistan were fighting over Kashmir valley in the 1950`s, the Chinese army’s occupation of Tibet was going on. The Chinese build roads throughout Tibet and annexed a large area called Aksai Chin on the border between India and Tibet. The area was a vast, arid and almost uninhabited plateau of icy lakes and frozen peaks and India did not find out that China had build roads in the region until early 1960`s (Margolis, 2000). India went to war with China in 1961-1962 and the area was exposed to high military activity. High numbers of soldiers were sent to Ladakh and the border region, and the nomadic herders that
were living in the area were exposed to major changes in their traditional way of living caused by the military activity. Until this time, the Changthang was so remote that the only way to reach it was by foot or horseback. The Indian government had to build roads very fast to avoid Chinese soldiers in eastern Ladakh and the army provided the local people with highly subsidised food and supplies at the same time (Ahmed, 1996). In the past, the nomads had been trading wool, salt and livestock products with agricultural products in other areas. The vehicular traffic caused an abandonment of the old trading routes and the nomads no longer felt that they had to travel the long distances for trading food when the rations now came to them by trucks (Ahmed, 2000).
2.4 Loss of Winter Rangeland and Influx of Tibetan refugees to the Changthang
The liberation process of China started in 1952, but it didn’t reach northern Tibet before 1959.
Thousands of Tibetans were suffering from the new political system and at the same time as the border dispute between India and China, thousands of Tibetan refugees (TR`s) crossed the border to India with their livestock. The refugees settled down all over the Changthang, on the border area and in the cities. Until this time, nomads from the Indian Changthang used rangelands at Skagjung near the Tibetan border for six months during the winter for grazing their herds. The Changpas also extracted salt from lakes in Tibet. Salt was an important part of the diet for both humans and livestock, for avoiding dehydration. In addition salt was an important part of the barter system, where nomads traded salt and livestock products for agricultural products and non-pastoral products. The high number of refugees that settled in the rangelands of Skagjung forced the Indian nomads to leave the area and to find new winter rangeland. The nomads of Rupshu claimed that there were too many refugees at Skagjung and the rangeland could not provide grass enough for all of them. A 62-year-old herder said:
“ We left Skagjung because TR`s and Chinese soldiers occupied the area. The TR`s were under Chinese control, so the soldiers helped them. We were not strong enough to fight with them. We had much more livestock at that time, and with fewer livestock we don’t have to travel the long way to Skagjung. The decrease in livestock population is because
of the TR`s “.
Herders from Samad said that some of the richest families continued to the winter migration to Skagjung after the border conflict. Some of the families worked for the government and the
army, by transporting letters as well as people in the remote area. Skagjung could still provide good grazing areas for the yaks, but these areas were higher in the mountains where the smaller ruminants were unable to go (S.Goodall, pers. comm.). The nomads of Rupshu left Skagjung for different reasons. In addition to the high number of Tibetan refugees and Chinese soldiers in the area, the Rupshu nomads could no longer enter Tibet for gathering salt and the Indian government provided them with supplies from outside either for free or low prices, all factors that influenced the nomads to leave the winter rangeland at Skagjung behind.
In addition to a drastic change in movement pattern the nomads of the Changthang had to increase their population with hundreds of Tibetan refugees with thousands of livestock.
According to interviews of the nomads of Samad, they had to include about 22 families of TR`s to their grazing unit. The representative for the welfare of the Tibetan refugees2 said that there was a total of 6,700 Tibetan refugees in Ladakh and 2,200 refugees in the Changthang scattered among 8-9 villages3 in 2003. Today the refugees share the rangeland with the local nomads, but mostly live in separate campsites or settlements.
2.5 Changing movement pattern
The border dispute had a major effect on grazing patterns in the Changthang. Impacts from the dispute led the herders of the Changthang into a situation of increased population of both humans and livestock, a heavy reduction of grazing land and pressure on the rangeland.
When the nomads left Skagjung, they also left the old salt trade (Ahmed, 1996). The nomads could no longer enter Tibet for the salt and the important salt trek for the nomads ended.
Ahmed (1996) writes that the nomads of Rupshu heard that the Tso Kar Lake that was a part of the Rupshu kingdom was salty, and the nomads started to move to the lake in September- October to extract salt. The actual time for salt extraction varied from year to year due to the amount of rainfall that had occurred during the summer and how quickly the water in the lake had dried up (Ahmed, 1999). According to Ahmed, only men were taking part in the salt march to Tso Kar, and they were divided into four groups with 17-18 men per group.
2 The Representative for his Holiness Dalai Lama,.Office of the Chief Representant, Central Tibetan Administration, Leh, Ladakh.( Choglamsar)
3 Lower Sumdo has 28-29 families. Kharnak has 8-9 and Korzok has approximately 35 families.
According to old herders, the Rupshu kingdom was split at the time of the Sino-Indian conflict and the nomads of Samad had to find the best rangeland that was suitable for winter grazing in the grazing unit of Samad, while the nomads of Korzok had to go to winter rangeland in Korzok after leaving Skagjung. According to the Samad people; the best winter rangeland was located around the Tso Kar Basin. At the time that the nomads of Rupshu were using the pastures at Skagjung, the nomads of Kharnak were illegally using rangeland at the Tso Kar basin during the winter. The people of Kharnak subjugated the Samad area for 45 years during the earlier part of the century. The nomads of Samad said that a few old nomads from Samad were living at Thukje in the Tso Kar Basin area in the winter, but they could not manage to force the people from Kharnak out. When the Samad people returned to Tso Kar, the nomads of Kharnak were forced back to the Kharnak valley. The Samad people chose to use the grazing areas in the Tso Kar basin in the winter and they said that it was the only area in Samad that was suited for winter grazing. The nomads said that the rangeland that belongs to Kharnak has high snowfall during the winter and that was the reason that they went to Tso Kar during the winter in spite of the boundaries.
The nomads of Kharnak did not agree with Samad regarding the ownership of Tso Kar, and they claimed ownership of Tso Kar in the 1970`s, after they had been forced out after encroachment in the 1960`s (Ahmed, 1999). The nomads of Rupshu had proof of their ownership in addition to Thukje monastery that is located at Tso Kar. Written records dating back to 1908 showed the ownership by the Samad people (Ahmed, 1999). Hemis Gonpa, the largest and wealthiest monastery in Ladakh, supported Kharnak in the dispute. In 1982, an agreement was made between Kharnak and Rupshu4 and Rupshu had to support Kharnak with 8,000 kilograms of salt annually, while Kharnak had to pay 400 Indian rupees. The agreement was drawn for five years, and when it expired, Kharnak again claimed the ownership of Tso Kar. In 1987 and 1988, there were violent fights between the two groups (Ahmed, 1999).
According to Ahmed, the case went to court and Kharnak was judged to pay each family of Rupshu 3,000 Indian Rupees. When the agreement was written up, it said that Kharnak had to pay 3,000 Rupees to the whole Rupshu instead of to each family. Rupshu went to the Ladakh Buddhist Association and it was decided that only Rupshu had access to Tso Kar and that they should provide Kharnak with 800 bags of salt in exchange for 25 paise for each bag.
4 The agreement was made under supervision of the Assistant Commissioner of Nyoma (Ahmed, 1999).
It is claimed that the conflict was more about the grazing land than salt (Ahmed, 1999). Tso Kar provides the best grass and trespassers may encroach the area with grazing livestock with the excuse of being ‘salt thieves’. The nomads of Rupshu posted guards in the area to protect against trespassing. The Tibetan refugees were not allowed to join the salt collection, but their livestock were permitted to eat the grass (Ahmed, 1996). Interviews with the nomads implied that there have been a number of conflicts regarding grazing rights between Samad and Kharnak throughout the years.The nomads said that the Rupshu Goba donated a part of the Rupshu plain, Yarang, in the Kharnak valley to the Hemis monastery, which gave Yarang to the Kharnak people. The nomads of Kharnak had to pay the monastery about 175-gram pashmina per goat in tax. One goat gives about 500-600 grams of pashmina. According to the nomads of Kharnak, this tax is not seriously collected these days. Another area in Kharnak, Spangchen, also belonged to the Rupshu plain, but Kharnak nomads occupied this area about 30 years ago. After the split between Samad and Korzok, Samad were not capable of fighting with Kharnak about the property rights of the area. The District Council (DC) recently decided to let the Kharnak people use the grazing area at Zara, which is a part of the summer rangeland that lies under the grazing unit of Samad. Kharnak herders are allowed to use the area until 20 days after the 21st of June summer solstice. If the nomads of Kharnak don’t leave until this date, they are not allowed to stay there next season. We noticed that the nomads of Kharnak stayed in the area until the 18th of July in 2003, which is one week too late, but nobody seemed to care.
2.6 Abandonment of polyandry
Earlier the nomads exercised a system of polyandry, where one woman was married to two or more brothers. It was a way of balancing the livestock` requirement s with the requirement of the human population. This system was banned by the government of Jammu and Kashmir in the early 1940`s, but a few families are still following the system (Tshangspa, 2000).
Polyandry enabled a balance to be struck between a family’s need for labour in the fields, and the danger of producing more children than those fields could support. Of a number of brothers, at least one was dedicated to religion as lama; this would normally be one of the younger ones. The heir to the property would be the eldest layman among them, and any remaining brothers were free either to go and make their own way in the world or to remain in the family home, in which case there was a clear understanding that they would be subservient to the eldest brother. This involved them in marriage with his wife; if they wanted
to marry on their own they had to leave their home and set up their separate home, without any share of the family property. All the children were accepted as being of the eldest brother, whom they addressed as ‘big father’; the younger brothers would be ‘little fathers’. The main losers in the system were those women who had to sacrifice their reproductive potential in the interest of social and economic stability. Some of them entered the religious life as nuns; the rest remained in the family and contributed to the family labour pool. This system is deceasing in Ladakh, and it is almost absent in central Ladakh. Polyandry has remained in some remote areas, like Changthang, but the system has also almost disappeared from this region. The change from polyandry into nuclear families has led to more families and according to the nomads the households experience shortages in labour. In the past, a family could consist of three brothers, one wife and five children. Now, a family may consist of one husband, one wife and three children. The change has resulted in less manpower to fulfil the household’s tasks like herding, milking, pashmina combing, etc. The new situation has led to more families, since most of the women and men will be married. Each family has fewer livestock per household due to the shortage of labour. Thus, as a result the increasing number of households has led to an increase in the overall livestock population.
2.7 The Leh-Manali Highway and Tourism in the Changthang
The highway from Manali to Leh opened up for non-military purposees for the first time in 1991. The road is 485 km long and crosses the Taklangla pass at 17,480 feet (5,328 metres) (Ladakh book of records), one of the highest passes to be reached by road in the world. Ladakh opened up for tourists in 1974 after being closed since 1947, while Changthang was restricted for tourism until 1994 (Ladakh book of records). Nowadays tourists can enter most areas with permission from the District Council in Leh, while some border areas in Changthang are still restricted and illegal for foreigners to enter.
Figure 2.3. A soldier based on the Leh-Manali highway in December. Warm clothes and goggles are used to protect against cold and strong radiation from the sun.
Thousands of tourists arrive Leh by plane from Delhi or with cars by the Leh-Manali road.
The road crosses the rangeland of Samad with heavy traffic during the summer months.
Convoys of army trucks pass through the area throughout the day and thousands of tourists are entering the area by jeeps, cars, motorbikes and buses. The tourism in Ladakh has increased much during the last years and the summer of 2004 was one of the peak seasons.
Travel agencies are in abundance in Leh, and offices could be seen in every street. The agencies could offer the tourists everything from cultural visits to the old monasteries to trekking tours in the Changthang.
Figure 2.4. The market in Leh, the capital of Ladakh.
A large number of tourists were trekking in Changthang, followed by guides and horses.
According to the Samad people, there were no benefits to them from tourism. Thus, the nomads could tell that the pack animals, horses and donkeys, grazed in the Samad rangeland.
The nomads felt that the grazing in the Tso Kar Basin was a problem due scarcity of resources. The nomads themselves did not use the basin area during the summer, to save it until the heavy winter. The area is also grazed by wild animals like kiang (Equus Kiang), and the basin hosts many bird species included the rare black necked crane. The tourists also leave empty bottles, garbage and trash behind on the camping sites. The nomads were sharing responsibility of guarding the area and collecting a small fee from the tourists for camping in the grazing land.
2.8 Commercialisation and Pashmina Development
The herders of the Changthang are rearing goats that are producing the world reknowned exclusive pashmina wool. The trade of pashmina has a long history in Ladakh and as mentioned in chapter 2.1, the trade was one of the reasons for the invasion of the Dogra in 1834 as well a factor for the configuration of the state of Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) in 1846.
“ The perception that the trade in pashm had a decisive impact on Ladakh’s political history is hardly an original one” (Rizvi, 1996)
In 1684, Kashmiri merchants procured a monopoly over the trade of pashmina wool (Rizvi, 1996). The Kashmiris have ruled the market for a long time and there have been many attempts to break the monopoly. The J&K government has attempted to purchase raw wool from the producers, but political pressure from influential traders has curtailed such policy (ICIMOD, 1998). According to investigations, the nomads have been highly underpaid for the wool, much lower than the price set by the state J&K Sheep and Sheep Products Board (ICIMOD, 1998). If the nomads sold pashmina at the price set by the J&K Sheep and Wool Product Board, their income would almost double (ICIMOD, 1998). There have been attempts to organise co-operations in the Changthang for pashmina production, to keep a steady price for the producers, but due to the nomads these attempts have also failed. The nomads complained that they were cheated by nomads from other villages, who sold pashmina outside the cooperative for a lower price. The nomads also complained about the smuggling of cheap pashmina from China. These two factors pushed down the price and the demand for pashmina.
The government of Ladakh has shown great interest in the pashmina production in recent years and various institutions, including the central government of India, have recently funded the Jammu and Kashmir Sheep Husbandry Department (SHD) of Ladakh to increase the pashmina production (Jammu and Kashmir Sheep Husbandry Department (SHD), annual report 2001-2002). The SHD recently initiated a five-year project in the Changthang for development of pashmina production. According to government officials, Leh officials are in the process of buying a pashmina de-hairing machine for use in Leh, to prevent the use of Kashmiri middlemen. The government wishes to buy pashmina directly from the nomads to increase the income for both parts. The aim of the government is to increase the livelihood of the nomads by increasing the pashmina production. The SHD is attempting to reduce livestock mortality in the heavy winters, eliminate in-breeding, and convince the nomads to incorporate into their livestock management the small-scale production and storage of fodder for heavy winters. Development projects for pashmina production in the Changthang include health and breeding coverage5, establishment of mini farms, a mobile veterinary dispensary,
5 .“Integrated Sheep and Wool Development Project for Nyoma Block”
fodder farm, subsidised fodder6 and a pashmina growers cooperative (SHD, annual report 2001-2002). The SHD also implemented a “watershed development project” in Samad during 1995-1996 in addition to construction of irrigation canals, sheep and goat sheds and horse stables. During 2001-2002 the SHD implemented various programmes such as the provision of dipping vats, lambing/ kidding sheds, pashmina kits, vet kits to paramedics and improved iron pashmina combs. The SHD is training its field workers about the latest techniques in animal breeding, management and health control.
New farming techniques and livestock management strategies are changing the way the people view and use the rangelands. The government officials have limited rangeland management education and most of them have no experience with traditional livestock rearing on the high altitude plateau (Fox et al., 1994). The government officials have success with on- farm breeding in lower altitudes, where agriculture is possible and implementation of these strategies should be considered in relation to the importance of the migration patterns of the nomadic people (ICIMOD, 1998).
2.9 The Changthang as a Protected Area?
The Changthang is the home of a high number of threatened and protected wild animals that are attracting both conservationists and tourists from all over the world. According to government officials the government of Jammu & Kashmir is aware of the situation and the importance of biodiversity conservation, and the Wildlife Department has declared a significant portion of Changthang as a wildlife sanctuary. The Tso Kar Basin is home to many internationally endangered species like several wild ungulates and the black necked crane. At the same time, the Samad people use the area during the winter season. The nomads said that they are not hunting wild animals due to their Buddhist belief that loathes killing of animals.
The herders said that they experience problems with the increasing number of kiangs that graze the rangeland in the Tso Kar Basin, but they said that there is nothing to do about it.
The wolf is killing a relative high number of livestock; sheep, goats and yaks, and according to the herders; a problem they have to live with by trying to protect the livestock. There is a wolf trap in one of the grazing areas, but the herders say that the trap has not been in use for a long time.
6.“Boarder Area Development Project” 5-year project
The competing interests of conservation and different demands on the natural resources highlights a need for understanding the human-wildlife interaction and creation of a conservation plan for the area (Fox et al.,1994).
2.10 Development activities in the Changthang
The government has attempted many activities designed to increase the livelihood of the nomads and according to both nomads and government officials, the average age of the people has increased. The nomads have been given medicines and health care in addition to subsidised food and rations. The Medical Department of Ladakh had a medical aid centre (MAC) in the Samad village that was located at Thukje, the headquarters for Samad people in the Tso Kar Basin. Two nurses stayed at the MAC for a period of five years. According to the nurses, they had good communication with the nomads and they also kept records of migration, households and diseases in the community.
The government was providing the nomads with teachers that followed them on the seasonal movements. The teacher had a tent that functioned as a classroom, and the children were provided with books and pens. The “school” was for small children at a basic level. From about seven years of age, the families could send the children to permanent boarding schools that were located outside Samad.
The Tibetan refugees (TR’s) received free education for all of their children from non- governmental organisations and from the Dalai Lama, including hostel room and board, uniforms, books and medical treatments. In 2003, the TR`s had 4 boarding schools in Ladakh, where 8-9 local children would also get permission to participate every year. After finishing the 10th class in Ladakh, the students have the possibility to studying in Dharamsala7 up to 12th class. The Tibetan refugees received free medical treatment from the government-in- exile, in addition to free treatment from the local medical department.
During hard winters, both the local nomads and the refugees received subsidised fodder from the sheep husbandry department. The Tibetan refugees said that they kept the surplus of fodder from the autumn, as emergency for hard winters.
7 Dharamsala is the seat of the Government in exile of Tibet where also Dalai Lama is living.
There have been a number of development activities in the Changthang over the years, and the nomads have been sponsored with tents, goggles, blankets, and stoves in addition to food and fodder resources. Present development activities and on-going projects will be discussed in chapter 8.
2.11 Summary
The nomads of Samad have experienced a number of externally driven influences that have affected their traditional way of living during the last forty years. The border dispute between India and China in 1962 caused an influx of Tibetan refugees and loss of winter grazing areas, which lead to increased pressure on the rangeland in the Indian Changthang. The nomads that had been more or less isolated in the remote Changthang were suddenly exposed to the outside world by a military presence that built roads through the nomadic rangeland and brought in cheap supplies from outside. The government invested in improvement of infrastructure and a number of development activities were initiated. The nomads that for ages had been surviving on self-subsistence and trade of livestock products were introduced to a market economy and heavy reliance upon external resources after the Sino-Indian conflict in the early 1960`s.
The government is interested in the exclusive pashmina that is produced in the area, and the SHD is active in implementing various development activities to increase the production and to reduce the livestock mortality. Conservationists are interested in protection of the region due to the abundance of wild animals that is living there and travel agencies want to increase the tourist industry for economic benefit.
Chapter 3: The Study Area.
3.1 The Study Area
The study took place in Samad on the western part of the Indian Changthang plateau, in eastern Ladakh. The Changthang region forms the western extension of the Tibetan plateau and lies mostly above 4,500 m. The study area lies approximately between 33°10’ to 33°30’
N and 77°55’ to 78°20’ E. Most of the area is flat with extensive sandy plains, surrounded by rolling mountains. The Indian Changthang consists of two administrative blocks8, Durbook and Nyoma, with a total of 23 villages: 5 in Durbook and 18 in Nyoma. Nyoma block includes three nomadic communities: Samad, Korzok and Kharnak, which use a large rangeland called Rupshu- Kharnak. The three groups use neighbouring grazing land, with boundaries that divides them from each other. This study deals with the Samad people and the use of the rangelands, as a part of a larger project9 that deals with conservation of wildlife in the Tso Kar Basin that is used for winter grazing by the Samad people. The summer rangelands of Samad were scattered in an area called Skyangchuthang, just west of Tso Kar Basin, along the Leh-Manali Highway. Samad can be reached from Leh by the Leh- Manali highway, by passing the Taklangla pass on 5200 meters until the snow covers the road. This route takes approximately 5-6 hours. Another road from Leh is following the Indus River and is passing Nyoma Bridge, and takes 8-9 hours driving. This road is open for a longer period, due to lower passes.
3.1.1 The Tso Kar Basin
The lakes on the high altitude plateau are formed into huge basins with no outlet, into which the snowmelt streams settle into great brackish lakes. The freshwater inlets to some of these lakes and the neighbouring wetlands are the breeding grounds for rare and interesting bird species. The Tso Kar Basin is located at an altitude of 4,600 m and it consists of two lakes (Fig. 3.1), with Tso Kar, the largest lake, consisting of brackish water and the smaller Stasafuk, a freshwater lake. Stasafuk Lake is fed by two perennial streams and the lake itself drains into the Tso Kar Lake. Tso Kar Lake also gets drainage from most of the basin.
8 India is divided into blocks. The block is the unit of development.
9 University of Tromsø(UiTø) and Wildlife Institute of India cooperation project for conservation of the Tso kar Basin.
(Thsangspa, 2000). There have been confusion regarding the name “Tso Kar” which people mostly referred to as the name of the lake, but according to Sabharwal10 , the original name of the lake was Rigul Tso and Tso Kar means the land between the two lakes. In this paper I will refer to the lake by the name Tso Kar Lake and to the catchment as the Tso Kar Basin.
Figure 3.1. Satellite photo of Samad in the western part of the Changthang, with Tso Kar Lake and Stasafuk Lake.
Figure 3.2. The Tso Kar Basin in the summer. The nomads of Samad used the rangeland in the basin as winter grazing for the livestock. The summer rangeland was located on the south side of the basin, behind the closest mountain ridges on the picture.
The Tso Kar Basin is characterized by cold and long winters with heavy snowfall, and the availability of grass during this period is the limiting factor for the nomads with their livestock and the wild animals that are dependent upon grass for surviving.
10 In personal interview in December 2003, Leh.
3.1.2 The Skyangchuthang area
The grazing land of Skyangchuthang stretches from the Taklangla pass in north to pang in South, on both sides of the Leh- Manali Highway. The nomads were using the summer rangeland from June to November. In some of the grazing sites and settlements, the nomads experienced lack of water and they had to walk long distances to get water from rivers.
3.2 Climate
The climate in the Changthang is very cold and harsh during winter. It is windy and the snowfall could be enough to close the area from the outside. Due to the high altitude and the rarefied air, there was a high degree of radiation in Ladakh and there is a local saying;
” Only in Ladakh can a person who has his head in the sun and his feet in the shadow endure both sunstroke and frostbite at the same time” (Ladakh book of records, 2000).
There are wide variations in temperature, but in general the summer is short and mild and the winter is long and bitter. The cold weather begins in September/ October and lasts till May.
The warmest months are June and July and the coldest are usually the months from January to March.
There is little precipitation, which gives Ladakh its characteristically barren landscape. The summer rainfall is irregular and is dependent upon the Indian monsoon over the Himalayas and about 2/3 of the precipitation is winter snowfall. Leh gets little snowfall, but the snowfall in the Changthang can be heavy and the temperature can fall to minus 40- 45 º C (Thsangspa, 2000).
3.3 Flora and fauna
The Changthang has a wide variety of flora and fauna in spite of the cold climate. The Changthang is the home of threatened and protected wildlife that are protected under the Jammu and Kashmir Wildlife (protection) Act. The mammalian fauna in the study area consists mainly of ungulates, rodents and carnivores. The avifauna includes birds of prey, finches, plovers, larks, geese, grebes, pigeons, snow cocks, partridges, gulls, ducks and black- necked crane. Species that can be observed in the area includes the kiang (Equus kiang), which can be observed either in flocks or single, Tibetan argali (Ovis ammon hodgsoni), blue
sheep, Himalayan marmot (Marmota bobak), Tibetan woolly hare (Lepus oiostulus) and pika (Ochotona spp.). Other species includes Royle`s vole (Alticola roylei) and avifauna including the starling, red billed chough, raven, doves, horned lark, hawks, falcons, robin accentor, great rose finch, pipits, snow finch, bearded vulture, golden eagle, and Tibetan sand grouse (PRA report).
Wild predators in the area include the Tibetan wolf (Canis lupus chanko) and snow leopard (Uncia uncia), although there is a better chance of finding the snow leopard in other areas of Ladakh, where it is a great threat to the livestock of the local people (Snow Leopard Conservancy, SLC). There are also foxes and lynxes in the Changthang.
The flora of Ladakh has much in common with that of Tibet, Afghanistan, Kashmir valley, Turkistan and parts of central Asia. The alpine, desert and oasitic elements are the representative features of the flora of Ladakh. The vegetation of the area consists of marsh meadows, scrub formations and desert steppe (Thsangspa, 2000).
Chapter 4: Methodology
4.1 Locality and Timeframe
Information was gathered in Samad over a period of 10 weeks, comprised of three weeks in November-December 2002 in the Tso Kar Basin where the nomads of Samad had their winter rangeland and 7 weeks in June-August 2003 in the summer rangeland in the Skyangchuthang area close to the Leh-Manali highway.
Approximately five weeks were spent in Leh town interviewing local people and government officials and participating in an international conference held by the International Center for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) regarding the rangelands of the Changthang in December 200211.
4.2 Gathering of Information
The aim of the study was to understand the present use of the rangeland in light of the changes that have occurred during the last fifty years. A short period before entering the field was spent in Leh to interview government officials to gather information about the activities in the Changthang, to interview travel agents regarding tourism and trekking activities in the area and to interview NGO`s regarding development activities in the area.
A translator was hired from a travel agency in Leh for translating Chanskat, the language spoken by the nomads, into English. Chanskat is a dialect of the Ladakhi language with similarities with the Tibetan language.
The methods that were used in the field to gather information about the use of the rangelands were a combination of observation, participation and semi-structured interviews (Fig. 4.1).
“Participant observation” is a useful tool where the researcher is trying to integrate into the nomadic community by observing and participate in the activities. The method is a tool to let
11 The conference had participants from ICIMOD, the Government, Non-Government Organisations, local Chang-pas and researchers from WWI/UiTø.
the nomads be confident with the researcher, for sharing of information and exchange of ideas and discussion of livelihoods. The method requires that the researcher stay in the field for an extended period, so that the people get confident with the researcher.
“Semi- structured interviews” are based on a checklist with open-ended questions. The interviews are partly structured and mostly unstructured depending on the responses of the person or group with whom the interview takes place. The interviews are conducted in an informal manner in a relaxed setting and they start with an initiative taken by the researcher followed by discussions between the local people and the researcher. The interviews give the researcher the flexibility of adding more questions to the discussion.
Information was gathered by living with the nomads, participating and observing the daily life as well as interviewing and discussing things with them. Nomads from the two other nomadic communities; Korzok and Kharnak were also interviewed regarding historical grazing patterns and agents of change.
Table 4.1. Ojectives and methods used in the study of the nomads of Samad.
Objective Method
Identify the present use of the pastures Identify the historical grazing patterns
Identify recent changes that have affected the traditional pastoralism
Participant
observation Observe the nomads and the herding practices as well as participating in the daily life
Observations
Semi-structured
interviews Interview the nomads about:
- social organisation - production system - conflicts
- management of livestock - grazing patterns
- risk
Interview elderly people from Samad, Kharnak and Khorzok
Interview local people , Tibetan refugees, Government officials and members of local NGO`s.
Maps Go through the pastures with a shepherd and translator to draw map over the grazing areas with all the settlements.
Discuss the maps with groups of shepherds.
Use of satellite photos and trekking maps
Draw maps over the historical grazing pattern
Governmental records and secondary data (literature)
Consult annual reports from sheep husbandry department to get an overview of the activities in the area.
Literature and reports
from the area. Look for historical changes in the nomad population and in the livestock composition and population size.
The whole community of Samad, which consisted of 60 households, was interviewed regarding population of people and livestock. The information was crosschecked by information from Jammu and Kashmir Sheep Husbandry Department (SHD), as well as with information gathered by the local headman and from interviews done for me by a local shepherd. Government officials from SHD were collecting data on the number and composition of livestock each spring, to gather information for their activities in the field and for vaccinations of the livestock. The local headman for the Samad people and the headman for the refugees had lists of the total livestock in the community. Each household gave the headmen information regarding livestock number in the household, for deciding the village tax. The seasonal and spatial movement patterns of the nomads were identified by discussions with the shepherds and participation in some of the movements. One herder also marked the pastures on a satellite photo. This herder accompanied me throughout the whole grazing unit of Samad to map the grazing sites.
Information regarding the historical grazing patterns of the nomads of Rupshu was gathered from interviews of old people from Samad, Korzok and Kharnak.
The traditional use of the rangelands was discussed with the nomads in relation to the present use of the resources and the changes that have occurred the last forty years. Changes that have affected the traditional pastoralism and the use of the natural resources were discussed with the nomads as well as with government officials, members of non-government organisations (NGOs) and local people from Leh. Information was also gathered by studying secondary data, such as government records and reports from the study region.