LADAKH, Jammu and Kashmir SUNDARBANS, West Bengal Ladakh in Jammu and Kashmir and the Indian Sundarbans in West Bengal are two of WWF’s priority conservation sites. The increasingly threatening environment in these regions increases the vulnerability of their fragile ecosystems and the indigenous communities that live there. Map prepared by IGCMC, WWF-India © WWF-India, 2010 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form or by any means without prior permission of WWF-India 5 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS INTRODUCTION This report has come a long way to become what you hold in your Environmental change coupled with resource degradation and poverty is hand. Tireless research, meticulous surveys and personal interviews creating situations of extreme adversity in several parts of India. As the conducted by the WWF-India team reflects in every page, as you travel impacts of climate change become unequivocal, nature and ecosystems, through to reach out to stories that would have otherwise, never natural resources and the people who depend on them will become more been heard. vulnerable during this century. This will imply less or uncertain availability of food and water, increased variability in the frequency and intensity For their support, Mr. Ravi Singh, Secretary General & CEO, of natural disasters, loss or migration of species, significant changes in Dr. Sejal Worah, Programme Director and Ms Archana Chatterjee, ecosystems and tremendous risk to human populations and their livelihoods. Head, Regional Programme for Himalayan Glaciers, Rivers and High Altitude Wetlands, WWF-India are to be thanked. Impacts of climate change are likely to be felt more in developing countries such as India, given the greater reliance of its people on natural resources We thank our scientific advisory panel – Prof. Sugata Hazra, School and ecosystems. In the fragile high altitude Himalayas, these changes of Oceanographic Studies, Jadhavpur University, Dr. Kakoli Banerjee, cannot escape the notice of the people who have lived there for decades. Department of Marine Sciences, Calcutta University, Dr. Rajesh Kumar, Warmer seasons and erratic precipitation have influenced their daily lives Sharda University and Dr. O.P. Chaurasia, Defence Institute of High in terms of agricultural patterns and produce, clothing, lifestyles, food, Altitude Research, Leh for their scientific review and inputs. livestock and livelihoods. Moreover, incidences of pest attacks and weeds have increased to a great extent. Thanks are due, to Ms. Anne-Marie Patricia Singh and Ms. Ragini Letitia Singh for their support on compilation and editing. As for the striking, In coastal ecosystems, such as the Sundarbans, direct impacts of human- tasteful design which has highlighted the ‘feel’ of the report, induced climate change can be felt with rising sea levels and increasing Ms. Copal Mathur and Ms. Mallika Das are to be thanked. salt water incursion on agricultural land and water bodies, threatening life, property, livelihoods, and leaving local communities more vulnerable than And finally, the people who welcomed us into their homes, trusting ever, as climate refugees. us enough to share their agony and tragedies, never losing hope that something good would come out of this. People over generations and even at present, continue to adapt to these environmental changes and develop their own resilience and coping Thank you for allowing us to tell your story. mechanisms. However, due to the rapid and uncertain nature of the changes, old ways of coping are often proving inadequate. Project team As you turn the pages, what follow are voices. Voices of individuals who have witnessed change and are living these changes, of those who are Sundarbans finding ways to survive and move on in the hope of a better future by Dr. Anurag Danda, Mr. Subhro Sen and Mr. Arjun Manna adapting to climate vulnerabilities and alternative livelihood options. Ladakh It is to these intrepid individuals who have told their tales and the Mr. Pankaj Chandan, Ms. Nisa Khatoon and Mr. Phuntsog Tashi thousands who are still unheard, that this book is dedicated to. Also to those who are at risk, but are finding new ways and alternatives to tackle change. The capacity for resilience and undaunted hope in the face of adversity shines through all these stories, worthy of being heard and read. Their lives remind us of how precarious our existence is. Study Area Rivers Lakes DISTRICT HEADQUARTERS Key Locations LadakhjammU aND KaSHmIr,INDIa Ladakh represents the westernmost extension of the vast Tibetan Plateau, covering an altitude range of 2,700 to 7,650 m asl. The mighty Himalayas and the Karakoram demarcate its natural borders towards the south and the north respectively, while the Indus River flows through it. Located in Jammu and Kashmir, this region is also known as a high altitude cold desert and is characterised by severe, arid conditions. Temperatures may drop to –400C in the long winter months and rise to 350C in the short summer season. In 2008-09, 85 residents of Ladakh residing in remote locations like Zanskar, Changthang, Nubra, Leh and Kargil were interviewed. They belonged to two age groups – 20-45 years and 45-90 years and were asked about their experiences of climatic changes and subsequent impacts on agriculture, livelihood, ecology and livestock. On the basis of a set questionnaire and through candid conversation, they revealed testimonies of their changing environment, which often bewilders them. These have been recorded here. 05 TASHI RABGAIS LADAKH, INDIA In his tastefully done, sunny He has observed all four seasons with the lives of the people who living room, Tashi Rabgais – spring, summer, autumn and are dependent on it. The region represents the hospitable and winter getting warmer than receives plenty of sunshine cheerful Ladakhi. He hails before, especially winter. When helping crops grow, while their from Sakti, Ladakh and is one he sits in the sun, it pinches livestock provides them with of the first scholars in that his skin. Strangely, he doesn’t milk, butter, cheese and curd. region. Being very fond of remember this ever happening Most areas higher up receive reading, he possesses a vast to him as a child. This could a steady supply of water from bank of knowledge and a sharp also be attributed to the rising glaciers while in other places, intelligence undaunted by his 82 vehicular pollution in Ladakh, where there are no glaciers, years of age. He has three sons he says. snow accumulation helps and and two daughters and lives a also the wind which distributes retired life with his family. Rabgais tells of floods that have the snow around. occurred when there has been Rabgais believes that tourism a lot of snowfall in winter and Like this, for centuries the is the primary cause of many spring comes early. Under the people of Ladakh have lived changes in Ladakhi society, continuous glare of the sun in close harmony with their culture and environment. the snow melts faster which environment which has provided Ladakh was opened to foreign then comes down in a torrent, for them. But the changes that tourists in 1974, and since then, damaging everything in its path. have developed in the last few national and foreign tourism The water cycle in Ladakh has decades seem to threaten this has flourished. Although, it is been preserved by the rainfall in harmony and delicate equilibrium helping the economy of Ladakh, summer and snowfall in winter. giving Rabgais solid reasons to yet it has brought environmental While in summer, glacial melt worry about the future of his problems in its fold. Rabgais tells water would flow down in great children and grandchildren. of a time when water everywhere volumes, in winter, the snow was drinkable. Gradually, would compensate for it. But it has become polluted, especially in towns like Leh We are in a situation of and Kargil, and the groundwater change and the speed of level has also dropped. change has become so much that it is difficult Rabgais is also worried about the for anyone to control the birds in Ladakh. As a boy, he used situation. We cannot stop to see many birds, especially change but we can surely about 100-200 crows nestled give direction to it. in trees during winter. But now he has stopped seeing crows in over the years, the melting his village. He also used to see process has quickened, not giving many species of eagles soaring the already reduced precipitation in the skies which are not there in the region a chance to any more. This absence of birds compensate for it. worries him and he feels helpless not being able to do anything In his view, the environment of about it. Ladakh is strongly interlinked 07 ABDUL REHMAN LADAKH, INDIA Seventyyear old Abdul Rehman that they require a jacket. As quality of milk has fallen. Birds looks the picture of contentment opposed to the warm goncha like crows, partridges and the while his frisky granddaughter (traditional, long woollen coat) Golden Eagle, and mammals jumps and giggles around him. he used to wear in summer, he is like fox, ibex and wolf, which His wife, children and other now comfortable in just a pant Rehman used to sight as a boy grandchildren gather around and shirt during the day and only are also declining. him as he tells his tale. His roots one blanket at night. In fact, lie in Chemday Village, near Rehman has even bought a fan If it continues like this, Sakti. Rehman settled in Nubra to escape the heat and to chase we’ll soon need an AC or after leaving the Indian Army away the flies that have begun a cooler in Ladakh! in 1974 and getting married.