PROCEEDINGS OF THE SESSION ON THE Hindu Kush Himalayan Yak Network: Building partnerships for conservation and development of yak in the Third Pole Seventh international conference on sustainable animal agriculture for developing countries 9 November 2019 Pokhara, Nepal BUILDING PARTNERSHIPS FOR CONSERVATION AND DEVELOPMENT OF YAK IN THE THIRD POLE 1 Copyright © 2020 International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) Published by This work is licensed under a Creative Commons International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development Attribution Non-Commercial, No Derivatives 4.0 GPO Box 3226, Kathmandu, Nepal International License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/) Report preparation Tashi Dorji, Kesang Wangchuk, Basant Pant, Lily Shrestha, Note and Nakul Chettri This publication may be reproduced in whole or in part and in any form for educational or nonprofit purposes Production team without special permission from the copyright holder, Shanuj VC (Consultant editor) provided acknowledgement of the source is made. 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This publication is available in electronic form at www.icimod.org/himaldoc PROCEEDINGS OF THE SESSION ON THE Hindu Kush Himalayan Yak Network: Building partnerships for conservation and development of yak in the Third Pole Seventh international conference on sustainable animal agriculture for developing countries 9 November 2019 Pokhara, Nepal Transboundary Landscapes Contents PAGE ii Session 2: Status of yaks in the HKH, yak culture, and Abbreviations and acronyms yak networks Session 3: Yak value chain development PAGE iii Session 4: Panel discussions Acknowledgements SECTION 4 | PAGE 23 Executive summary Key achievements SECTION 1 | PAGES 1–2 SECTION 5 | PAGE 23 Background Key recommendations and follow-up actions SECTION 2 | PAGES 3–20 Objectives SECTION 5 | PAGES 24–31 Annexes SECTION 3 | PAGES 21–22 Sessions Annex 1: Programme agenda Session 1: Opening session Annex 2: List of participants Acknowledgements The International Centre for Integrated Mountain Chair); Tek Bahadur Gurung, Executive Director, Development (ICIMOD) would like to acknowledge Nepal Agriculture Research Council; Vijay Chandra the Nepal Veterinary Association (NVA), the Jha, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Agriculture and lead organizing agency of the “7th international Livestock Development, Government of Nepal (GoN); conference on sustainable animal agriculture in and Banshi Sharma, Director General, Department developing countries (SAADC 2019): Eco-friendly of Livestock Services, GoN. animal production for profitable smallholder farming”, for providing us an opportunity to Further, ICIMOD would like to thank the dignitaries contribute to the event as a co-organizer. ICIMOD who presented their important research findings and is also thankful to the Government of Gandaki experience during the session, and the panellists for Province, and would like to thank the following providing important insights into yak farming and speakers for sharing their thoughts at the inaugural bringing this agenda into the limelight. Similarly, we session: Lekha Bahadur Thapa Magar, Minister, would also like to thank all the partner institutions Ministry of Land Management, Agriculture and from Bhutan, China, India, Pakistan, and Nepal, and Cooperative, Gandaki Province; Sital Kaji Shrestha Israel for participating in this important initiative. President, Nepal Veterinary Association (Organizing ii PROCEEDINGS Abbreviations and acronyms FAO Food and Agriculture Organization IPCC Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change FMD Foot and mouth disease IYC International Yak Congress HKH Hindu Kush Himalaya KL Kangchenjunga Landscape HS Haemorrhagic septicaemia KLCDI Kangchenjunga Landscape Conservation and IBR Infectious Bovine Rhinotracheitis Development Initiative ICAR-NRC Indian Council of Agricultural Research- NTFP Non-timber forest product National Research Centre SAADC Sustainable animal agriculture for developing ICIMOD International Centre for Integrated Mountain countries Development TTP Tibet Treasure of Plateau Yak Dairy Industry Co. Ltd Executive summary Yaks play a critical role in ecosystem management, breeding); husbandry and management; value food, and energy security, as well as in the livelihood chains; business models; institutions; sociocultural enhancement of the highlanders in the Hindu services; and investments and markets. Kush Himalaya (HKH). They are also integral to Furthermore, a moderated panel session provided the culture, tradition, and social life of the high- a platform for interaction among the yak herding mountain communities. However, yak herding is communities, the scientists, entrepreneurs, and the impacted by climate change, closure of international policymakers. borders, and increasing disinterest among the youth in the yak herding system. This has heightened The meeting recognized that the current policies in the social vulnerability of the yak-dependent the HKH are inadequate to address the issues around communities, especially the women and children. yak herding and that there is a need for developing Given this backdrop, ICIMOD organized a parallel a mechanism for multi-stakeholder participation session during the 2019 “International conference in support of yak production. It found out that on SAADC” with the following objectives: to discuss supporting and connecting local yak networks to the challenges and opportunities in sustainable national, regional (HKH), and global levels could yak development in the HKH; share experiences on provide a voice to the herders and a pathway for innovations, technologies, and cooperation in yak sustained efforts towards investments. Furthermore, rearing in the region; and to discuss the way forward it established that strengthening transboundary for establishing an HKH-wide yak network and cooperation can encourage technological innovation reviewing its potential. and promote South-South cooperation for technology transfer in yak production. It was also The session was attended by more than 70 delegates recognized that partnerships with the private sector comprising of yak herders , entrepreneurs, to enter into new business models such as social academicians, researchers, and policymakers from entrepreneurship that engage youth and women the HKH countries and elsewhere. A total of 13 are critical to promoting the yak value chain. Also, technical papers were presented at the session. The events such as yak festivals need to be supported in presentations covered updates on yak production order to value the yak tradition and culture through by the HKH countries, and other important subjects linkages to responsible tourism. such as: policies; production (fodder, health, and BUILDING PARTNERSHIPS FOR CONSERVATION AND DEVELOPMENT OF YAK IN THE THIRD POLE iii1 SECTION 1 Background Yaks are an iconic species of the HKH which (ICIMOD 2018), the culture and economy of yak are exceptionally adapted to the harsh climatic rearing has connected people for centuries. The conditions of the region. They are found at altitudes movement of herders between the highlands of these between 2000 and 5000 masl in Afghanistan, Bhutan, three countries has been an age-old practice that has China, India, Myanmar, Nepal, and Pakistan (Wu contributed to the socio-economic prosperity of the et al. 2016) that encompasses the transboundary herding communities. landscapes of HKH. These transboundary landscapes are subsets of larger trans-Himalayan However, a drastic decline in the yak population transects, where ICIMOD and its partners gather of the region and its consequent impacts on local scientific information and strengthen interventions livelihoods and cultures have become a cause for to promote conservation and the management concern (Wu et al., 2016). The major issues here are of landscapes with ecological and sociocultural the following: unplanned development practices; significance across nations (Chettri et al. 2009). closure of international borders leading to restricted ICIMOD’s transboundary landscape visualizes germplasm exchange and breed deterioration; conservation and the sustainable use of natural controlled grazing; the limited will of the younger resources at the scale of larger landscapes defined generation in the yak herding system; and climate by ecosystems. The landscape programme aims to change. Moreover, the increase in temperature in the enhance socioecological resilience to environmental high-altitude regions have also had impacts in terms changes. In the HKH, four transboundary of pasture,