National Mission on Himalayan Studies (NMHS) NMHS Annual Progress Report – Pro forma Kindly fill the NMHS Annual Progress Report segregated into following 11 segments, as applicable to the objectives & quantifiable outcomes of your NMHS Project. 1. Project Information 2. Project Site Details 3. Project Activities Chart w.r.t. Timeframe [Gantt or PERT] 4. Financial and Resource Information 5. Equipment and Asset Information 6. Expenditure Statement and Utilization Certificate (UC) 7. Project Beneficiary Groups 8. Project Progress Summary (as applicable to the project) 9. Project Linkages (with concerned Institutions/ State Agencies) 10. Knowledge Products – Publication, recommendations, etc. 11. Project Concluding Remarks Kindly attach a descriptive Annexure/ Files separately for the segments marked for the detailed description required. Please let us know in case of any query at: [email protected] NMHS 2020 NMHS-Annual Progress Report (APR) Pro Forma Page 1 of 19 NMHS Progress Report (Period from 1 April 2019 to 31 March 2020) 1. Project Information Project ID: NMHS/MG-2017 Sanction Date: 22/11/2017 Project Title: Understanding Ladakh’s socio-ecological processes to provide inputs for landscape-level development strategies BTG: PI and Affiliation Pankaj Raina, Wildlife Warden, Leh (Institution): Department of Wildlife Protection, UT Ladakh Name & Address of the Co-PI, if any: n/a Structured Major activities of the project during the year 2019-20 were focused on Abstract - data collection to spatially cover the Ladakh landscape across different detailing the seasons. These activities includes occupancy surveys and camera current year trapping in Hemis National Park which have been completed. Currently progress [Word camera trapping exercise is being expanded at Ladakh landscape level. Limit 250 words]: 24 large mammals have been radio-collared and the data is being retrieved. Further, vegetation sampling across Ladakh landscape is under progress and documentation of plant usage pattern in Sowa Rigpa system of medicine have been accomplished. In addition, using the RS & GIS platform a complete inventory of glaciers in Ladakh has been prepared and a time series analysis of the change dynamics of glaciers has been conducted. Also the assessment of land use and landcover of Ladakh landscape has been accomplished and change detection in the landuse of the landscape is under progress. The activities in the project accomplished so far and those under progress will establish baselines for important indicators of the region’s biodiversity and climate change adaptation, documentation of current resource usage patterns, evaluation of various developmental projects and economic activities, and engagement with various stakeholders. A national workshop was organised on “carbon Neutral Ladakh: A new beginning” focusing on discussion and inputs for achieving carbon neutrality in Ladakh and for sustainable management of resources in the region. Three policy documents one each on Disaster management, sustainable tourism and biodiversity conservation of Ladakh have been prepared and submitted to government of UT Ladakh. NMHS 2020 NMHS-Annual Progress Report (APR) Pro Forma Page 2 of 19 Project Partner Affiliations Role & Responsibilities Name Partner 1 LAHDC, Leh and Kargil + UT Overall supervision and policy Administration of Ladakh implementation Partner 2 Wildlife Institute of India Academic collaboration Partner 3 Ladakh Snow Leopard Foundation Logistical support and manpower for fieldwork [Add] NMHS 2020 NMHS-Annual Progress Report (APR) Pro Forma Page 3 of 19 2. Project Site Details Project Site: UT Ladakh IHR States Covered: UT Ladakh Long. & Lat.: 77.563828°, 34.150173° Site Maps* (No.): Site Photographs* (No.): *Attach a separate Descriptive Annexure/ Files (.JPG, .TIFF, etc.). 3. Project Activities Chart w.r.t. Timeframe [Gantt or PERT] PROJECT ACTIVITIES DESCRIPTION OF WORK UNDERTAKEN (YEAR 2019-2020) QUANTIFIABLE OUTPUTS Project Activity 1 To fulfill this objective, data was collected for resource [Name of descriptive To assess and use from different parts of Ladakh: namely, Hemis NP, Annexure/ File attached understand the Changthang, Kargil, and Nubra valley. separately] current position of Data was collected on the usage patterns of medicinal Appendix 1: The Sowa Rigpa resources in the plants in traditional Sowa Rigpa system by questionnaire medicine system in Ladakh. Ladakh region and survey of 70 Amchis, 38 plant collectors and 11 retailers Appendix 3 : Studying deduce future across Ladakh. pastoralism in Changthang, impacts to resources eastern Ladakh. within the context of In order to study the usages pattern of plant resources in Appendix 4: Mapping and the development pasturelands of Changthang various methods including evaluating patterns of trends of the region interviews of grazers, field surveys, GIS platform, polygon temporal glacier changes in and create surveys were used. Ladakh Appendix 5: Land use and awareness of the In addition, a complete inventory and time series analysis same. land cover analysis for of glaciers and landuse cover analysis of Ladakh has been Ladakh NMHS 2020 NMHS-Annual Progress Report (APR) Pro Forma Page 4 of 19 completed in order to understand the natural resource usage patterns across Ladakh. For more details please see the attached Appendices. Project Activity 2 Polygon search method: sign survey and transect walks: 5 [Name of descriptive sq km grids. Total grids covered: 535 in total. The data is Annexure/ File attached To conduct currently being analysed and surveys are being carried separately] population surveys out in other areas. of key biodiversity Appendix 1 species (fauna and Camera trapping: 2 sq km grids: 156 grids in total. In The Sowa Rigpa medicine flora) to evaluate the addition, cameras installed in earlier were retrieved in system in Ladakh (2019-20) health of the this period. So far, a total of 683,252 exposures have ecosystem in Ladakh been recorded and are currently being analysed. 30 Appendix 2 and create cameras have yet to be retrieved. Monitoring of Snow Leopard, awareness of the Co-Predators and their Prey Vegetation plots: plot for trees: 10 sq m, shrubs 5 sq m same. in the Trans-Himalayan and herbs: 1 sq m: 3,581 plots in total region of Ladakh through 61 Visual Encounter Surveys and opportunistic Camera Trap Survey 2019- observations for herpetofauna. 2020 Camera trapping Appendix 7 24 villages surveyed in Zangskar sub-division in Kargil district to collect data on human-wildlife interactions Report on Rapid Assessment with specific focus on large carnivores (snow leopards, of herpetofauna brown bear, wolves, feral dogs): 495 questionnaire respondents. In addition, questionnaires were also administered to 180 households in 16 villages of Shakar- Chiktan block and neighbouring areas. Collected data from 70 traditional medicine practitioners (amchis), vendors, plant collectors with regard to traditional ecological knowledge and market for medicinal plants. For more details please see the attached Appendices. Project Activity 3 Questionnaire surveys of various stakeholders on Chadar [Name of descriptive trek (600 respondents in 2018-19 and 214 in 2019-20) Annexure/ File attached To study and and feedback forms from 2,665 tourists in 2018-19 and separately] understand the 1,618 in 2019-20, snow leopard tourism (68 respondents impact of tourism on Appendix 6 in 2018-19 and 64 in 2019-20 including tourists and the ecology and the villagers), and Pangong-tso (1,254 respondents). In Tourism in Ladakh (A case change in balance of addition, 17 households in two different valleys and five study on winter tourism: the resources campsites popular for snow leopard tourism were Chadar trek) including trends in intensively monitored for five weeks to estimate their commodity fuelwood consumption. Similarly, waste generation consumption (quantity and content) for individual groups of trekkers patterns, and carbon on Chadar has also been documented in 2018-19 and emissions of the 2019-20. region within the national context and For more details please see the attached Appendices. NMHS 2020 NMHS-Annual Progress Report (APR) Pro Forma Page 5 of 19 create awareness of the same. Project Activity 4 In this period, background data for resource usage and [Name of descriptive distribution of biodiversity was collected and inserted on Annexure/ File attached To study the impacts a GIS platform. The locations of various renewable separately] of renewable energy energy projects in Ladakh were also identified. projects already Preparation for data collection specific to renewable deployed in the energy projects were in terms of finalisation of a research region and plan and preparation of data collection instruments. effectiveness of such projects as an adaptation and mitigation strategy for Indian Himalayan Region. Project Activity 5 Following the directions of Hon’ble Prime Mister of India, Appendix 8 to develop Ladakh as a carbon neutral entity, a 4 days To design and Ladakh and Disaster: Action nationals summit on the theme ‘Carbon Neutral Ladakh: formulate effective Points for Management and A New Beginning’ during 2-5 March 2020 was organised. environmental Mitigation Three policy documents were prepared for designing management effective environmental management strategies in Appendix 9 strategies and devise different domains to assist government of Ladakh UT for strategies to Sustainability of Tourism in a green governance. These policy documents includes enhance human Ladakh: