As dusk settles over the stark mountains of India’s remote Ladakh region, Tsering Dolma escorts a dozen yaks into a stone-walled corral with her one-year-old son strapped to her back.
Only a few herders tending their livestock in the sparsely grassed, wind-swept plains that are able to escape the harsh solitude.
Herders like Dolma have depended on mountain snowmelt to provide for the high-altitude pastures where their animals graze for generations. Herders now report that the grass on their yaks has become less predictable as a result of changing precipitation patterns.
The 32-year-old claims that the weather used to be snow and rain but has since decreased significantly. Even the winters are becoming more pleasant than they were.
Women still primarily manage the herding, milking, and wool gathering in Ladakh, a region close to Tibet that was once a part of the ancient Silk Route.
Kunzias Dolma, 73, spins her Buddhist prayer wheel while making yak milk tea in a nearby valley and inspects her yak butter while also making yak milk.
She has dedicated her life to working with yaks, making products from their milk and making wool blankets from their wool, unrelated to Tsering Dolma.
She claims that “we wake up every day at around 5am.” “Up until about lunch, my husband and I milk the yaks and do the rest of the yak-related work.” Then we take a break in the evening to return to our jobs. This is something we have done our entire lives.
This traditional way of life is now threatened by both younger generations seeking alternative livelihoods and climate change, making Ladakh more unaffordable for yaks.
The shaggy, cold-adapted animals are now more physically stressed out as a result of rising temperatures and inconsistent rainfall, making nutritious vegetation less plentiful. According to research, Ladakh’s average temperature has increased by 3 degrees Celsius (5. 4 degrees Fahrenheit) over the past four decades, resulting in more severe heatwaves and unpredictable precipitation patterns.
Scientists believe that yak populations are significantly in decline because it is still difficult to precisely assess how climate change will affect them. According to government data, Ladakh’s yak population decreased from nearly 34, 000 in 2012 to fewer than 20 000 by the most recent year, according to data.
Source: Aljazeera
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