Harnessing Traditional Knowledge for Wildlife Conservation in the Ladakh Trans-Himalaya

Abstract

The Trans-Himalayan rangelands of India, characterised by low plant biomass, support a surprisingly high diversity of fauna including eight wild and a variety of domestic ungulates. The long-term compatibility of pastoral production and wildlife conservation has, however, been questioned in recent years, especially in the wake of the increase in livestock population throughout the region. Several protected areas have been established in recent decades to protect the declining populations of wildlife in the alpine and steppe ecosystem of the Indian Trans-Himalaya. All these protected areas are subject to substantial livestock grazing and other resource use by pastoralists, and this raises concern about the welfare of high-altitude wildlife in the region. Although some degree of conflict seems inevitable in areas where livestock production is the primary source of income, proper livestock management through the adoption of ecologically prudent and innovative animal husbandry may act to mitigate serious conflict. In this paper, we describe the livestock production system in an agro-pastoral community in a little-known Trans-Himalayan reserve, the proposed Gya-Miru Wildlife Sanctuary, and relate it to wildlife conservation in the area. We highlight some ingenious livestock management systems such as that related to the tradition of collecting grazing fees from livestock-owning families and discuss ways to exploit such systems to establish new practices such as self-financed livestock insurance programmes.