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Trade-off Between Continuity and Change in Leh District: An Emergy Evaluation in Time Series: 1999–2011

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Environmental Change and Development in Ladakh, Indian Trans-Himalaya

Part of the book series: Advances in Asian Human-Environmental Research ((AAHER))

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Abstract

Leh District, together with Kargil, forms part of the Ladakh Union Territory in India’s Trans-Himalaya, a “crossroad of high Asia”, geographically classified as a high-altitude “cold desert”. For many centuries, the local population has led a self-reliant existence mainly based upon subsistence agriculture, pastoralism and the caravan trade. Modernisation, due to governmental programmes, and the region’s progressive opening to external influence and resources characterize the current development path. In this study, the emergy evaluation, an environmental accounting methodology, has been utilized to assess the sustainability of district development from the point of view of the use of resources. Anthropic dynamics and resource flows are investigated along with physical features and other relevant aspects of the area. The flow of resources feeding the system is evaluated using emergy, and a set of synthetic indices is calculated in time series (1999–2011) — namely: Emergy per Capita (EpC), Empower areal Density (EaD), Renewability percentage (%R), Environmental Loading Ratio (ELR), Emergy Investment Ratio (EIR), and Emergy Yield Ratio (EYR). The interpretation of the results provides insights into local development dynamics under changing influences and circumstances, monitoring how the system achieves a certain level of organisation, and assessing whether Leh District is moving toward or away from more sustainable states.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    The fiscal year in India runs from 1st April to 31st March.

  2. 2.

    Source: Digest of Statistics 2007/08, Chap. XXII Trade and Commerce, Table n° 22 Goods imported into the State, pp. 356–358 to 360–362, downloaded 14 March 2010 at http://ecostatjk.nic.in/publications/release1.htm; and Digest of Statistics 2010/11, Chapter XXII of Trade and Commerce Report, Table n° 22 Goods imported into the State during 2005/06–2010/11, pp. 308–311 to 314–317 (photocopies).

  3. 3.

    Source: as footnote 4: Chap. XXII Trade and Commerce, Table n° 22 Goods imported into the State of Digest of Statistics, line 34.

  4. 4.

    For a thorough analysis of this method see Bastianoni et al. 2011.

  5. 5.

    Example: calculation of the annual emergy flow for imported chemical fertilizer. Data: 4460 quintals of chemical fertiliser were imported in Leh District during 2006/07 (LAHDC-L 2009); the conversion factor, the so-called UEV, of chemical fertilisers is 4,05E+10 semj/g (Brandt-Williams 2002); Formula and result: emergy flow of imported chemical fertiliser = quantity x conversion factor (UEV) = 4,46E+8(g/yr) x 4,05E+10(semj/g) = 1,81E+19(semj/yr).

  6. 6.

    A useful version of the EYR equation is: EYR = U/F = (F + R + N)/F = 1 + [(R + N)/F] = 1+ L/F.

  7. 7.

    Calculations follow the usual standard procedure of any emergy evaluation. For supplementary information, appendices and tables of calculation (data entry, formulas and algorithms, references and results), please, contact the authors by email: vladimiropelliciardi@hotmail.com, federico.pulselli@unisi.it.

  8. 8.

    http://www.cep.ees.ufl.edu/nead/, accessed 10/03/2015.

  9. 9.

    Eds.’note: See, however, the growing trend of water consumption among urban Ladakhis in recent years reported by Dolma in Chap. 13.

  10. 10.

    Food grain has been estimated at 152,096 quintals for the year 2012.

  11. 11.

    Reporting Area is composed of: total cropped area land, permanent pastures and other grazing lands, land put to non-agricultural uses, barren and uncultivable land, land under miscellaneous tree, crop, groves not included in net area sown, cultivable waste land, fallow other than current fallows, current fallows. See Section III-AGRICULTURE Table No: 3.00 Land Utilization Pattern (Area in Hectares), LAHDC-L 2014, District Statistical Handbook 2013–14 and previous editions. http://leh.nic.in/pages/handbook.pdf, accessed 05/06/2014.

  12. 12.

    The amount of barren and uncultivable land (270 and 11 km2 respectively) mentioned in the Agriculture Department statistics are a gross underestimation, of which most of the extensive grasslands of the Changthang are excluded. These figures likely only represent the coverage area recorded around agricultural settlements and could only possibly sustain a small portion of the 206,000 pashmina goats recorded in the District in 2010–2011 (Blaise Humbert-Droz, personal communication, May 2017).

  13. 13.

    The Ladakh Vision Document 2005 stresses the need to continuously monitor the regional and anthropic dynamics, resource flows and use in Leh district.

  14. 14.

    The formatted paper is available on request with authors and editors.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. European Centre of Sustainable Development, Rome, Italy

    Vladimiro Pelliciardi

  2. Department of Physical, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Siena, Siena, Italy

    Federico Maria Pulselli

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  1. Vladimiro Pelliciardi
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Independent Researcher, Wildlife & Environment, International Association for Ladakh Studies (IALS), Bangalore, India

    Blaise Humbert-Droz

  2. Department of Geography, University of Bonn, Bonn, Germany

    Juliane Dame

  3. Ladakh Arts and Media (LAMO), International Association for Ladakh Studies (IALS), Leh, Ladakh, India

    Tashi Morup

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Pelliciardi, V., Pulselli, F.M. (2023). Trade-off Between Continuity and Change in Leh District: An Emergy Evaluation in Time Series: 1999–2011. In: Humbert-Droz, B., Dame, J., Morup, T. (eds) Environmental Change and Development in Ladakh, Indian Trans-Himalaya. Advances in Asian Human-Environmental Research. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-42494-6_17

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