Animals such as goats, sheep and yaks have distinct diets and grass preferences. Not only are they aware of the grasses in the pastures, but they also have a deep knowledge of the availability of food and water in the valley across seasons. In fact, our sheep and goats have learnt to reserve grasses for the lean season, such as during the winter months when the entire valley is covered in several feet of snow, and food is scarce. However, recently, with a decrease in snowfall, the grasses are changing, and so are people’s interests. Earlier, animals were stall-fed with a rich mixture of different grasses, but this is no longer the case. People are now more focused on agriculture. Although labourers are hired to care for the livestock, they do not have the rich experience that we have, and they usually tend the flocks in nearby pastures only.
This was the response of an elderly herder who has been rearing livestock for four decades in one of the remotest places in the Indian Western Himalayan region – the Spiti Valley. Even until a few years ago, the valley used to be cut off from the rest of the world for about four months during the winter season. In 2012, during my Master’s internship fieldwork, I was based in Kibber – a Himalayan cold desert and the world’s highest human habitation located at an altitude of 4,200 m AMSL. I was conducting my first on-ground empirical research to document the traditional ecological knowledge of pastoralists, their livestock’s diet and resource use.
This article is from PASTRES, a research programme that aims to learn from pastoralists about responding to uncertainty and resilience, with lessons for global challenges. PASTRES is co-hosted by IDS.
