The impacts of climate change are being felt in this highly susceptible Himalayan region Environment: Hidden in the folds of the mighty Himalayas is a valley that has not yet been overtaken by modernisation or industrialisation. Yet remote Ladakh, in India’s northern state of Jammu and Kashmir, has already began to experience, what some experts refer to as, the impact of climate change. In the past three decades, five spring water sources, which provided water to 80 households in Gya village, have completely dried, and nomads are struggling to find alternative sources, said film-maker, Stanzin Dorjai, who released a documentary on impact of climate change in the region. “Yaks and cattle are in a desperate situation,” he said. He said a study has shown that, in the last three decades, the glaciers in the mountains of Ladakh have receded by 50 percent. “Mountains that once looked white throughout the year have disappeared,” Stanzin Dorjai said. One of the local environmentalists said that, from 1973 to 2008, temperatures in the region have increased by 0.8 degree Celsius. Although located at 16,000 to 18,050 feet above sea level, Ladakh’s summer temperature has gone up to 36 degree Celsius. The rising temperatures have allowed farmers to grow lower altitude crops like tomato, chili and brinjal, environmentalists said. Local environmentalists also blame climate change for claiming the lives of around 400 people and more than 1,000 cattle, and displacing 5,000 from their homes by cloudburst floods that occurred in 2010. The cloud burst affected 55 of the 108 villages in the valley. “At the cost of industrialisation in developed world, we’re bearing the brunt,” director of Rural Development and Youth (RDY), Padma Tashi, said. Padma Tashi and his team have been mitigating the risk of climate change by building winter water reservoirs and spring water collection tanks. They have also encouraged water resistant crops and built 107 irrigation channels. Padma Tashi said there is no proper system and policy in place to address climate change disasters. “Money alone isn’t enough to adapt and mitigate the impact. We’ve repeatedly pushed forward an agenda to state government through local government, but it wasn’t approved,” Padma Tashi said. Many Ladakhis feel that, being located in northern boundary and being a minority, they tend to fall on the blind spot of the central government. In the absence of government’s attention, NGOs like Live to Love in 2010 and 2012 planted 150,000 saplings in the sparsely vegetated region, following the cloudburst flood caused. Padma Tashi is concerned that manmade disasters may spread to other Himalayan countries like Bhutan, Nepal and Pakistan, if timely mitigation actions are not put in place. “Look at us, we’re already late,” Padma Tashi said, adding, “given the same geographical landscape, Bhutan is also in the danger of losing its glaciers and snow reserve.” Glaciers and snow play a vital role in balancing eco-system and human survival in places like Ladakh, where farming and agriculture is the main source of livelihood. Many are nomads, whose entire lives depend on yak and sheep. “If springs and streams dry up, where will our animals drink?” a nomad from Gya village said.