Technical Reports/Books/Manuals

The Changthang plateau in the eastern Ladakh, covering an area of ca. 21,000 km2 and mean altitude of ca. 4500 m above sea level, forms the western extension of the Tibetan plateau. Owing to cold arid environment, unique geology and palaeo-history this area harbours interesting assemblages of flora and fauna. Besides, the area supports a reasonably high biomass of domestic livestock comprising sheep, goats, yaks, donkeys and horses belonging to the Changpa herders, a nomadic pastoral community. According to official estimates the number of livestock in the area has almost doubled since 1970s. Although livestock grazing has been an age-old practice on this plateau, very little baseline information exists on the vegetation characteristics, ecology and current herding practices in these rangelands. We studied the floristic structure, community composition and availability of forage (graminoids, forbs and shrubs) in ca. 300 km2 area of Tso Kar basin, Changthang plateau during August-September 2001. Changpa herders were interviewed to get information on their livestock holding patterns and patterns of seasonal movement. 142 sites covering various landscape units, viz., sandy plains, marsh meadows, moist meadows, scrub steppe on the lower and higher slopes, fell-fields, and stream courses were intensively searched for the vascular plants. Each site was sampled for plant species, % cover, and abundance using 10 random quadrates of one m2. In all 232 species of vascular plants belonging to 38 families and 101 genera were collected and recorded from the study area. Poaceae (39 species), Asteraceae (27 species), Cyperaceae (25 species), Brassicaceae (14 species), Fabaceae (12 species) and Ranunculaceae (12 species) were the dominant families. Analysis of Raunkiaer’s life-forms reveals that the area is dominated by two growth forms viz., Hemi-cryptophytes (largely perennial grasses and sedges, and (ii) Chamaephytic i.e., dwarf herbs and matted shrubs whose shoots die back periodically (23.47 %). Various landscape units have been compared in terms of Prominence Value (an index of forage availability) of graminoids, forbs and shrubs. It is interesting to note that the study area had a very high (1:2) monocot : dicot ratio. We believe that the current stocking densities of livestock in the study area are at the peak and condition of rangelands are still good. Further immigration of refugee herders, increase in the livestock population and ill planned developmental activities may cause rapid degradation of pastures thereby hampering both the pastoral practices and wildlife in the region. Conservation implications of the findings and need for participatory approach of the rangeland management have been discussed.

Pastoralism is of three different kinds; Sedentary pastoralism, Mobile pastoralism, and Silvopastoralism. Grazing of livestock in limited grazing zones or ranches due to strict political borders leads to sedentary pastoralism. This form of pastoralism is becoming more common with the changing geo-political dynamics across the world. Sedentary pastoralists also raise crops with livestock in the form of mixed farming to diversify productivity. Mobile pastoralism includes moving herds of livestock in search of fresh forage and water, from shorter to longer distances. Transhumance is the form of mobile pastoralism where animals are routinely moved between different seasonal pastures across regions and under nomadism pastoralists their families move with the animals in search of available grazing grounds to supplement their natural resource needs. Grazing in woodlands and forests may be referred to as silvopastoral in which the livestock is periodically grazed inside the forest areas

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