Rock glacier Oasis: An alternative for agro-pastoralism in a changing environment in the Himalayan cold desert

Abstract

The unprecedented climate change has catastrophic repercussions for high mountain communities and these issues need a multi-disciplinary understanding for adaptation and mitigation strategies. The limited cultivable agricultural land and pastures along with an abridged cultivation season and water scarcity, all have severely impacted local communities in the cold desert of Ladakh. The indigenous people relying on glacier and snow-melt have developed unique water management and agro-pastoralism practices and are searching for additional alternatives owing to continuous climate and lifestyle changes. People are increasingly relocating to higher valleys in search of adequate cultivable land. In this endeavour, people are found to be practicing agro-pastoral activities adjacent to the thermokarst lakes (Oasis) present on the rock glaciers. The present study is a one-of-a-kind overview of such innovative and adaptive farming strategies to encourage research towards the water storage in such features, and how long it will remain sustainable.