Will the pastures open for pashmina goats this winter?

Military tensions at the India-China border dealt a blow for the Changthang plateau nomads, who rear the Pashmina goats in the high altitude regions of Ladakh. Their goats have been deprived of their usual grazing land because of the tussle between India and China, causing the death of thousands of goat kids this season.

Srinagar: Highly prized and super-soft cashmere Pashmina wool is one of the world's finest fabrics but the industry is facing a serious threat due to ongoing border dispute between India and China in the forward areas of the embattled Ladakh region.

At an altitude of over 16,400 feet, more than 1,000 families of nomadic herders roam the vast Changthang plateau in Ladakh.

Grazing over 300,000 pashmina goats, these herders have already been struggling due to the impact of climate change. The winters are now harsher and the summers drier.

Some have even migrated to towns in Ladakh to look for other means of livelihood. Those who stayed back, now find themselves caught in military tensions between India and China.

"In about three years, when the newborn goats would have started yielding pashmina, we'll see a significant drop in production," Sonam Tsering, All Changtang Pashmina Growers Cooperative Marketing Society, said, adding, "Some traditional grazing land is lost to China each year."

"But this year, even the main winter grazing areas near KakJung, Tum Tselay, Chumar, Damchok and Korzok are out of bounds amid the heightened tensions," he claimed.

"It's devastating. The People's Liberation Army used to encroach into our side by the metres, but this time they have come inside several kilometres," he adds.

"It was breeding season for the goats. Around 85 per cent of their newborns died this year because large herds were pushed out into the cold from the grazing lands in February," he said.

Tsering said Indian soldiers were blocking the animals from entering areas deemed as sensitive, while herders told him the Chinese army was pushing Tibetan nomads into their grazing areas.

Half a dozen residents involved with goat herding claimed that until a few years ago, they would cross the frozen Indus river for grazing during the winter, areas now being encroached by China.

Meanwhile, communicating with the herders - whose satellite phones provided by Indian officials have been withdrawn in recent years - has become difficult, he said.