Saving the Himalayan Rangelands: Conserving Nature Through People, Pastures and Partnership

- Pema Yangden Lepcha, Project Co-ordinator, ATREE regional office

The first signs that the Himalaya is changing are not always dramatic. They are easy to miss. A spring that no longer flows through summer. A pasture where the grass grows thinner each year. A yak struggling through an unusually warm season. A young herder deciding that the mountains no longer offer a future.

Taken together, these quiet changes tell a powerful story. They are warning us that one of the Himalaya's most important ecosystems is under growing strain.

This World Nature Conservation Day carries special significance. The United Nations has declared 2026 as the International Year of Rangelands and Pastoralists (IYRP 2026), recognising the immense ecological, cultural and economic value of rangelands and the pastoral communities who care for them. For the Eastern Himalaya, particularly Sikkim, this global recognition could not have come at a more appropriate time.

When conversations turn to nature conservation, forests, rivers and endangered wildlife usually dominate the discussion. Rarely do we think of the vast alpine grasslands that lie above the tree line. Yet these Himalayan rangelands quietly perform some of nature's most important work. They feed mountain communities, regulate water that eventually reaches millions downstream, store carbon, support rich biodiversity, and sustain the centuries-old tradition of yak pastoralism.

For generations, yak herders have understood these landscapes better than anyone else. They know when the first grasses appear after winter, how snowfall shapes grazing routes, where water will still be available in late summer, and which slopes wildlife is likely to use. Their knowledge has been built not in laboratories, but through centuries of living with the mountains.

Today, many of those herders speak of mountains that no longer behave as they once did.

Climate change is altering the natural rhythm of the high Himalaya. Snowfall has become less predictable. Dry spells last longer. Alpine meadows are changing, and water sources that sustained livestock for generations are becoming increasingly unreliable. For yaks, animals perfectly adapted to cold mountain environments, warmer temperatures bring heat stress and greater exposure to parasites and diseases that are steadily moving into higher elevations.

The challenges do not end there.

Across many Himalayan landscapes, free-ranging and feral dogs have emerged as an unexpected conservation concern. While the Snow Leopard often receives attention for livestock depredation, herders increasingly report that dog attacks on yak calves and sheep have become more frequent. These dogs also disturb wildlife, compete with native carnivores and increase the risk of disease transmission between domestic animals and wild species. Addressing this growing problem requires better waste management, sterilisation and vaccination programmes, and coordinated action across communities and local institutions.

The mountains themselves are also changing in other ways. Expanding roads, tourism infrastructure and competing land uses are fragmenting traditional grazing landscapes. At the same time, many young people are choosing livelihoods away from pastoralism. Their decisions are understandable, but each family that leaves yak herding takes with it generations of traditional ecological knowledge about weather, wildlife, medicinal plants and sustainable grazing practices. Once lost, this knowledge cannot easily be recovered.

Perhaps the greatest irony is that while rangelands are among the Himalaya's most valuable ecosystems, they remain among its least recognised. Responsibility for these landscapes is often divided across forestry, livestock, tourism, rural development and disaster management departments. The result is fragmented governance, limited ecological monitoring, inadequate investment in restoration and insufficient support for pastoral communities.

The International Year of Rangelands and Pastoralists offers an opportunity to change that narrative. Healthy rangelands should not be viewed simply as grazing lands. They are multifunctional landscapes that support biodiversity, strengthen climate resilience, secure mountain water sources, preserve cultural heritage and sustain local economies. Future conservation efforts must therefore invest not only in restoring degraded pastures, but also in strengthening veterinary services, supporting yak-based livelihoods, managing free-ranging dog populations, promoting responsible tourism and placing Indigenous and local knowledge at the centre of decision-making.

Recognising this need, ATREE (Regional Office) has begun working with pastoral communities across Lachen, Lachungand Yuksom-Dzongri to restore degraded rangelands, strengthen yak pastoralism, promote coexistence with Snow Leopards and revive traditional ecological knowledge. The initiative is built on a simple understanding that conserving nature and supporting livelihoods are not competing goals. They are inseparable.

Nature conservation is often measured by the number of forests protected or endangered species saved. But the future of the Himalaya will also depend on whether we protect the windswept grasslands above the tree line and the communities that have cared for them for generations.

If we lose the Himalayan rangelands, we will lose far more than alpine pastures. We will lose mountain springs that nourish valleys below, habitats that shelter extraordinary wildlife, and a living tradition of stewardship that has quietly protected these landscapes for centuries.

This World Nature Conservation Day, the message is clear. Conserving nature means looking beyond the forests. It means recognising that the future of the Himalaya depends as much on its rangelands and pastoral communities as it does on its glaciers and wildlife. By protecting these overlooked landscapes today, we safeguard not only biodiversity, but also the resilience, culture and future of the mountains themselves.