Back to success stories
14 Aug 2020 | Transboundary Landscapes

Yak as a landscape connector

70% Complete

Regional cooperation on yak conservation benefits forged through events and networks in the Kanchenjunga Landscape

Yak as a landscape connector

Yak are an important landscape connector and yak conservation provides an important shared regional interest with clear transboundary needs and regional cooperation benefits.

The transboundary movement of yak across four of our HKH transboundary landscapes is an ageold practice essential for grazing, breeding, and vitality. It brings together communities across the highlands in cultural and economic arenas. Yak are intrinsic to life in the shared landscapes, but their vitality and viability as a mountain livelihood option is eroding.

To revitalize this option and collectively address challenges, we helped establish local yak networks in Bhutan, Nepal, and North Sikkim district in India. The goal is to connect these networks to form an HKH yak network. We also support annual yak festivals in Nepal and Bhutan to connect yakherding communities and other stakeholders for knowledge exchange on herding practices and challenges, technological solutions, value chain development, and trade opportunities. These festivals have been mainstreamed into local and national plans to ensure sustainability.

Yak productivity and populations are declining, and yak-herding lifestyles and knowledge are vanishing. Yak networks and annual yak festivals across the HKH are key to preserving yak-herding culture and sharing knowledge to ensure the vitality of yak raising as a mountain livelihood option.

Chapter 6

Facilitating regional cooperation

Bouncing back better

ICIMOD partner SABAH Nepal helps all-women team make the best of a crisis

Harnessing partnerships to address food insecurity

Fodder shortage in the winter is a major concern for farmers and households in the Hindu ...

Participatory watershed management in eastern Nepal

Based on long-term commitments through a joint action research project we undertook with the Dhankuta Municipality ...

Building a member-led consortium

The thematic working groups (TWGs) of the Himalayan University Consortium have proven to deepen network sustainability. ...

Conserving and restoring water sources

Efforts to integrate sringshed management into river basin management plans and policies in Nepal

What ever happened to shifting cultivation?

Addressing second generation issues in shifting cultivation landscapes ...

8 Jul 2021 KSL
Sustainable trade of nature-based products

Assessing Sudurpaschim Province’s potential for export and income generation

3 Dec 2019 REDD+
REDD+ for green communities

Global uptake of a community-based REDD+ approach Recognizing the importance of reducing emission from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD), there was ...