Strengthening the yak pastoralism and rangeland network in India

Organisers: Department of Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Services, Government of Sikkim, ATREE, and ICIMOD

The workshop

The Department of Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Services, Government of Sikkim, Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment (ATREE) and the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) are organising a two-day consultation workshop on “Strengthening Yak Pastoralism and Rangeland Network in India,” from 1-2 September 2025 in Gangtok, Sikkim. This consultation workshop will bring together key stakeholders – pastoral communities, researchers, civil society organisations, and government representatives – to initiate formation of the Yak Herders’ Association in Sikkim. In addition, the workshop aims to lay the foundation for establishing a national level “Indian Himalayan Yak Herders’ Network” involving Sikkim, Union Territory of Ladakh, and Arunachal Pradesh. The network will serve as a platform for dialogue, knowledge exchange, collaborative research, capacity building, and policy advocacy on issues pertaining to yak husbandry, rangeland management, and climate resilience in high-altitude landscapes. The workshop will also provide herders with an introduction to the key concepts, processes, and potential challenges involved in forming and sustaining community-based associations and networks, based on the learnings from Bhutan and Nepal.

Objectives        

• build awareness and capacity among yak herders on the processes and potential challenges of forming community-based associations and collective institutions
• facilitate formation of a state-wide Yak Herders’ Association in Sikkim to enhance community organisation, representation, and empowerment of pastoralist voices in relevant policy and development forums.
• lay the foundation for the national-level Indian Himalayan Yak Herders’ Network involving Sikkim, Union Territory of Ladakh, and Arunachal Pradesh in India.
• facilitate inclusive dialogue and knowledge exchange among yak herders, researchers, non-governmental organisations, (NGOs), and government representatives from across the Indian Himalayan Region to understand region-specific challenges and share traditional knowledge associated with rangeland management

Expected outcomes

• formation of Yak Herders’ Association in Sikkim to ensure stronger rangeland community organisation and representation
• initiation of dialogue among key stakeholders for formation of similar state-level Yak Herders’ Network in Arunachal Pradesh and Union Territory of Ladakh
• initiation of dialogue for formation of national-level Indian Himalayan Yak Herders’ Network, with action plan and timeline, to connect and promote coordination and knowledge exchange among key yak-rearing regions of Sikkim, Ladakh, and Arunachal Pradesh
• exchange of good practices in yak herding and awareness on formation and management of community-based associations

Background

The high-altitude rangelands of the Hindu Kush Himalaya (HKH), located between 3,000 and 5,500 metre above the sea level (masl), constitute about 60% of the region. Rangeland ecosystems in high-altitude regions of Indian Himalayan Region (IHR), such as Union Territory of Ladakh, Sikkim, and Arunachal Pradesh, are critical for the sustenance of traditional pastoral livelihoods, ecological balance, and biodiversity conservation. Due to sparse population and relative isolation, their concerns and challenges are not part of the mainstream development discourse. Also, there is a lack of pan-national co-ordinated efforts, knowledge exchange platforms, and institutional mechanisms to address shared challenges and harness opportunities for sustainable rangeland and yak management across these landscapes in the IHR. The establishment of a unified and inclusive platform for the IHR can help strengthen collaboration, promote mutual learning, and co-develop context-specific solutions, thereby supporting sustainable rangeland and yak pastoralism in the yak-rearing areas of the Indian Himalaya.

Recognising this, ICIMOD supported the Department of Livestock in Bhutan and Nepal to mobilise herders’ networks through the Kangchenjunga Landscape Conservation and Development Initiative (KLCDI) during 2019–2020. Efforts were also made to engage and sensitise herders in Sikkim under the same project, in collaboration with the Govind Ballabh (GB) Pant National Institute of Himalayan Environment (NIHE), an autonomous Institute of the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, India during 2020–2021. More recently, in November 2024, a consultation meeting was convened in Sikkim under the leadership of NIHE and the Department of Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Services, Sikkim, with a focus on establishing an Indian Himalayan Yak Herders’ Network. The meeting brought together yak herders and representatives from government agencies across Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh and Union Territory of Ladakh, and resulted in a consensus on the way forward for forming the Indian Himalayan Yak Herders’ Network (National Stakeholders’ Workshop on Indian Himalayan Yak Network_ICIMOD.pdf ).

Building on this momentum, ICIMOD and ATREE signed a Letter of Agreement in 2025 to advance collaborative efforts on yak dietary and socio-economic data collection, as well as yak herders’ network strengthening activities. Specifically, two key priorities were identified for networking of yak herders across the Indian Himalaya:
i) facilitating the formation of state-level yak herders’ associations across the three states, and
ii) establishing a yak herders’ network for the Indian Himalayan region.