Sound The Trumpet : Mini Ice Age Warning: Extreme Cold Temperatures and Heavy Snow Killing Kashmir Goats

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“Mini Ice Age Warning: Extreme Cold Temperatures and Heavy Snow Killing Kashmir Goats”
by Asia Times on line
September 10th, 2013

The famed pashmina shawl that keeps the cold away – in style and at a price – could itself have become the victim of winter. Thousands of goats whose fine wool is woven into pashmina have perished in extreme cold being associated with climate change.

Pashmina is drawn from Changra goats found in Ladakh region of Kashmir state and a part of the Tibetan peninsula, more than

14,000 feet (4,267 meters) above sea level. The peninsula is often called the Roof of the World. Little grows in these areas where the temperature can drop to minus 35 degrees Celsius. The local Changpa nomads live off their herds of sheep, yak and goats.

The Changthang region of the larger Tibetan Peninsula does not normally see heavy snowfall. That may be changing, given the heavy snowfall earlier this year that deprived the Changpas of fodder for their animals.

“In the past five years this is the second time I have seen such heavy snowfall,” Bihkit Angmo, 53, who rears goats, told IPS outside her tent in Kharnak, a nomadic settlement 173 kilometers east of Leh, capital of Ladakh. “This new trend of snowfall several feet high has left us quite worried.”

Summer last year brought its own problems, leaving areas parched and barren. “It was terrible. We had to go long distances to find suitable pasture for our livestock,” said Angmo.

This summer, melting snow brought some greenery back but not before serious loss. The District Sheep Husbandry Office at Leh puts the number of goats lost due to weather upheavals at 24,624. This has seriously jeopardized the pashmina business. Wool from the goat is extremely warm, given the cold the animal has to survive in. With a diameter of 14-19 microns, strands of pashmina are said to be six times finer than human hair.

Kashmiri craftsmen have used these for generations to make the renowned Pashmina shawl, woven with hand and often embellished with fine embroidery. A pashmina shawl can cost about US$200-$600. Pashmina exports fetched $160 million in 2011-12, according to the state government’s economic survey.

Now, given the extremes of summer and winter, goats are dying either of starvation or of hypothermia.

Angmo’s is one of few families that have stayed behind in Kharnak to still rear Pashmina-producing goats. Some 83 families out of a total of 98 have migrated from this area, according to Mohammad Sharief, the district sheep husbandry officer at Leh.

“For the past several years,” he told IPS, “our surveys show that five to 10 families from the Changthang area migrate to Leh city every year.”

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