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Ladakh herders endeavor to save future on climate frontier

A nomad enters his mud house as he uses a torch on a dark autumn night in the remote Kharnak village in the cold desert region of Ladakh, India, Saturday, Sept. 17, 2022. The region's sparsely populated villages have witnessed shifting weather patterns that have already altered people's lives through floods, landslides and droughts. (AP Photo/Mukhtar Khan) A nomadic herder shepherds his cattle flock on a mountain top in the remote Kharnak village in the cold desert region of Ladakh India, Saturday, Sept. 17, 2022. Thousands of Ladakh nomads known for their unique lifestyle in one of the most hostile landscapes in the world have been at the heart of changes caused by global warming, compounded by border conflict and shrinking grazing land. (AP Photo/Mukhtar Khan) (AP Photo/Mukhtar Khan) A row of solar panels for electricity have been set up in remote Kharnak village in the cold desert region of Ladakh, India, Sunday, Sept. 17, 2022. Authorities say they’re doing everything they can to stop the flight of nomads such as setting up solar panels for electricity, government-built prefab huts and water taps. (AP Photo/Mukhtar Khan) Sonam Wangchuk, an engineer working on solutions for sustainability at his Himalayan Institute of Alternative Ladakh, talks to The Associated Press near Leh in the cold desert region of Ladakh, India, Monday, Sept. 19, 2022. (AP Photo/Mukhtar Khan) A nomad woman fetches water from a glacial trickle in remote Kharnak village in the cold desert region of Ladakh, India, Saturday, Sept. 17, 2022. Thousands of Ladakh nomads known for their unique lifestyle in one of the most hostile landscapes in the world have been at the heart of changes caused by global warming, compounded by border conflict and shrinking grazing land. (AP Photo/Mukhtar Khan) Black smoke rises from a chimney at a hot mix plant for blacktopping roads in the remote Kharnak village in the cold desert region of Ladakh, India, Sunday, Sept. 18, 2022. An increase in local pollution that has worsened due to the region’s militarization has exacerbated the melting of the glaciers in the region, experts say. (AP Photo/Mukhtar Khan) A locked door of a house sits in the remote Kharnak village in the cold desert region of Ladakh, India, Saturday, Sept. 17, 2022. The region's sparsely populated villages have witnessed shifting weather patterns that have already altered people's lives through floods, landslides and droughts. (AP Photo/Mukhtar Khan) A nomadic herder shepherds his cattle flock on a mountain top in the remote Kharnak village in the cold desert region of Ladakh India, Tuesday, Sept. 20, 2022. Thousands of Ladakh nomads known for their unique lifestyle in one of the most hostile landscapes in the world have been at the heart of changes caused by global warming, compounded by border conflict and shrinking grazing land. (AP Photo/Mukhtar Khan) Indian army vehicles move in a convoy in the cold desert region of Ladakh, India, Tuesday, Sept. 20, 2022. Nestled between India, Pakistan and China, Ladakh has not just faced territorial disputes but also stark climate change. (AP Photo/Mukhtar Khan) A young girl carries a child on her back as she passes through a street in Kharnakling near Leh in the cold desert region of Ladakh, India, Thursday, Sept. 15, 2022. Thousands of Ladakh nomads known for their unique lifestyle in one of the most hostile landscapes in the world have been at the heart of changes caused by global warming, compounded by border conflict and shrinking grazing land. The changes have forced hundreds to migrate to mainly urban settlements like Kharnakling. (AP Photo/Mukhtar Khan) A view of a glacier on mountaintop and grazing land near the remote Kharnak village in the cold desert region of Ladakh, India, Saturday, Sept. 17, 2022. Ladakh’s thousands of glaciers, which help give the rugged region its title as one of the water towers of the world, are receding at an alarming rate, threatening the water supply of millions of people. (AP Photo/Mukhtar Khan) Photographs of some migrant villagers line a cupboard inside a house of a nomad in remote Kharnak village in the cold desert region of Ladakh, India, Saturday, Sept. 17, 2022. Thousands of Ladakh nomads known for their unique lifestyle in one of the most hostile landscapes in the world have been at the heart of changes caused by global warming, compounded by border conflict and shrinking grazing land. (AP Photo/Mukhtar Khan) A hardy goat which produces cashmere stands outside a house made of mud and rock in remote Kharnak village in the cold desert region of Ladakh, India, Saturday, Sept. 17, 2022. Cashmere takes its name from disputed Kashmir, where artisans weave the wool into fine yarn and exquisite clothing items that cost up to thousands apiece in a major handicraft export industry. (AP Photo/Mukhtar Khan) Nomad women weave a carpet in remote Kharnak village in the cold desert region of Ladakh, India, Saturday, Sept. 17, 2022. Thousands of Ladakh nomads known for their unique lifestyle in one of the most hostile landscapes in the world have been at the heart of changes caused by global warming, compounded by border conflict and shrinking grazing land. (AP Photo/Mukhtar Khan) A nomad fetches water from a hand pump in remote Kharnak village in the cold desert region of Ladakh, India, Saturday, Sept. 17, 2022. Thousands of Ladakh nomads known for their unique lifestyle in one of the most hostile landscapes in the world have been at the heart of changes caused by global warming, compounded by border conflict and shrinking grazing land. (AP Photo/Mukhtar Khan) Nomad Tsering Angchuk, right, talks to The Associated Press as he sits with his wife, Dolma Angmo, left, inside their mud and stone house in remote Kharnak village in the cold desert region of Ladakh, India, Sunday, Sept. 17, 2022. Angchuk is determined to herd his flock of fine cashmere-producing goats in the treeless Kharnak village, a hauntingly beautiful but unforgiving, cold mountainous desert. (AP Photo/Mukhtar Khan) Dolma Angmo, wife of nomad Tsering Angchuk, attends her hardy Himalayan goats that produce cashmere in the remote Kharnak village in the cold desert region of Ladakh, India, Sunday, Sept. 17, 2022. Angchuk is determined to herd his flock of fine cashmere-producing goats in the treeless Kharnak village, a hauntingly beautiful but unforgiving, cold mountainous desert. (AP Photo/Mukhtar Khan)
Ladakh herders endeavor to save future on climate frontier