Losar to Lohri via Arusha?
The Dhauladhar Issue #25
Hello everyone. Hope you are all doing well. Happy Losar and Lohri in advance - more of this coming up below! But before we begin, a gentle reminder to:
It truly works wonders!
Alright, let’s begin with an interesting scienc-y factoid, shall we?
Did you know that the Indian continental plate under the Himalayas in Tibet may be splitting in two?
A new article published in Science explores this phenomenon called “Delamination”! Scientists measured the concentration of Helium - 3 in natural springs in China to reach their preliminary findings and corroborated the fluctuations with “earthquake” waves rippling across the third pole, recorded in specialized stations! Goes to show just how much knowledge exists around us, hiding in plain sight.
Talking about Tibet, their new year, called “Losar” is just around the corner, and it’s festive season in little Tibet here at McLeodganj. Check this out:
In this sense, Lohri, a Punjabi festival that will be celebrated this weekend is not too different from Losar - both recognize the end of the harvesting season - a time of abundance and security! It is said that after Lohri, the winters begin to recede and the days start getting longer (we can already feel the spring winds coming in towards Dharamshala).
However, it is not all festive in our part of the world right now.
It hasn’t rained in almost a month and the mountains are completely bereft of snow cover, directly impacting water supplies.
Gulmarg, the world famous ski resort in Kashmir has not seen snow till now, heavily impacting the tourism industry. Last year this time, the resort was completely covered with snow.
According to Greater Kashmir:
Experts attribute the dry spell to the El Nino climatic phenomenon, predicting potential repercussions on global weather patterns and temperatures in 2024. If the dry spell continues, it is expected to affect tourism and result in cancellations, creating economic challenges for the region.
Interestingly, the lack of moisture in the air has led to a flu outbreak, with people falling sick with cold and cough. Literally everyone we spoke to blamed the flu on the dry spell. Does something similar happen where you’re from?
Anyhow, we recently came across a bird we’ve never seen before. It was a pack (?) of three relatively large ground foragers escaping into the fenced part of the forest at post sunset. We’re unsure which species it is but they were hyper aware of human presence in the area and very difficult to capture on camera. Check it out (it’s a blurred photo but we will follow up soon):
On the home front, here are a few resources that piqued our interest off late (we keep reposting such articles on X, so follow us there for more):
Bhutan Mountain Man, Phuntsho Tshering and Arun Bhattarai for The Guardian
Community Participation in Sustainable Forest Management, Dr. Raja Muzaffar Bhat for Kashmir Observer,
Greenlight for destruction: Controversial forest Act opens door to unfettered deforestation, Vaishali Rawat for Frontline,
Judgment of the National Green Tribunal in the case of Dhanishwar Debnath v. Union of India (2022 SCC OnLine NGT 628): The vulnerable Reang tribal community were persecuted in Mizoram and forced to migrate to Tripura, in north eastern India. The site where the Reang were to be rehabilitated fell in a thickly forested area. The rehabilitation was challenged before the judiciary. Truly rare fact situation if you ask us,
Climate crisis ravages Uttarakhand’s nomadic herders as government looks away, Sushmita for The Morning Context,
Why Joshimath residents have moved back to unsafe houses, Vaishnavi Rathore for Scroll.in, and
Bird communities in a selectively logged tropical montane forest are dominated by small, low-elevation species, Ritobroto Chanda, Shambu Rai, Bharat Tamang, Binod Munda, Dambar K Pradhan, Mangal Rai, Aman Biswakarma and Umesh Srinivasan for Global Ecology and Conservation
We also had the chance to begin engaging with the local taxi unions in Dharamshala and sharing our work with them, in light of precedent of such unions from the Himalayan region actively participating in judicial proceedings consequential to the environment.
While being squarely focussed on the third pole, we understand that other mountainous nations can benefit from the lessons we are learning due to planetary change in this part of the world.
After all, as an India first organization, why not take pride in what we have learnt from our own lands! To that end, our outreach continues and we can share that a digital copy of our handbook is now in the European Court of Human Rights system at Strasbourg, France!
More importantly, we have also shared our digital resources with the African Union Library, Addis Adaba, Ethiopia, the African Court on Human and Peoples' Rights, Arusha, Tanzania and a few colleagues working on allied issues in Nigeria! More on this when we get further updates.
All this outreach with International Courts, Universities and organizations made us think:
Does international law reform unfold in hallowed conference halls and ivory towers or while walking to the post office and writing emails?
We will leave you with this thought and of course, another aesthetic photograph leading into the weekend!
Happy harvest season,
Himalayan Advocacy Center
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Postscript:
As you may know, we are a small non profit in the environment + law space located in the Indian Himalayas. We are completely bootstrapped! This means no foreign funding and no fancy headquarters - just a small community - of which you all are an integral part - in the long run we hope!
What’s more - we, at the Center, are determined to localise efforts for the planet, without compromising on the best that the law has to offer. If you have the means, and want to support a committed local undertaking, please do consider contributing to our corpus. We hope to pleasantly surprise you with detailed information on where you money has been spent!
Interesting information shared in a subtle but powerful way..... That's the Marvel of brief and crisp newsletters...