Impact of Climate Change on Nomads in Jammu and Kashmir with a View of Public Health Facilities

With Jammu and Kashmir witnessing extreme weather events like the earthquake in 2005, flash floods and landslides in 2010, and the massive floods of 2014; the Bakarwal population is finding it difficult.

In Jammu and Kashmir, the bi-annual migration of nearly 6 lakh transhuman tribal population is a regular event. The Bakarwals mostly rear the Australian Merino breed and local Poonchi and Kernai sheep, which cannot stand high summer temperatures in plain areas. They move to Kashmir from the plains and Pir-Panjal ranges of the Jammu region during the summers to reach the higher reaches of Kashmir and Ladakh. Gujjars and Bakarwals as well as the Gaddis in parts of Jammu form one of the largest transhumant communities in the Himalayas. In fact, the tribal population of Jammu & Kashmir that migrates is larger than the total population of many countries such as the Maldives, Iceland, Malta, Suriname, Luxemburg, Brunei, Iceland, among others.