Rethinking climate impacts and livestock emissions through transhumant pastoralism in Jammu and Kashmir

Abstract

This article reconsiders the climate implications of transhumant pastoralism through an ethnographic case study of the Chopan pastoralists in the alpine grasslands of Jammu and Kashmir, India. Amid dominant global climate narratives that homogenize livestock systems and often portray them as ecologically harmful, this study highlights the need for differentiated assessments that recognize the distinctiveness of extensive, low-input systems. Drawing on fieldwork conducted in the high-altitude Trajan pasture, we demonstrate how Chopan pastoralism makes ecologically efficient use of marginal environments through adaptive mobility, rotational grazing, and traditional ecological knowledge. Contrary to assumptions of overgrazing and degradation, our analysis—grounded in forage yield estimates and carrying capacity calculations—suggests that current grazing pressure remains well within sustainable limits. Moreover, the Chopans contribute to regional food security, mediate human-wildlife interactions, and promote soil fertility through natural nutrient cycling. Yet, these pastoralists remain structurally marginalized in policy frameworks and face increasing constraints from land-use change, forest restrictions, and infrastructural encroachments. We argue for the inclusion of pastoralist perspectives in climate policy debates and for a revaluation of transhumant systems as viable models of low-impact, climate-resilient land use. The study advances broader discussions on sustainability, ecological justice, and the role of traditional livelihoods in contemporary environmental governance.