October 14, Soe gewog, Thimphu. The sun is right above the head as it gives way to the clear blue sky. A gently rising voices of cheering crowd welcomes you to hundreds of tourists and visitors watching local men and women dance to traditional songs and musics.

The Jomolhari Mountain Festival, a celebration of highland cultures and livelihood is underway. A flat plain leading to Jomolhari peak is fenced by different tents exhibiting highland products and souvenirs.

A well decorated gate, traditional tents pitched on festival ground at the heart of Soe village is filled with fun and exciting display of livelihood, traditions and cultures.

A two-day event also serve as a warm and exciting rest and stop point for both tiring and thrilled tourits hiking to Jomolhari base at Jangothang. It’s the final 30 minutes walk up to the base camp after days of hiking from the roadpoint in Shana, Paro.

The festival is the best time to experience the lives in the Jomolhari region. A traditional tents woven out of yak hair is pitched and a group of men and women wear traditional Soe dresses. These tents and dress are on the decline.
The Jomolhari Mountain Festival celebrates the harmonious co-existence of the highland communities and the snow leopard, also known as the Guardian of the high mountains. The festival brings together communities from the highland villages of Soe, Lingzhi, Yaksa and Nubri for two days.

For the people of Soe, yak rearing and ferrying of goods for guests and tourists visiting the Park is the main source of income. The highland community also depends on non-wood forest products such cordyceps, medicinal plants, and incense.

However, with climate change affecting the pastureland and availability of natural resources, income is decreasing for the highlanders. The impacts felt in Yaksa are similar, and the lack of pastureland and diminishing water sources are making the community increasingly vulnerable.

We were a team of six colleagues from WWF-Bhutan on an official trip to attend Jomolhari mountain festival and to conduct consultation with the communities of Soe and Yaksa . The task was to inform them about the key informant survey results conducted in June as part of the Climate Crowd project.

The climate crowd project provides a unique opportunity to work with the communities such as Soe and Yaksa. It also gave me a hope that it would help secure fast fading lives on the mountains and encourage the highland communities preserve their unique culture and livelihood.

Through the project, support will be provided to the non-wood forest product and livestock groups, so livelihood of the communities is protected.  A similar survey was also carried out in communities living inside Jigme Dorji National Park and Jomotshangkha Wildlife Sanctuary.

A week before travelling to Soe, I was in Draagchukha village in Punakha as part of the project consultation visit. A community different from Soe but faces same challenges from changing climate and weather patterns.

The same survey conducted at Draagchukha village in Punakha showed that the community often comes in conflict with the wildlife as wildlife, affecting directly on the crop yields.

The farmers race against time to reap the most of what they have sowed. Boars, deer, and monkeys continue to raid their crops. Farmers spend sleepless nights until the harvest is over and the stocked in the storage rooms. Their guards, plushie tigers, having fulfilled their duties now rest on rooftops overlooking the village.

The key informant survey, conducted by WWF-Bhutan in collaboration with the Department of Forests and Park Services as part of the Climate Crowd project, a bottom-up community-driven approach, collects data on climate impacts to communities, analyze the data, present the data back to the communities, and work with them to develop, fund and implement on-the-ground solutions that help people and nature adapt to changing climate.

The project supports the development and implementation of interventions aimed at reducing the impact of climate change such as increasing human-wildlife conflict, triggered by decreasing food and water sources in the wild. This would help secure the livelihood and income of the people in Draagchukha, and communities facing similar challenges in the park.

These traces of challenging lives amid rising impacts of climate change remain hidden behind the rising slopes and a few kilometers of drive on a bumpy road off the peace roads and national highways. Draagchukha is located about 20 minutes away from the Punakha – Gasa highway.

A brief meeting with the people of Draagchukha gave me another reason to continue my journey down into southern foothills, inside another national park rich in species and unique landscape.

Amid changing climate in southern foothills
For the communities in Langchenphu and Samrang gewogs in Samdrupjongkhar, access to drinking and irrigation water is becoming increasingly challenging, leading to decreased crop yields. The communities are also facing increased risk of floods and landslides.

Climate Crowd initiative in collaboration with the gewog administration and Jomotsangkha Wildlife Sanctuary works toward providing a reliable water supply to the communities by securing water sources and developing a reliable water supply system. This is expected to help build resilience of the communities.

Understanding the impacts of climate change, according to local government officials, was important for the community and the decision-makers for adaption and mitigation purposes. 

For the wildlife in Jomotshangkha Wildlife Sanctuary, decreased water and food availability and degraded habitat would mean seeking these basics elsewhere. The closest would-be communities within the park. Climate change exacerbates human-wildlife conflicts.

Located along the eastern southern Indo-Bhutan border, Jomotsangkha Wildlife Sanctuary, the smallest protected area in the country is home to key species such as the Asiatic elephant.

In about a week, as I travelled from one park to another, one village to another, I learned how chaning climate and erratic weather patterns have not spared a single home. Amid all these challenging times, it was inspiring to see the unwavering strength and commitment in the people I met to work together.

There is still hope and it’s beautiful.