Prelims: Current events of national and international importance | Environment
Why in News?
Recently, the administration of the Union Territory of Ladakh ordered a joint spatial mapping and field verification process across the Changthang Cold Desert Wildlife Sanctuary.
Objectives
- Joint Field Verification - Teams combining revenue, forest, defence, and police personnel are deploying satellite imagery, GPS mapping, and ground verification to audit land use across the sanctuary.
- Scope of Mapping
- Defense Installations - Mapping established military camps, forward defence infrastructure, and strategic access roads deployed along the border ecosystem.
- Traditional Rights - Documenting customary grazing rights (tsam-dro) and seasonal routes utilised by nomadic Changpa pastoralists.
- Settlement Rights Determination - Resuming statutory processes to fix cut-off dates for existing civilian and administrative structures without legitimizing post-cut-off encroachments.
- Timelines - Field officials must submit fortnightly progress reports, ensuring a structured channel for public hearings before final boundary orders are issued.
Changthang Cold Desert Wildlife Sanctuary
- Established in – 1987.
- Location - Eastern Ladakh, spanning roughly 4,000km^2 across a high-altitude plateau.
- Major High-Altitude Lakes –
- Tso Moriri (Ramsar Site),
- Pangong Tso (transboundary endorheic lake), and
- Tso Kar (Ramsar Site).
- Flora- Characterized by arid alpine meadow vegetation, cold-desert scrub, and specialized halophytic marsh plants around brackish lakes.
- Keystone Wildlife Species- Snow Leopard, Kiang (Tibetan Wild Ass), Himalayan Wolf, Wild Yak, Tibetan Argali, and Bharal (Blue Sheep).
- It serves as a breeding ground for migratory birds like the Black-necked Crane (Grus nigricollis) and Bar-headed Goose.
- Indigenous Community - Changpa pastoralists rearing pure-bred Changthangi (Pashmina) goats, dependent on customary grazing grounds (tsam-dro).
- It also houses historical Buddhist heritage sites such as the 19th-century Korzok Monastery.
- Protected Status - Designated as a Cold Desert Wildlife Sanctuary in 1987 under the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972.
Reference
The Print | Spatial mapping of Changthang Wildlife Sanctuary
