Rural Livelihood Program
Since 2023, we have been focusing our efforts on creating a pathway to a sustainable place-based economy for Kargil’s farmers. To that end, we have collaborated with various experts to develop value-added products that utilize Kargil’s considerable biodiversity. In May 2024, we invited Mumbai-based restaurateur and Kashmir food expert, Jasleen Marwah, to visit Kargil and train several women’s self-help groups in collaboration with the Indian Army. Chef Jasleen developed a delicious energy bar featuring dried apricots and sea buckthorn, both of which are native to Kargil, and which was then sold at the Kargil marathon commemorating the 25th anniversary of the Kargil War. We also invited Kashmiri entrepreneur and founder of the Mountain Soap Company, Sana Aftab, to train local women in the preparation of soaps featuring local herbs. We will continue to work on improving the market readiness of product lines.
As value additions require processing equipment, we are now working on acquiring processing infrastructure in Kargil. With funding from the ICICI foundation and knowhow from Ecofrost technologies, we have recently opened the first cold storage facility for Kargil’s farmers. Having the ability to extend the shelf-life of highly perishable products in a remote region will be a game changer. Going forward, we will continue to build out the cold chain as well as add other processing equipment as necessary.
Kargil farmers' first cold storage
Making soap with local medicinal plants
Mid-summer 2019: Dr. Navendu Page explains to a class the techniques for conducting a Bioblitz, an intensive survey of the flora of a small plot of land.
Selling Kargil energy bars at the Kargil Marathon
Environmental Education Program
Kargil is home to a wealth of medicinal plants, but awareness of this valuable natural resource is low. Where better to start than with the youth, blithely ignorant of the natural bounty surrounding them? Luckily, National Geographic agreed with us and awarded us a grant to launch an environmental education program. Using the citizen science model, we started working with ten schools in the Sankoo and Panikhar blocks (both exceptionally rich in medicinal plants) in 2019.
We also created various opportunities for cross-cultural exchange, where botanical artists from Malaysia, which also has a strong citizen science movement, worked with high school students in Kargil to teach them how to look at their native medicinal plants from another perspective. In addition, we organized a careers in science workshop with Indian scientists working at the University of Dundee, Scotland.
With funding from the Australian High Commission to India and in collaboration with the University of Trans-disciplinary Health Sciences (TDU) in Bangalore, we have continued to build on this foundation. Our inspiration is the National Indigenous Science Education Program (NISEP) in Australia, which has successfully integrated indigenous knowledge into the school science curriculum. This is in line with India’s stated National Education Policy to introduce more interventions that make school education less irrelevant and foreign to the lives of tribal children, both culturally and academically.
The ultimate aim is to create pathways to economic development for tribal communities that, precisely because they are grounded in the local context and traditional knowledge, lead to more environmentally sustainable outcomes, of crucial importance in a region that is at the forefront of climate change.
In 2018, we begin to lay the groundwork to set up a conservation organization in Kargil. We visit the ATREE (the Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and Environment) research and conservation program at Agasthyamalai, Tamil Nadu.
Summer 2021: Scientists from the University of Dundee, Scotland hold an information session on careers in the bio sciences for aspiring student scientists from across Kargil.
Mid-summer 2019: Dr. Navendu Page explains to a class the techniques for conducting a Bioblitz, an intensive survey of the flora of a small plot of land.
Teaching the basics of hydroponics in medicinal plant gardening to school children.
Botanical art in education
At a school in Lankarchey, students learn how to set up a hydroponic garden of medicinal plants under the guidance of Mr. Ahmad Ali of LOGIC.
Explaining Kargil medicinal plants to the students of Gurgaon’s Shiv Nadar school
Conservation Assessment and Management Plan (CAMP) for medicinal plants in Ladakh
This is an intensive, interactive and unique process that facilitates objective and systematic prioritisation of research and management actions needed for species conservation. CAMP can be initiated by any wildlife agencies, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) or specialist groups. (Source: Foundation for revitalisation of local health traditions.)
The CAMP for the Ladakh Union Territory is funded by the UNDP as part of the SECURE Himalaya project and run by Bangalore-based Trans-Disciplinary University (TDU), with the Tropicalist Trust in Kargil as its local partner.
In preparation for the CAMP, the Tropicalist Trust has held two pre-CAMP workshops. The first was organized in Kargil district on 12th December, 2020. The second took place on 12 April 2021, at the National Research Institute of Sowa Rigpa, organized in collaboration with Sowa Rigpa. In attendance at both events were the numerous stakeholders, including Tibetan medicine healers or amchis, who have historically foraged for medicinal plants for use in their healing practices, academics, representatives of local NGOs, progressive farmers, botanists, and forestry department officials, among others.
The final CAMP workshop was held in Leh, Ladakh, from September 15-17 2021.
Ongoing Community Outreach and Sustainability Advoacacy
In addition to larger projects, the Trust works on an ongoing basis to educate Kargilis on the need for a sustainable approach to development. To that end, Shabir Hussain, the deputy director, has conducted a workshop at a WWF organized forum on sustainable tourism and has been a speaker at various local educational institutions. He has been recognized for his efforts with a certificate of appreciation from the Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council.
Agricultural advisory
To advocate for place-based development, the Trust engages in agricultural advisory where requested. The Trust was instrumental in the setting up of Kargil’s first FPO, the Rangyul Organic Producers Company, in 2022, where our deputy director, Shabir Hussain, serves on the board of directors, as an advocate for medicinal plant cultivation. He serves as the medicinal and aromatic plants coordinator at Baseej-e-zarat, an agricultural extension organization, where he introduced lilium and gladiolus cultivation along with technologies like mulching. The Trust also runs demonstrations on how to process and market local agricultural produce and is an increasingly well-known advocate for sustainable and organic farming techniques in the region. For these efforts, Shabir Hussain has been recognized with the Best Farmer Award 2022 by the Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council.
