India

Gujjar and Bakerwal Indigenous communities sustain diverse Himalayan food systems grounded in pastoralism, transhumance, and forest-based livelihoods. Families depend on mobile herding of sheep, goats, and cattle; seasonal alpine grazing; and foraged foods such as wild herbs, mushrooms, and medicinal plants. Small-scale subsistence farming, including maize, pulses, and vegetables, supplements pastoral diets. Climatic uncertainty, shortened migration windows, and ongoing ecological stressors are increasingly reshaping traditional food availability and mobility cycles.

Other Indigenous groups maintain self-reliance through a combination of gathering uncultivated foods and hunting in fallow lands and forests. The forest acts as a critical safety net, providing honey, fish, and plants that ensure dietary diversity.

Communities face accelerated impacts including early snowmelt, altered pasture phenology, and extreme events like cloudbursts, landslides, and flash floods along migration routes. Shrinking grazing landscapes due to forest closures and drought directly affect livestock health and traditional mobility.

In other regions, grasslands are being invaded by invasive species, leading to habitat degradation and a reduction in available pasture land for traditional communities.

Partner organisations from Eastern and Western Ghats

Organisations from North East India will also be invited as part of this case study

Collaborations with Gujjar and Bakerwal communities in the Himalayan region