CULTURE AND HERITAGE

 

Moving With The Seasons: Interconnectedness of nature and culture in the landscape of the pastoral nomadic Korzokpa of Changthang

Speaker: Tara Sharma, co-founder of the recently established Jungwa Foundation, a non-profit company which promotes nature culture conservation for the well being of communities and the ecosystems they inhabit.  The Foundation is currently developing a program in Korzok linking conservation with local livelihoods

 

The vast plains of Changthang (Northern Plains) in trans Himalayan Ladakh, is home to the Changpas, a pastoral nomadic community who roam the rangelands with their yak, horses, sheep and specifically the pashm producing changra (northern goats). The Korzokpa are one of three groups of Changpas - the others being the Kharnakpa and Samadpa – each of whom migrate within a well defined territory. Using the nature-culture approach for heritage conservation, fieldwork was carried out to identify the natural, cultural and social values embodied in the landscape. The talk draws on this to explore the complex web of belief systems, cultural practices, traditional land management and knowledge systems that have shaped the Korzokpas interface with nature