Mountain regions are also home to many indigenous people whose livelihoods depend on mountain ecosystem services such as water, forests, agriculture, and medicinal plants ( Hunzai et al 2011). Mountain regions cover 27% of the earth’s land surface ( Ebi et al 2007), accommodate 10% of the global population, contain half the world’s biodiversity hotspots, are rich in global heritage and culture, and provide a source of fresh water for half the world’s population ( Kohler et al 2010). In the Himalaya, for more than 1000 years pastoralists have transformed the ecosystem into economically productive assets for their livelihoods, and even today the region provides a home for a large number of people dependent on livestock ( Miller 1995 Byers 1996 McVeigh 2004 Kreutzmann 2012). Transhumant pastoralism (THP)-the seasonal migration of livestock and humans between many agro-ecological zones-is an age-old practice in many mountain regions ( Byers 1996 Rota and Sperandini 2010). We conclude that unless there are positive policy and institutional arrangements to support transhumant pastoralism, the age-old practice will disappear. The continuation of this practice is threatened by the following challenges: the impacts of climate change on mountain ecosystems, socioeconomic changes, market influence on livelihood decisions, youth migration and labor shortage, low motivation of local people to engage in livestock rearing, and conflicts between herder and nonherder communities and institutions, as well as inadequate policy support and institutional arrangements.

We found that indigenous and traditional knowledge, feelings of cultural identity, collective ownership, income, and mutual benefits have acted as motivating factors in sustaining transhumant pastoralism for generations. Based on case study research conducted in Nepal’s western mountains, the status, opportunities, and constraints of transhumant pastoralism in the changing context were analyzed.

This research explored how transhumant pastoralism has been sustained and promoted in the context of socioeconomic and climate change in the mountain regions of Nepal.

The method of thwaites ppt