The Slow Death of Kashmir’s Grasslands

Overgrazing, rising livestock numbers, climate shifts, and expanding footfall are tearing through Kashmir's fragile grazing lands. Without urgent action, a centuries-old way of life may collapse.

- Dr. Ishfaq Jamal

Kashmir’s summer meadows are thinning. The grass is fading, the ground is hardening, and the ancient pastures that once fed flocks and shaped the lives of Gujjars, Bakarwals, and Chopans are fast disappearing.

Jammu and Kashmir holds nearly 11 million livestock. Around five million of them move across the land with the seasons.

Every year, about three million sheep and goats are herded from the winter plains of Jammu to the high-altitude grasslands of Tosamaidan, Bangus, Sonamarg, and Lidderwat.

For almost 600,000 people, this journey is not a choice. It is survival.

But the land is showing signs of collapse. Government data reveals that Jammu and Kashmir’s pasture land covers around 1.3 lakh hectares.

Of this, nearly one lakh hectares are sensitive highland meadows. These grasslands are not just grazing grounds. They store rain and snowmelt, feed streams, and shelter rare plants and endangered animals like the Himalayan musk deer, brown bear, and snow leopard.

Their thin, delicate soil can support life, but not endless trampling.

The pressure on these pastures has now crossed dangerous levels. In many areas, the number of animals grazing is more than the land can carry. The grass has stopped growing back. Bare patches spread. The soil dries and cracks. The system that once held everything together is beginning to fall apart.