Saving Guala’s home: A community restoration initiative in the Himalayas in the face of climate crisis

This piece has been co-written by Sanjay Molur, Executive Director at the Zoo Outreach Program, and Trisa Bhattacharjee, 2024 Mountains Restoration Steward.

The increased number of climate refugees around us, floods washing away people’s houses, landslides wiping out entire villages, and forest fires threatening the lives of indigenous communities, make it obvious that the climate crisis is real. We are living in it every day and are growing more vulnerable to the extreme destruction it brings. In India alone, 45 million people are expected to be forced to migrate from their homes due to adverse climate conditions by 2050. 

My name is Trisha Bhattacharjee and I’m a project researcher for the Himalayan Restoration Project (HRP) in India, a project of the Zoo Outreach Organization. Together with project mentor Dr. Sanjay Molur and the rest of our team, we carry out restoration efforts in the Khajjiar-Kalatop Wildlife Sanctuary in Himachal Pradesh, India. 

The past year has been harsh in the western Himalayas, with the homes of over 12,000 people destroyed during the 163 landslides and 72 flash floods that occurred in and around this landscape.Living in a city for all these years makes me think that a part of the issue is the divide between those in urban versus rural areas. The increase of cities and urbanization is one of the major causes of climate change due to increasing carbon footprints and the population boom. Yet, those in marginalized communities and those in non-urban areas feel the greatest consequences of urbanization raising carbon footprints globally.

And what about the species for whom becoming a climate refugee is not an option? Wild animals are losing their habitats as forest fires, landslides, and flash floods in the region are destroying stretches of forests. Our journey at the Himalayan Restoration Project is saving the home of the endemic Chamba Sacred Langur, and the Guala found in the Chamba Valley in the western Himalayas. 

A scientific overview of the Langur species

When British zoologist Reginald Innes Pocock first described a new species of leaf-eating langur from the Himalayas in the late 1920s, the species was named Semnopithecus ajax. The location from where the species was described was Chamba, Himachal Pradesh. The species went unnoticed for almost 70 years, as all the grey langur species in the Indian subcontinent were called by a single name, ‘Hanuman Langur,’ with one overarching species name, Presbytis entellus.

It was only after Colin Groves’ book Primate Taxonomy was published in the early 2000s, that several original names of grey langurs in India were recognized and assigned the correct generic name, Semnopithecus. The langur from Chamba became known as the Kashmir Grey Langur, a slightly misplaced name for the species, but eventually, it was given other names such as the Himalayan Grey Langur and Chamba Sacred Langur. 

Little was known about this species when the Conservation Assessment and Management Plan (CAMP) workshop for South Asian primates was organized in 2003. This was the only species for which information beyond its known type, locality, and distribution was unknown. At the time, it was assumed that the species had a very restricted distribution, and the total population numbers were estimated to be less than 500 adults. Based on this information, it was categorized as an ‘endangered’ species in 2003.

Dr. Sanjay on his way to finding langurs in the wild

Our team at Zooreach wondered about the Chamba Sacred Languars appearance, as our understanding from assorted pictures of this langur from the region indicated that it was plump, robust, hairy, and slightly bigger than other langur species in India. In January 2004, despite not wanting to leave the cozy heated room in sub-zero weather in Dalhouise, northern India, members of our team forced ourselves outside to a rather pleasant surprise—a couple of hefty langurs sitting on a snow embankment off the road. 

Excitement got the better of us, and following them for a distance, we came upon a big group of languars raiding a garbage dump! Now, we feel sad every time we see langurs scavenging through garbage.

The few groups of langurs our team members have come across in the protected area of Khajjiar-Kalatop Wildlife Sanctuary are usually very shy and avoid humans, a clear indication that these are not the same as Dalhousie’s infamous garbage raiders. However, getting a good visual of the langurs in the Khajjiar Kalatop Sanctuary compared to Dalhousie is marred by the number of loud and unruly tourist vehicles and passengers who mimic a crowded mela on the road through the sanctuary, scattering the langurs to the deep interiors of the forest. 

Himachal Pradesh, northern India. 

HRP project site: Chamba town and the Khajjiar-Kalatop Wildlife Sanctuary in the state of Himachal Pradesh. 

The HRP is working with 28 villages in Rathiyar Panchayat.

Why native species need protection

While it seems the deep forest is a safe haven for languars, there is not enough forest left for them or other forest creatures like the Himalayan Black Bears, Himalayan Martens, and Musk Deer. The Khajjiar-Kalatop Wildlife Sanctuary has been rezoned from around 70 square km. to a mere 17 square km. A main artery connects the famous hill-station Dalhousie with Chamba town which runs through the Sanctuary. Tourists use this artery to visit the Khajjiar Lake, locally known as the ‘Switzerland of the Himalaya’.

The impacts of agriculture by the local communities, urbanisation, monoculture by the forest department, and development which are depleting wild habitats, have resulted in the forests being fragmented across the Chamba valley. Langurs and other wild animals and plants are restricted to small degraded fragments of land with agricultural plots and villages dominating the landscape. Given the depletion of food resources in these small patches, the langurs, bears, macaques, and other animals come out in search of food and descend on the readily available crops, creating a negative association of wildlife among locals. 

As locals lose their livelihoods due to crop damage, the compounding effects of the climate crisis worsen the situation with uncertain weather patterns, lack of or excess rainfall, soil erosion, landslides, and forest fires displacing wildlife. So where do these animals go in search of food now? Into the crop fields. This scenario has led to the increased persecution of wildlife and decreasing tolerance from local communities towards the local fauna. 

The Himalayan Langur Project & Himalayan Restoration Project team proudly pose in front of the sign they made to sensitize the tourists towards the presence of Guala in the landscape. Paridhi Modi.

Reversing deforestation is our mission. Our entire experience of working in the landscape for over 12 years, starting with the Himalayan Langur project, has led us to work with local communities through perception studies, education outreach, training, and networking. This has helped us grow organically into the next phase of restoring the landscape. As we are facing a multifaceted issue, our approach is also multidimensional, involving a plethora of different activities, including planting native species, working with womens’ self-help groups, and connecting with the youth. We are also networking with schools and colleges through education outreach programs and involving them in the restoration activities, building a native plant nursery, germinating and propagating native plant species,  and working with the Himachal Pradesh forest department, 28 villages in Rathiyar panchayat, and other stakeholders in restoration activities.

By pursuing alternatives to agriculture that is harming our forests, we can benefit both humans and non-human species in the region. We hope to build a more holistic society to conserve the landscape, native species, and livelihoods of local communities.