Kashmir’s pastoral nomads trekked the Himalayas for generations. Now they face a climate threat

The morning sun had barely risen over the Pir Panjal mountain range in the Lower Himalayas, but the air already carried an unnatural weight. To its north-east, near the region of Jammu and Kashmir’s largest city, Srinagar, lies Astanmarg, a higher altitude pasture whose cooler air once drew local communities to bring their livestock grazing during the warmer months.

But in mid-May 2025, the temperature was unusually high in the early mornings. Seventy-year-old Rahim Poswal sat on a worn rug outside his family’s dhoka – a temporary shelter created from mud, wood and plastic sheets – in the pasture, scanning the sky for signs of change.

Within minutes, the light shifted. Dark clouds gathered over the ridge lines, and then, without warning, hail began to lash down, hammering holes through the dhoka and frightening the grazing sheep. By the time it stopped, the sun was back, and so was the heat. The air turned thick and humid. Once foreign, such weather is becoming increasingly frequent in a place where cool mountain breezes were once the norm.

For sheep herders, what used to be a predictable seasonal cycle has now become a dangerous gamble.

“The livestock are restless,” Poswal said, motioning toward a flock of sheep huddled under a...

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