Abstract: Changes in economy and land use are under way in the Indian Transhimalayan region of Ladakh, creating both negative and positive prospects for wildlife conservation in this sparsely populations and previously remote area. New livestock breeds, irrigation developments, farming practices, foreign tourists, and a large military presence are changing the way people view and use the mountainous land that surrounds them. With only 0.3% of the land currently arable, changes in wildlife and natural resource conservation are most apparent on Ladakh's extensive rangelands which are apparently undergoing a redistribution of use associated with social changes and recently introduced animal husbandry and farming practices. International endangered species such as the snow leopard, several wild ungulates, and the black-necked crane provide special incentive for conservation efforts in what are some of the best remaining natural areas in the mountainous regions to the north of the Himalayan crest. The success of newly created protected areas for wildlife conservation in Ladakh rests on an understanding of the effects of various development directions, a commitment to environmentally sensitive development amid the many competing demands on Ladakh's natural resources, conservation laws appropriate to human needs, and a clear recognition that solutions can be neither directly adaptable from other mountainous areas nor even widely applicable across the Himalayan region.

Abstract: Canadian Cirumpolar Institute, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada/Second North American Symposium on Wolves, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, August 25-27, 1992