Saturday, Jun 18, 2005
The disappearing camels
Aarti Dhar
Their numbers in Asia, across two varieties, have fallen by a fifth
# Down by a million in 10 years since 1994 # India has one of the swiftest rates of decline # Loss of pasture land the main cause # Crucial to using deserts productively
NEW DELHI: After tigers and elephants, camels are in trouble now. The number of camels in Asia has fallen by a fifth in the past 10 years. Statistics from the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations show that camel numbers dropped from 4.5 million in 1994 to 3.5 million in 2004. These figures include both the one-humped Dromedaries and the double-humped Bactrian camels.
Releasing facts and figures about them to mark the World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought on Friday, Lokhit Pashu-Palak Sansthan and its Germany-based partner organisation League for Pastoral Peoples, pointed out that a major reason for the startling drop in the camel population was the loss of pasture land.
More and more land is being fenced, irrigated and ploughed. As a result, camel herders have nowhere for their animals to graze.
Dromedaries live in the hot deserts from the Mediterranean to the Thar in western India, while Bactrians are adapted to the cold deserts of China, Mongolia and Central Asia. There are less than 600,000 Bactrian camels left.
Efforts in India
India has seen one of the swiftest declines in camel numbers — accounting for a loss of 38 per cent camels in the past 10 years, going by official figures. India has spent massive amounts of money to devolve responsibility for the protection of the camel to local communities.
It has also supported irrigated agriculture by subsidising power, fertilizers and high-yielding crops.
In the Thar desert, a tribe of "tubewell nomads" has come up. Farmers pump up groundwater to grow crops such as mustard and wheat. They can do it for a few years, until the groundwater level sinks far too much, after which they move on to the next spot. They leave behind barren, salty ground in the place of drought-resistant vegetation, the Sansthan claims. These "tubewell nomads" fence their fields to keep animals out, or even kill them. At the same time, in the name of afforestation or conservation, the Forest Department prohibits access to traditional rangelands.
An option missed
According to Hanwant Singh Rathore, director of the Sansthan, an option to use the desert without depleting the groundwater resources is being squandered, and the traditional wealth of indigenous knowledge and practical experience that forms the basis of camel breeding is disappearing. Camels are crucial to using deserts productively.
They browse sparingly on the leaves of trees and bushes and so do not damage plants too much. Their soft, padded feet minimise erosion. They can go without water for days, and so can range far from water sources and use remote pastures.
Effects of irrigation
While irrigation is often seen as a way to cause the deserts to bloom, it may have catastrophic effects because using salty groundwater and neglecting draining can turn fertile soil into a wasteland. Camels offer a way to use this land, as they like to eat salty plants and can use areas that are not good for farming.
Interestingly, camels produce milk even when the conditions are very dry.
Their meat is low in cholesterol, and is recommended in Australia for heart patients.
Copyright © 2005, The Hindu.