In the heart of theHimalaya Nepaleseat over 3,900 meters above sea level, the small Buddhist village of Samjung He has become in spite of himself a silent and ignored symbol of the enormous impact of the climatic crisis. For centuries here the inhabitants lived second millennial rhythmsbreastfeeding Yak and sheepcultivating barley And living in mud houses built under cliffs dotted with ancient funeral caves.
The slow decline began with the disappearance of water. The snowfallonce abundant, they have become increasingly rare. The sources are dried and the few rains took on extreme character, causing sudden floods who swept the homes on the cultivated land and damaged. The inhabitants have started migratingone after the other, leaving behind a ghostly village made of ruins and arid fields.
According to theIcimodthe mountain areas of the Hindu Kush-Himalaya are heating more quickly of the plain areas. The glaciers retire, the permafrost melts and the calendar agricultural Traditional – based on the seasonal snow – is completely blurred. Without snow, it cannot be grown or guarantee pasture for cattle.
An inevitable migration
To Samjung The water decline has become chronic. After years of struggle, the residents decided to movelooking for a place with reliable access to water and greater closeness to roads and markets. The king of Mustang, still influential in the region, offered a soil suitable for building New Samjung15 km more downstream, along the Kali Gandaki glacial river.
There reconstruction It wasn’t easy. Families took years to collect materials, build New houses in mud with sheet metal roofs and dig irrigation channels. Some continue to live in pastoralism, others have adapted to the tourismthanks to the proximity to the walled city of Mandang. Even if today there is water, The regret for the land of origin remains strong.
And Samjung is just one of the many examples of mountain communities forced to move due to the climatic crisis. With the risk that up to 80% of the glaciers of the disappearance by the end of the centuryadaptation will be a growing necessity. But as the inhabitants remember: you cannot really leave your past behind.
