Recently, a snow leopard killed a bull in our village Tar. Earlier, families would immediately remove the carcass, seeing the animal only as a threat. This time, the family that owned the bull left the meat for the snow leopard. For a week, the animal returned to feed on the carcass,” says Sherap Chosphel, referring to a behavioural change in residents of his village.
A settlement of 15 households and about 100 residents, Tar is located at an altitude of over 2,300 m in Leh district of Ladakh. The village is not motorable, and it takes about a 30-minute trek to reach Tar from the nearest road. However, the village is known for sightings of the elusive snow leopard (Panthera uncia) which are found on the mountains that surround Tar. Classified as “vulnerable” on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species in 2017, snow leopards are called “ghosts of the mountains” as they blend with the landscape due to their white-brown spotted fur.
For the past few years, Tar has taken steps to establish itself as a sustainable tourist destination for wildlife enthusiasts who want to wit-ness the animal in its natural habitat. To this end, the village has undertaken conservation steps and celebrated International Snow Leopard Day—observed globally on October 23. The village’s efforts have borne result and on September 27, 2024, the Union Ministry of Tourism selected Tar as one of the winners of “Best Tourism Villages Competition” in “Responsible Tourism” category. Later that year, the village also declared itself a Community Conserved Area (CCA).
“Community Conserved Areas (CCAs) have burst upon the global conservation scene in the first few years of the new millennium,” says a 2006 paper by IUCN. “The conservation of sites and species by indigenous peoples and local communities is age-old. But the fact that these are equivalent in many ways to conventional, government-managed ‘protected areas’, has only recently been recognised,” it adds.
In India, however, the concept of CCA is yet to find space in legal or legislative documents. “In Ladakh, communities have protected land, water, flora and fauna for generations. The idea of a CCA simply gives a name to what people here have long practised,” says Tsewang Namgail, director, Snow Leopard Conservancy India Trust (SLC-IT), a Leh-based non-profit that has helped Tar in its conservation efforts.
“We were not aware of the concept of CCA. In the winter of 2023-24, we invited Tsewang Namgail as the chief guest for a camp. He spoke of CCAs in other parts of India, where local people manage their natural resources through their own rules and governance systems. Inspired by these discussions, a series of workshops and meetings were organised by SLC-IT, in collaboration with Pune-based non-profit Kalpavriksh, involving the youth of Tar village,” says Lundup Dorjay, a 30-year-old resident of Tar. Following these consultations, the village passed a resolution under the leadership of the nambardar (village head) and the councillor of Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council, Leh, declaring Tar a CCA on October 23, 2024.
Tar is now governed by a village-level CCA committee of one-year tenure. It includes two elders, two youth representatives, one amchi (traditional medical practitioner), one retired government official and one retired military personnel. The goba (village head) and two additional members serve as ex-officio members. At present, there is no voting system in place for the selection of members. A gram sabha meeting is held, during which village residents pass a resolution to appoint the committee members.
As part of the CCA framework, the village has introduced a system to manage tourism-related income collectively. Currently, 10 families operate homestays in Tar, with some households offering only a single room. Guests are accommodated on a rotational basis. “We want to ensure tourism income is distributed equally among the residents,” says Dorjay, who is also a member of the CCA committee.
CCA designation has reshaped how people relate to wildlife and visitors. “Many tourists, especially international visitors, come to see the snow leopard. But wildlife is only part of the attraction. Many visitors engage with everyday village life. Some stay for a month, work in fields and pay at the end,” says 50-year-old Sonam Kunzes.
Caitlin Thurrel, who lived in Tar village for an extended period, says her journey to Ladakh was driven by a desire to learn from farming systems that are genuinely sustainable. “I first came in 2015. I was studying sustainable agriculture in the US, but we have very few examples of what true sustainability looks like. I wanted to learn from farmers who are actually living it.”
The village has continued to follow community-led traditional practices, which the residents see as integral to conservation. “We practise the langde system, where the entire village helps each other during sowing and harvesting. We also continue to use the dzo (male hybrid of yak and cow) for ploughing, which is a dying practice in many villages of Ladakh,” explains Dorjay.
Unlike many parts of Ladakh, Tar does not struggle with water scarcity, says 70-year-old Tsering Dolker. Owing to its location near snow-fed areas, the village gets a steady flow of meltwater. Tar also has a number of natural springs.
Though the residents cultivate a variety of crops— wheat, barley, local black pea, mustard, buckwheat, pulses, walnut and apricot—they do not practice agriculture on a large scale. “Earlier, we did not receive subsidised rations and were fully dependent on our fields. Now that rations are available, people abandon agriculture,” says 81-year-old Tsering Angchuk.
Outmigration, particularly among the younger generation, is one of Tar’s biggest challenges. Many families move to Leh in search of livelihood and access to education since the village has no school or healthcare facility. “From 2022, we started initiatives like ‘Back to village’ and income-generation programmes,” says Dorjay. These have had a positive effect and there has also been a noticeable rise in the cultivation of agricultural lands, with residents spending more time in the village. “Migration has reduced to some extent,” says Dorjay.
Tar is now drafting its own management plan covering governance, waste management, tourism regulation and natural resource-use, placing decision-making in the hands of the community. “Our next step is to apply for Other Effective Area-based Conservation Measure status. As part of this process, SLC-IT has conducted a survey and asked people how they want to see Tar in the next 10 to 30 years, the kind of changes they envision and the improvements they feel are necessary,” says Namgail.
This article was originally published in the May 16-31, 2026 print edition of Down To Earth