Artificial Glaciers and Leh Nutrition Project

September 12, 2013 – Meeting with Artificial Glacier Man

I finally tracked down the man of the hour, Mr. Norphel, and he invited me to his home.  Over several cups of tea, apricots, and biscuits and after a perusal of some literature, I learned a lot about him and his work on artificial glaciers in Ladakh (“a unique high altitude water harvesting and conservation technique for improved agricultural irrigation” – essentially the construction of contour dams at the source to store winter run off).  Having been born in 1936 (which makes him 77), grown up in a Ladakhi farming family, trained as a Civil Engineer, and with experience as a rural development officer, he’s been doing work on artificial glaciers since 1987, primarily under the local NGO Leh Nutrition Project (LNP).  He provided me with some background including that over the last 2-3 decades, glaciers have been receding due to warming.  Today, there is less snowfall and since 1962, when the main road opened, many more vehicles and much more pollution.  Two villages in Ladakh have even required relocation due to water shortages, aptly labeled “climate refugees.”  And according to Mr. Norphel, 80% of Ladakh’s population depends on agriculture in this high altitude desert (though I’ve also read 98%).  Agriculture, however, is completely dependent on gravity irrigation from glacial meltwater (not rainfall).  To make matters more critical, during the winter when cultivation ceases, a lot of water goes to waste as some main streams do not freeze over.  In the context of the cold winter, he was motivated to save this water by storing it in the form of ice, which can later be used in the summer.  To contextualize his artificial glaciers, they occur at about 4-5,000 ft below natural glaciers.  Natural glaciers are usually 40-60 km away from the village and the water has to travel a very far distance to reach the fields, arriving later than when is optimal for sowing (they begin melting in mid-June, whereas agriculture should begin around April and May).  In contrast, artificial glaciers are constructed at the tops of villages and melt earlier, supplementing water needs and even allowing for multiple harvests in a season.  The differing altitudes also ensure disparate melting times.  Again, the major crops in Ladakh include barley, wheat, peas, and potatoes, with each crop having a different maturation period.  This renders sowing a matter of critical timing for farmers and the artificial glaciers help optimize it.  They are “low cost, simple, and of high benefit to the farmer.”  He confirmed that they are an appropriate technology (using mainly local materials with the exception of some concrete, steel, and unskilled/imported labor) and the cost depends on size.  An appropriate site location would have adequate stream volume and after a field visit to take measurements, then a diversion would be constructed followed by rock-walled terraces.  The water gets diverted and dammed into these terraces and then eventually freezes in the north-facing shady side of a mountain.  The glaciers also serve as a good source of ground water recharge.  So far, Mr. Norphel and LNP have implemented nine artificial glaciers in six villages in four years.  Some of the environmental, economic, and social benefits include an overall increase in agricultural productivity and income because of improved timing, aquifer recharge, reduced water disputes, reduced soil erosion and increased soil moisture conservation.  The main challenge, however, is the availability of funds.  Before, the project was under the government Watershed Development Program, military funded under the science and technology sector, Royal Bank of Scotland, and some foreign NGOs.  Apparently the glaciers are in high demand and villages want to replicate them, which is facilitated by LNP and Mr. Norphel who does trainings and seminars.  I asked about quantifying the success of the project and he said, “measured success with good scientific data is important, but it’s a long process to record the data, 2-3 years, so at this point, we are just basing it off of villagers’ observations.”  This seemed a little insufficient and sketchy to me seeing as he said they’ve been doing this project since the late 1980s and they still don’t have data on it?  Another challenge, of course, is maintenance and upkeep, which involves repairing walls and canals, cleaning debris, and diverting water.  The massive floods of 2010 also devastated many of the glaciers, which still haven’t been repaired due to lack of funds.  I was also told that before project implementation, the community needs to write a resolution that includes maintenance responsibilities, which end up being a large problem because artificial glaciers are situated at the top of villages and people don’t bother to go there.  Fortunately, the artificial glacier technology is replicable in other parts of the world with similar geo-climatic environments (e.g. Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tibet, Nepal, and Mr. Norphel even noted how he’s had inquires from Patagonia and Chile in South America).  Basically, the winter temperature needs to be low (at least -15 degrees C) with long winters (at least 4-5 months).  However, because of global warming, he acknowledged that these are only a temporary solution and “people need to take more care with irrigation and water use.”  I was also interested in the role of the government and was told that the government hasn’t adopted the artificial glacier technology up to this point and although the government funds it under the watershed development project, NGOs are still the implementation agencies.  “In the future, the government may adopt it because Ladakh is so ecologically sensitive, especially with water.”  At the end of September, I hope to accompany LNP to the village of Egu, where a new artificial glacier is being constructed to benefit 265 people.  He’s a smart man, no doubt about it.  He received “The Best Rural Engineer” award from the president of India, the “Rural Engineer Award” from the Center for Science and Development in New Delhi, the “Asian Innovative Award of Hong Kong” by the Far Eastern Economic Review magazine, and the “CNN-IBN ‘Real Hero’” award in 2008.  He is also just a really adorable old man who calls his wife “the misses” and is eager to show off his beautiful garden, greenhouse, and underground cold storage room for vegetables.

On a totally unrelated note, I have been practicing making Chapati and this one turned out distinctly like Africa.  I guess an unintentional tribute to Tanzania.  I think I will get better with time...

Passive solar greenhouse at Mr. Norphel's house

With the man who conceived of the artificial glacier (retired Civil Engineer)

Artificial Glacier concept

September 13, 2013 – Leh Nutrition Project

Today I was able to have a follow up visit with the Leh Nutrition Project where I interviewed a project coordinator (named Tundup) and the executive director.  Coincidentally, I actually met Tundup when I went trekking, as he leads a double life as a guide (which he’s been doing for 30 years).  LNP was the first local NGO in Ladakh founded in 1978 as a supplementary nutrition program.  Today they facilitate child-focused activities on rights, education, and participation in development, farm livelihood initiatives, watershed development projects, and HIV/AIDs awareness.  One of their recent large projects was titled, “Income generation activities for the rural populations in the cold desert of the western Indian Himalayas,” with the goals of empowering rural women, improving health, and increasing capacity for rural NGOs.  Their projects include passive solar architecture, especially for semi-nomadic people near Tibet.  These solar structures include greenhouses, compost pits, lambing and poultry sheds, and trench cultivation.  When I asked about solar compost pits, Tundup noted that “Ladakh people were looking to modernize and in the 1990s, the government initiated the use of chemical fertilizers.  People got rid of their animals and made a habit of the chemical fertilizers.  After the government has said that these are actually harmful, but without animals, compost pits are an alternative.”  And because Ladakhi winters are too cold for composting, they have to dig a hole and cover it with a plastic sheet to maximize the solar energy.  Apparently now the government is advocating “Low external input sustainable agriculture” (LEISA), which may involve digging trenches, which are then filled with fertile soil and manure, vegetables are planted and then it’s cover with plastic (polythene) for winter vegetable production (trench cultivation).  For the improved, passive solar greenhouses, it has been a collaborative effort between several NGOs including LEHO, LNP, LEDEG and GERES that has benefited 500 families (165 villages) with 300 tons of vegetables grown annually (all year round, even in -25 degrees C).  Although the greenhouses require some maintenance (e.g. water vapor may lead to collapsed roofs and the replacement of the polythene sheet and upkeep varies by region and climatic conditions), but overall, they seem like an incredibly worthwhile investment (they can last between 3-9 years depending on climate and care).  These greenhouses have shown to be responsible for a 20-50% increase in income generation, with a less than three-year payback period and the highest replication rate.  A five year project that recently ended last year, now the NGOs will stop constructing after having adequately demonstrated and now it is in the hands of the villagers who are trained.  These greenhouses are simple and based on passive solar concepts: solar gain, heat storage, heat release, insulation, and ventilation, with no added energy inputs for warming or cooling.  The project also has an emphasis on community capacity building for long term sustainability: 221 local masons have been trained and 47 agro running resource persons trained in weekly visits and giving advice.  In terms of government support, they have subsidized the polythene sheets in the past but are not actively endorsing the program.  The project coordinator seemed to think the project was so successful that “there may not be any family/house in Ladakh that doesn’t have a greenhouse.”  This is largely because of the wide range of benefits: income generation, women empowerment, and food security/improved nutrition, as the greenhouses can extend the growing season and facilitate seedling production. 

In addition to the passive solar greenhouses, they do work on solar lambing sheds, which can help decrease mortality in winter, can be used as a greenhouse because of fertilizer from lamb dung, and is multi-purpose for families too.  Interestingly enough, when LNP presented to the Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council at the end of the project in 2008, the government did not receive it as well as they expected, saying that it is negative because it “spoils indigenous coping mechanisms.”  The original NGO thought, however, was that during the pregnancy and birth period, it is the most crucial and vulnerable time for babies and mothers and they should do what they can to reduce mortality and improve nomadic livelihoods.  This raises a number of interesting points and the LNP project coordinator aptly stated, “but then it’s not only lambing sheds but everything that ‘spoils indigenous coping mechanisms.’”  He used the example of how all Ladakhis used to ride and transport using horses and now that everyone has cars, if someone showed up to the market on a horse, they would say, “the crazy man is coming.”  He further said, “Combining indigenous coping mechanisms with modern development is possible” with the example of a large scale irrigation project using canals made of local materials and technology (e.g. mud instead of cement mud).  For instance, the solar lambing sheds use 80% local materials and with relatively little maintenance, they are in high demand in remote nomadic villages.  Some challenges, however, include a lack of capital ad materials to complete the construction in a timely fashion and also the naturally harsh climate, which slows and impedes construction.  Other partner projects include solar poultry farms, improved wool transformation (e.g. small spinning and carding machines), pashmina (cashmere) goat development project, local marketing of handicrafts and food processing units, ecotourism, and micro-hydro power units for energy generation, most of which focus on short marketing chains to increase village self-sufficiency and maximize income.

With Tundup, my trekking guide and project coordinator at LNP, during our field visit to Egu village for the artificial glacier site construction