Monthly Photos　Jan 2024

Photos taken by ILCAA staff and associates are posted here once a month; most of them are taken during their field research in Asia and Africa.

(The copyright belongs to the photographers.)

Snowmelt sustaining lives in Northern Pakistan

In Northern Pakistan, there are people who speak the Balti language, a Tibetic language. They believe in Islam while most inhabitants in the Tibetan Plateau are Buddhist. However, their agro-pastoral daily lives are very similar to those of Tibetan Plateau. They enjoy the products of both the mountains and the plains: they graze yak, cattle, sheep, and goats in the mountains while also farming and cultivating fruit on the plains. The abundant snowmelt spouting from the mountains sustains their lives. The sight of irrigation canals efficiently using the difference in altitude, extending in all directions, is quite impressive. In winter, as the mountains are covered with snow, people descend further to the plains.

August 22, 2023
Khapulu, Gilgit Baltistan, Pakistan
Photograph by Izumi HOSHI