This is an abstract
of a thesis submitted in 2012. The research deals with a
human inhabited territory in the Indian Trans-Himalaya: the Leh
District, in Ladakh, at a “crossroad of high Asia”,
geographically classified “cold desert”. For many
centuries the local population has led a self-reliant existence
mainly based upon subsistence agriculture, pastoralism and caravan
trade.
Modernization, due
to governmental programs, and the progressive opening to external
influence and resources – i.e. globalization –
characterize the current development paths. In this study, emergy
evaluation, an environmental accounting system, is utilized to
assess the sustainability of the multiple interactions between
human activities and the environment.
Agricultural
practices at small farm level (< 1 hectare) are investigated in
detail. Site specific unit emergy values (UEV, emergy per unit
product, a measure of the environmental contribution) of five
staple crops (barley, wheat, pea, mustard and alfalfa) are
calculated. Barley and wheat values (using manure) were 5.27E+05
and 6.64E+05 semj/J, respectively, comparable to those found in the
literature for intensive modern agriculture (using chemicals), for
which the order of magnitude is 10E+05 to 10E+07
semj/J.
As a proxy for
“man-made” agricultural soil function, a particular UEV
is defined and calculated. The anthropic dynamics of the Leh
District are investigated – e.g. government development
programs, land-based economy, food security (calculating import
dependency ratio), off-farm economy, tourism (estimating tourist
receipts), imports of goods and commodities (estimating quantities)
– along with physical features and other relevant
aspects.
Data is collected to
evaluate the sustainability of development from the emergy point of
view. A set of synthetic indices is calculated in time series
(1999-2007) – i.e. emergy per capita (EC), renewability
percentage (R%), energy investment ratio (EIR) and environmental
loading ratio (ELR).
The results indicate
that: the traditional farming system is efficient (UEV) in the use
of environmental resources compared to those of modern farming
systems (it is therefore argued that the traditional system should
be preserved and conserved); the anthropic dynamics in the District
have a low impact (ELR) on the environment (ecosphere); although
the use of renewable resources (R%) remains high, the
sustainability of development (the degree to which the District
depends on renewable resources to achieve a certain level of
internal organization (EIR) and standard of living (EC)) is
decreasing.
This link takes you
to the thesis:
The Ladakh
Effect:
