A Ladakh farmer sings to his yaks as they thresh barley, while his children do their homework in the village of Photokskar, nearly 14,000 feet above sea level in the high mountain region of northern India. Barley is a staple here as well, grown in the short season from June to August and irrigated by hand-dug channels from glaciers that adorn the highest mountains in the world in the Himalaya and Karakorum ranges. In this region known as the Third Pole, climate change is melting those glaciers, which are critical sources of water for rivers that irrigate major breadbaskets in India, China, and much of South Asia. But it’s not the only major change In Photokskar. The village finally got electricity in 2020.
- Filename
- STNMTZ_20111001_03752.TIF
- Copyright
- ©2011 George Steinmetz
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- 5616x3744 / 60.3MB
- georgesteinmetz.com
- Contained in galleries