As Himalayas Warm, Nepal’s Climate Migrants Struggle to Survive

DHYE, Nepal — High in the Himalayas, on a rugged plateau dotted with empty mud huts, an exodus has begun.

Most families in the Himalayan village of Dhye, Nepal,
have left in recent years as the land has gone dry.

In the village of Dhye, crops are stubby, dead stalks. Water is scarce. The only school closed a few years ago. With dwindling food, most families have packed their belongings and left, driven out by a faceless, man-made enemy.

They are Nepal’s climate-change migrants, and there will be more.

“I love this village,” said Sonam Chhiring Gurung, 76, one of the final holdouts, “but I can’t survive here much longer.”

Climate change is remaking the Himalayan region, putting at risk millions of South Asians who depend on its water resources and pushing mountain dwellers in northern Nepal, home to the world’s highest peaks, to build new settlements at lower altitudes.

Read the story from The New York Times - “As Himalayas Warm, Nepal’s Climate Migrants Struggle to Survive.”

Cattle on the move as graziers give up on wet season in drought-stricken Queensland

There is an exodus of cattle leaving drought-stricken parts of western Queensland as graziers give up on seeing a wet season, two months before the rains are usually due to finish.

Mr Elliott waters his horses at sunset while out on the road, north of Winton.

Richard Simpson, 55, a stock agent in Longreach with 30 years' experience in the region, describes his client base as mature — with one grazier aged in his mid-80s.

Mr Simpson said neither of them had seen the region facing a total destocking of sheep and cattle as it was now.

"This region will be destocked ... I reckon you can put a zero on it — probably the worst you want to see," Mr Simpson said.

He predicted if there was no rain by the end of the summer, all cattle in the region would have been moved out and sheep would follow in the winter.

Read the ABC News story by Nicole Bond - “Cattle on the move as graziers give up on wet season in drought-stricken Queensland.”