Sustainability winter school in the Gya region
Partner: Youth Association Gya
The Ladakh plateau, more than 3000m high, is an arid Himalayan region of Tibetan culture. The main source of water for people living in Ladakh comes from mountain glaciers. Because of climate change, glaciers in Ladakh are retreating. Water resources are getting too scarce for farmers and the whole valley is now at risk of slowly disappearing.
What Slow Motion Projects will do
Following its success in 2017 and 2018, Slow Motion Projects wants to further enable the actions of the Youth Association of Gya by supporting the organisation of a new sustainability winter school at the end of 2019, allowing 80 local students to gather and incubate ideas about sustainable development for Ladakh. The school will be free for participants, and will enrol an equal number of boys and girls in order to support gender equality. During a 20-day boot camp, students from Gya and villages around will attend workshops and conferences helping them to develop their own ideas in areas such as eco-tourism, organic agriculture, or handicraft production and retail. To promote the school and raise funds for the next edition of the winter camp at the end of 2020, students will prepare a theatre play addressing climate and environmental issues in Ladakh and present it on the last day of the program at the village community hall.
Our local partner
Mingyur Rigzen is a young Ladakhi who completed his studies in environmental sciences at the renowned Students' Educational and Cultural Movement of Ladakh (SECMOL) school. Mingyur does not want to see his native Ladakh valley die. At the age of 25, he had already become a successful social entrepreneur. In winter, Mingyur manages the team of the Ice Stupa project, whose goal is to create artificial glaciers in Ladakh. In the summer, the peak season for tourism, he works as a nature guide and runs an ecotourism lodge in his village.
A few years ago, Mingyur co-founded the association "Youth Association of Gya". The mission of YAG is to help young Ladakhis to protect their region while allowing it to further thrive and resist the economic consequences of climate change.
