(TibetanReview.net, Jan29’26) – Humla, Nepal’s northern-most district sharing border with Tibet, suffers from climate change-induced livelihood breakdown and the increasing outmigration of communities in the face of government apathy to the residents’ worsening plight, reported kathmandupost.com Jan 25.
In order to highlight the crisis, a group called Centre for Social Innovation and Foreign Policy (CESIF) has organised a discussion on Jan 23, bringing together experts, local representatives and mediapersons.
Following it, some of the leading climate change campaigners of Humla arrived in capital Kathmandu to highlight the plight of the people of the district. But when they sought to brief the issue to Prime Minister Sushila Karki, she reportedly refused a meeting with them, the report said.
During the discussion, the campaigners have shared the pain and suffering from climate change endured by the local inhabitants and how the political leaders had continued to ignore them.
Local representatives from Limi Valley in Humla and policy experts were stated to have documented the growing risks confronting long-established settlements in the region and elaborated on their collective decision to resettle due to these risks.
The Limi Valley consists of three villages—Halji, Til, and Jang (Zhang)—situated at elevations ranging from approximately 3,700 to 4,100 metres along Nepal’s northern frontier with Tibet’s Purang County, Ngari Prefecture.
The valley is home to an estimated 1,200 residents, whose traditional livelihoods have historically depended on high-altitude farming, yak-based animal husbandry, and trans-Himalayan pastoral practices.
The report cited local representatives, including ward chair Paljor Tamang and activist Mangal Lama, as emphasising that climate change was now the primary driver of the valley’s crisis. They have noted that rising temperatures in the High Himalayas were intensifying climate variability, disrupting seasonal cycles, and increasing the frequency of destructive flood events.
In Til, the most severely affected settlement, recurring floods and river-driven erosion were stated to have repeatedly damaged homes, agricultural land, and basic infrastructure, accelerating displacement pressures. The delegation has stressed that these impacts were already forcing communities to consider relocation, not as a choice, but as a survival necessity.
Jang village is stated to have experienced a near-total depopulation, with the delegation stating that the settlement had declined from more than 60 households to only two now.
While a Nepal-China agreement in 2002 allowed Limi residents to seek employment and economic opportunities in Taklakot, Tibet, its regulating of cross-border movement and grazing access significantly reduced seasonal pasture availability for yak herding, weakening the valley’s traditional animal husbandry economy. With agricultural and livestock systems collapsing, many residents increasingly depend on cross-border wage labour. This coping mechanism abruptly failed during the Covid-19 period, as border closures eliminated income opportunities and further worsened food insecurity, the report noted.
The Limi delegation has emphasised that the valley inhabitants’ collective decision in late 2025 to relocate the three villages of the valley to Takchi, the ancestral settlement area of the Limi people, should be seen as an organised “shift” rather than a chaotic abandonment of the region. They have said the shift to Takchi was agreed upon to mitigate the rapid pace of outmigration, the impact on livelihood and security from climate change-linked natural disasters, including a GLOF (Glacial Lake Outburst Floods) event that swept away several fields and homes in Halji village in 2011, and to benefit from the economic opportunities provided by tourism to the valley.
Given the urgency of the situation, ward chair Tamang has questioned the limited attention given by the state to the multiple crises and asked Kathmandu to mitigate the worsening plight of the people of Limi. He has contrasted development across the border in Tibet, marked by lack of basic infrastructure and services on the Nepali side.
Yanchen Tamang, a Limi Valley resident, has said the depopulation of villages had created deep uncertainty among those who remain, particularly as families witness the breakdown of community life and local institutions.
Participants in the discussion have stressed that without urgent state engagement and policy flexibility, climate-induced vulnerability in Limi may turn into irreversible displacement. They have noted that administrative restrictions, especially, Restricted Area regulations, had complicated mobility, disaster response, and planned relocation efforts, including to Takchi.
The Limi Valley is recognised as a high-altitude biodiverse landscape. It is home to the only surviving population of wild yaks in the Nepali Himalayas. The valley also carries deep civilisational and religious significance. The Halji Rinchen Ling Monastery, founded in the 11th century by Lotsawa Rinchen Zangpo of Tibet, remains one of the oldest intact monasteries in Nepal. Additionally, Lapcha La Pass in Limi holds exceptional cultural and spiritual value, as it is the only site within Nepal from where Mount Kailash and Mansarovar Lake in the TAR can be viewed, the report noted.
The Limi Valley resident predominantly follow the Drikung Kagyu school of Tibetan Buddhism, with each village having a small gompa.