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The price of chyangra goats whose meat is considered a delicacy, especially during Dashain, has gone up in Mustang due to the closure of the Nepal-China border.

According to locals, the price of goats that have been brought to Mustang district headquarters this year from Upper Mustang and Dolpa is around 25 percent over the quoted price in the past few years.

During the pre-corona days, around 25,000 chyangra goats were brought to Josmsom to be sent to different parts of the country for their meat. But now only 13,000 goats have come to Jomsom, locals say.

“We couldn’t bring goats from Tibet due to Covid-19,” says Lopsang Chhomphel Bista, chair of Lo-ghekar Damodar Kunda Rural Municipality. Bista says that around 7,000 goats came from his area, and 2,000 from Baragung Muktichhetra Rural Municipality. Likewise, around 3,000 goats came from Dolpa.

With the price hike, the price of chyangra goat meat is expected to go up in cities like Kathmandu.

A research project that was to excavate some areas in Mustang district to look for human remains has been halted due to protests from residents.

The research team has decided to halt the excavation, mapping, photography, and documentation work in Lomanthang for now, says Subhadra Bhattarai, undersecretary at the Department of Archaeology.

The decision comes after a meeting between the officials, local representatives and the residents of the area failed to make headway on the issue, says Bhattarai. The residents believe that their gods will get angry if the area is excavated and for this reason, they don’t want us to continue the project, she adds. The official says whatever materials were recovered from the area have been handed over to the local government and all the dug pits have been refilled.

During the meeting, local residents said that the mound that was being excavated was home to their gods and if the gods became angry, the area could face hailstorms that in turn could damage crops.

A team of local and international experts arrived in Lomanthang earlier this month after receiving the necessary permits from the department, the Ministry of Home Affairs and local police. They dug the area for 10 days.

But the local government representatives say that they weren’t informed about the excavation work.

Members of the Tibetan community in Mustang's Chhairo refugee camp are glad to receive Covid-19 vaccines even as they are denied various economic opportunities.

According to the UNHCR, Nepal is the first country in the Asia-Pacific to vaccinate refugees living in camps on par with Nepali citizens. Similarly, Mustang is the second district in the country, after Manang, to fully vaccinate its entire adult population.

“We are glad that the refugee community here has gotten vaccines even as there were shortages in other parts of the country," says Wangdi Gurung, the camp chieftain. The camp had been sealed off for over a month after an elderly man tested positive for Covid-19 a few months ago. Gurung says the community, which has been living in Mustang for over 50 years, now feels relieved even as there are reports about a more contagious Delta variant circulating in Nepal.

The camp located at Gharapjhong-1, Mustang, was established in 1972. In its early days, a total of 60 households with 300 members used to live there. These days, however, the number of households has gone down to 50 and the population to 224. Camp members sustain themselves on produce from government-provided land. Tourism is also an important contributor to their economy as their produce is not enough to feed them for the whole year.

Despite the successful vaccination drive, the community is reeling under various adverse effects of the Covid-19 pandemic. Members of the community used to earn a good amount of money selling souvenirs in the tourist season via outlets in Marpha, Jomsom, Kagbeni and Muktinath. Some also run a community hotel. But with after the pandemic’s onset tourism has witnessed a slump.

“We don’t have a country, we abandoned everything to come here,” said the chieftain. “But we don't feel alone.” These people who belong to a nomadic tribe say they were not involved in any rebellion in Tibet and were not forced out of their homes. They decided to leave of their own volition.

Tibetan refugees in Nepal, including those living in Mustang, have not been issued identity cards. Due to this, they can neither open bank accounts nor go abroad. The educated youngsters of the community are unemployed as they don’t have the documents to apply for jobs.

The situation is unlikely to change anytime soon as the issue remains contentious in Nepal. However, members of the camp are still thankful that they are now vaccinated against a disease that has claimed millions of lives around the world.

Residents of Lete Kalopani in Thasang Rural Municipality-3 of Mustang district organized a ‘snow puja’ at the nearby Salankuna forest this week, praying for snowfall. The village chief, Rabindra Tulachan, organized the event as the region is deprived of snow even at peak winter. Winter snow is essential for Mustang farmers. With no snowfall this season, the farmers are worried about their winter corps.

Farmers of apple, potato, bearberry, zucchini, maize and barley are worried by the delay in snowfall. Village chief Tulachan informs that the ritual was conducted as per the traditional belief pleased Gods send snow. Tulachan adds with concern that there should already have been snowfall in the first week of December. But Mustang is yet to see snow even as January comes to an end.

Narsingh Sherchan, a local, informs that a team of 15 priests from Thasang-3, Kalopani, took part in the ritual in which a white rooster was sacrificed. “As most farmers of Mustang are reliant on agriculture, lack of snowfall is highly concerning for us.”

The hills and mountains surrounding Mustang now wear a barren look. This season, there have been two partial snowfalls in upper Mustang but lower Mustang is yet to see snow. Local farmers are frustrated to see no snow in Gharapzhong, Waragung Muktichhetra and Thasang—the centers of apple production in Mustang. Climate change has depleted water resources in the area, and irrigation is irregular.

Agriculture and tourism are Mustang’s economic backbones. Every year, Mustang farmers produce millions of rupees worth of apples. Experts say the impact of climate change has started showing in high mountainous districts of Nepal. Snowfall in the region has been irregular in the past few years; one season there is heavy snow and the next season, nothing.

Uneven snowfall adversely affects agriculture, water resources, forests and biodiversity.

Mustang’s agriculture-dependent folks have in recent past been adversely affected by delayed monsoon, excessive snowfall followed by drought, all signs of climate change. According to locals, a decade ago, there used to be heavy snowfall in Mustang around January/December. But in recent years, snowfall has been irregular. Sometimes the locals have to pray for the snow to stop but this year, they are praying for some to drop from the high heavens.

During winter, when the ground is cold and damp, the snow that falls across the region seeps into the soil, benefitting agricultural production. Snowfall in favorable weather increases the fertility of the land and helps prevent various diseases that affect crops.