Health on the edge as Earth’s ‘Third Pole’ melts
It all started with a travel book.
When Dr Yen Le first set foot in Ladakh, India, she was captivated by its picturesque landscapes—majestic peaks, crystalline lakes, and sublime glaciers. The book that inspired her journey hadn’t exaggerated.
Little did she know she would later return to the region as a researcher, uncovering the complexity and fragility beneath Ladakh’s breathtaking vistas.
“Change was something that every local person brought up without me asking,” says Yen, a medical anthropologist and lecturer at the ANU School of Culture, History and Language.
According to Yen, the Ladakhi people are experiencing unprecedented changes.
“Climate change is a current and future threat to life and livelihood in Ladakh,” remarks Yen, who studies how environment, culture and society shape health and wellbeing.
Canary in the coal mine
Ladakh lies in the high-altitude Hindu Kush Himalaya, often called the “Third Pole” for its vast glaciers, which contain the largest amount of frozen water outside the Arctic and Antarctica.
These glaciers feed ten major river systems in Asia, shaping the lives of over 1.5 billion people. In Ladakh’s cold desert, agriculture depends heavily on glacier melt.
But as the Third Pole is warming nearly twice as fast as the global average due to climate change, Ladakh is among the first to feel the brunt.
As glaciers shrink and snowfall diminishes, severe water shortages have become a recurring challenge for Ladakhi households.
While staying with a host family, Yen once witnessed her host leave home late at night to search for water for farming.
“Because it’s so difficult to compete for water during the day, they had to farm in the dark and cold,” Yen recalls. “The next morning, my host mum collapsed on the carpet from exhaustion. It was really striking to me.”
This summer, Ladakh grew so hot that the crops withered, the soil dried out, and flights couldn’t take off or land due to the heat thinning the high-altitude air.
Increasingly unpredictable weather compounds the problem. There’s often not enough water when it’s needed, and too much when it’s not.
In August 2010, Leh, Ladakh’s largest city, experienced a sudden cloudburst that triggered flash floods, destroying homes, damaging infrastructure, and claiming hundreds of lives.
Disasters caused by extreme weather events have now become an annual occurrence in Ladakh.
With farming incomes dwindling as a result, many young people are leaving for jobs in towns like Leh, leaving rural areas populated mostly by the elderly and children.
“The climate has led to profound demographic changes in rural Ladakh,” says Yen.
Caught in the crossfire
Urban areas haven’t been spared either. Tourism, now a key income source, has brought rapid urban growth—but also new challenges.
The influx of tourists and migrant workers has increased plastic waste, water consumption, and strain on limited resources. Water quality has declined, compounding the health risks already exacerbated by environmental changes.
“The remarkable shift into a sedentary lifestyle has also contributed to a sharp rise in rates of diabetes, hypertension and other lifestyle related diseases in Ladakh,” Yen notes.
Those transitioning to urban life are found struggling with diseases from contaminated water, substance abuse, and rising rates of mental issues such as depression and anxiety.
These challenges keep drawing Yen back to Ladakh.
“Through my research I want to understand the social and cultural factors around illness, as well as the wider picture of environmental, social, and cultural consequences on public health,” she says.
Over the past two years, Yen has conducted three seasons of ethnographic fieldwork in Ladakh, documenting the impact of climate change on health. Her efforts have earned her the McMichael Award for 2024, which supports researchers addressing the health challenges of climate change.
The award honours the late Professor Tony McMichael, a global authority on climate change’s impact on health and former director of the ANU National Centre for Epidemiology and Population Health (NCEPH).
“With this support, I hope to conduct community engagement activities in collaboration with NGOs and NPOs in Ladakh,” says Yen, “We aim to raise awareness of climate change and environmental sustainability among younger generations.”
Everything is a process
Based on her interactions with Ladakhi elders, Yen notes a philosophical outlook on life and nature among Ladakhi people.
“Everything is a process in Ladakh,” she explains. “When they see water, they see glaciers—they see how last year’s snow became today’s meltwater that flows into their fields. They understand the time, effort, and the tenacity nature requires.”
Adapting to climate change is no exception.
Yen has observed vastly different attitudes toward climate change and environmental issues among Ladakhi people. While elders express deep concern and a number of young people have actively taken part in sustainability initiatives, many others seem indifferent.
“Young people will be key to coping with climate change in Ladakh,” Yen notes.
Yen believes that understanding the mindset disconnect, improving education about sustainability and public health, raising awareness and encouraging sustainable practices are vital steps for preparing Ladakh’s youth to navigate a changing climate.
Ladakh’s experience is a microcosm of the challenges humanity faces in adapting to climate change.
Amid the changes, local NGOs like the Students’ Educational and Cultural Movement of Ladakh are already innovating solutions, such as creating artificial glaciers to store winter water for springtime use.
Yen sees parallels between Ladakh and her home country, Vietnam, where young people in the Mekong Delta are engaging in initiatives to combat rising sea levels and flooding.
In wealthy countries like Australia, reflection, research, and education are also valuable for understanding the roles they have played and can play in the future.
“What I experienced in Ladakh made me realise how spoiled we are and how much we take for granted,” she reflects.
To Yen, this realisation is the beginning of another process—a journey toward helping build a sustainable and healthy future—while we still have time and hope.