Development agencies and Indian Government officials in the remote northern region of Ladakh are planning a big airlift of animal feed and emergency supplies for nearly 30,000 nomadic herders hit by early winter snows.

Dan Huntington of ApTibet: "Livestock are crucial"

A British-based charity, Appropriate Technology for Tibetans (ApTibet), says the nomads could lose their animals and face destitution unless they get nearly $2m in aid. Most of the money would go on fodder for stranded livestock.

The Ladakh region of Indian-administered Kashmir has a severe climate, a fact known only too well by 25,000 indigenous nomads and 3,000 Tibetan refugees who make a precarious living herding sheep, goats and yak on the plateau.

But this year winter snows came early to the high passes and summer pastures of the Changtang Plateau, high in the Himalayas near the border with Tibet.

The snowfall blocked passes and stranded animals and people. It also forced others to come down to the valleys early - before winter pastures were ready for them.

Nomads face a worrying winter

Dan Huntington, of ApTibet, says animals are beginning to die from hunger and need to be saved.

The Kashmiri and Indian authorities and the military are involved in rescue efforts. AP Tibet has appealed to the European Union for funds.

Mr Huntington says that without aid, the nomads will lose their livelihoods and then begin to suffer from malnutrition and starvation.

Also under threat is the lucrative cashmere wool industry - the wool comes from goats reared on the pastures of the Changtang plateau.