A photograph by Taseer Baig has won the Public Choice Award at a regional competition organised by the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development under the theme Voices of the Highlands: Life, Land and Livestock in a Changing World.
Taseer Baig, a visual storyteller from Hunza, is a member of the Pamir Times team and a media graduate. He works in corporate and development communications. His work spans photography, video storytelling, and digital media, focusing on documenting life in remote mountain regions and highlighting indigenous cultures, environmental challenges, and human resilience.
The competition was organised in connection with the United Nations General Assembly declaration of 2026 as the International Year of Rangelands and Pastoralists (IYRP 2026), drawing global attention to the importance of pastoral communities and fragile mountain ecosystems.
The award-winning image documents the fading pastoral traditions of Shimshal Valley, located in the high mountains of the Pamir region.
At the centre of the image is Afroze Numa, one of the last Wakhi shepherdesses of Shimshal. For years, she has moved with her flocks and yaks along ancestral routes from the village to the high pastures near Shimshal Pass, at an altitude of nearly 4,800 metres.
The photograph captures what is believed to be her final migration, a quiet farewell to a livelihood shaped by generations of knowledge and endurance.
For decades, Wakhi women have sustained local economies through seasonal pastoralism, producing dairy products that supported households and enabled education. However, climate change, economic pressures, and social change are increasingly threatening this centuries-old system, placing both cultural heritage and rangeland ecosystems at risk.
Original Source: https://www.icimod.org/rangeland-photo-contest-2026-winners-revealed/
