Mission and goals: The strategic goal of this initiative is the preparation of a development project, which assists rural mountain communities in Hindukush, Pamir, Tien Shan, Karakorum and Himalaya to cope with climate change impacts. The objective of one of the major project components is to increase the income of those people engaged in cashmere production, processing, weaving and marketing. To achieve this objective, all stakehol­ders should be part of the (preparation) process, being sensitized in state-of-the-art production, processing, weaving and marketing techniques, given the opportunity to express their needs and expectations but also contributing their experience and know-how. In particular, this website is about the following:
Cashmere goats: Few of them grazing in Kashmir, and producing small quantities of cashmere (wool) or so-called "pashmina".	Chinese (cashmere) goats: Millions of them grazing in China, and producing thousands of tons of cashmere. To be precise, 11,500 metric tons in 2007, or 72% of the global raw cashmere production.
(Swiss) Valais Blackneck goats: About 3,000 of them grazing in Valais (and some more in other parts of Central Europe), and producing no cashmere at all.	Badakhshan/Afghanistan-Tajikistan and Ladakh/Northern India, remote mountain regions where goat breeders live on marginal lands of high altitude (3,500m to 4,500m) and encounter many difficulties in satisfying their basic needs.
Of course, this website should soon be available in French, German and Italian as well, and we shall try hard to make this happen soon. Whoever wants to contribute anything to the idea and its realization displayed on the following pages is invited to do so in English, French, German or Italian under Forum@SwissCashmere.org