HIGHLAND - LOWLAND INTERACTIVE SYSTEMS

[Pages:180]HIGHLAND - LOWLAND INTERACTIVE SYSTEMS (draft of document for FAO - FORC/IYM 2002) Jack D. Ives, Ottawa, Canada. 15th March, 2001

TABLE OF CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

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WHY FOCUS ON MOUNTAINS?

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MAJOR DIMENSIONS OF HIGHLAND-LOWLAND INTERACTIONS

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ECOLOGICAL DIMENSIONS

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SOCIAL DIMENSIONS

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a. Migration Patterns

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b. Cultural Diversity

32

c. Environmental Management

35

ECONOMIC DIMENSIONS

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a. Tourism and Transfer of Economic Costs and Benefits

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b. Environmental Resources: Transfer of Economic Costs and Benefits

43

c. Technology Transfers

51

POLITICAL AND MILITARY DIMENSIONS

52

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SUMMARY

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CASE STUDIES

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a. The Eppalock Catchment, Australia, 1960 - 1985

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b. Mount Kenya: Inappropriate Settlement of Highlands by Lowlanders

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c. Northern Thailand: Swidden Agriculture, Watershed Management,

and Ethnic Minorities

68

d. Tajikistan: Lake Sarez and the Pamir Mountains

77

e. Northern Chile: Copper and Water Supply

84

f. Nepal: Khumbu Himal: Sherpa and Landscape Change

87

g. Norway: Rondane National Park

96

h. Lijiang County, Yunnan, China: Forests and Tourism Development

103

i. Himalayan Deforestation-Lowland Flooding

132

HIGHLAND--LOWLAND INTERACTIONS AND THE

INTERNATIONAL YEAR OF MOUNTAINS

145

1. Modelling

147

2. Warfare in the Mountains

148

3. Production of Illegal Narcotics

149

4. Risks and Disasters in Mountain Lands and their Lowland

Interactions

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5. The Vulnerability of Mountain Women and Children

152

6. Environmental Orthodoxies

153

7. Watershed Analysis

154

8. Global Warming and Mountains

155

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9. Mountain Tourism

156

10. Comparative Advantages of Mountains

156

CONCLUSION

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APPENDIX I

Definition of Major Terms

158

REFERENCES

161

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INTRODUCTION

This report examines the social, economic, and political relationships between highlands and subjacent lowlands. The practical justification for the study arises from the recent growth in awareness of the importance of highlandlowland interactions as the processes of globalization continue to accelerate. The terms `highlands' and `lowlands' are loosely defined: `highlands' as synonymous with `mountains' and, therefore, `lowlands' as those areas beyond and beneath the mountains that are influenced by down-slope physical processes and by human relationships linking the two.

Attempts to develop a physical definition for `mountain' have consumed much time and energy. Yet no universally acceptable result has been obtained. The problem becomes the more intractable in the present context with introduction of the term `highland-lowland interaction'. When social, economic, and political aspects are included, quite different visions on `mountain', `highland', and `lowland' will arise. A review of this problem is provided as Appendix I. Nevertheless, it must be emphasized here that the term `lowland' cannot be construed to represent a distinct physical entity as the areas involved will vary because physical, social, economic, and political realities do not necessarily overlap

The growing impact of the global market on economic and political interactions extends to what were hitherto very remote regions. The

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interrelationships between highlands and lowlands can be categorized in the first instance as the impacts of mainstream political and economic power bases on remote mountain areas and communities. However, this is not a one-way process from the lowlands to the highlands ? in many instances events within highland communities have significant effects on the power structure and way of life in far distant lowlands.

As recently as fifty, even twenty five, years ago most mountain regions were at the far periphery of mainstream societal concerns. Remote, relatively inaccessible, they were generally pictured as difficult, unyielding, and unprofitable environments ? amongst the world's last remaining arenas for exploration and mapping, and privileged enclaves for mountaineering and adventure. Within academia, a small group of anthropologists had focused attention throughout the twentieth century on mountain peoples and cultures, but emphasis usually seemed to be on exotic features ? extreme longevity, primitive religion, marginal survival, unusual adaptation to very high altitude, fraternal polyandry ? and this tended to obliterate informed communication and more meaningful analysis in any practical sense.

Early mountain research in the natural sciences concentrated mainly on specialized studies with little cross-disciplinary endeavour. For example, the geomorphologist regarded mountain environments, especially those above timberline, as prime field areas because the steep slopes and scarcity or absence of vegetation ensured much more rapid mass transfers which led to ease of

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precise measurement and therefore to improved understanding of geophysical processes within a set time interval. Unfortunately, with some exceptions, such as avalanche and landslide research, this did not lead to immediate or significant practical applications.

There have been few attempts to forge links between the human and natural sciences in mountain regions. During the last fifty years there have been spasmodic accounts in the popular press of mountain regions and their relationship with the subjacent lowlands, mainly induced by events of great economic or political significance, such as the initial burst of two-season tourism in the Alps; the absorption of Tibet by lowland Communist China; the opening of Nepal to mountaineering and tourism; and the increasing popularity and subsequent overuse of North American mountain national parks by urbanized lowlanders.

Since the Rio de Janeiro Earth Summit (UNCED, 1992), awareness, concern, and commitment to mountain issues has increased to an extent that would have been considered only remotely possible ten years ago. The underpinnings of this increase in awareness are four-fold. First, increasing water shortages, together with growing demands for hydroelectricity, in various parts of the world have reinforced the realization that mountains constitute the source of more than half the world's available fresh water, whether for domestic, industrial, or agricultural use; in arid and semi-arid countries this may exceed 80 percent (Mountain Agenda, 1998). Second, with the end of the Cold War and the

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accelerating globalization, the news media have ensured that human society as a whole has been constantly informed about a series of extremely ugly wars, disproportionately concentrated in mountain regions ? Kashmir, Afghanistan, Caucasus, the Balkans, Colombia, Kurdistan, Tajikistan, the Horn of Africa, and Ruanda (Libiszewski and B?chler, 1997). Third, the general belief that mismanagement of mountain environments, for example, by deforestation and overgrazing, may have catastrophic downstream effects, has further focused concern. Such effects include massive flooding in Gangetic India, Bangladesh, the lower Yellow River, China, and in various part of Southeast Asia (Ives and Messerli, 1989), as well as devastating mudflows in Colombia, whether or not the actual cause--effect relationships have been satisfactorily analyzed. Fourth, current widespread alarm about the predictions of harmful global climate warming throw emphasis on mountains as one of the areas where some of the earliest imprints of such warming will become apparent (Beniston, 2000; Beniston and Fox, 1996).

The lack of reliable data and understanding about mountains and their interactions with the subjacent lowlands has kept many of these issues shrouded in uncertainty. Political misrepresentation (not necessarily deliberate) has led to political tension as well as to large-scale waste of resources in efforts to provide solutions to incorrectly identified problems. Mountains, therefore, have moved from far back stage on the world's political and development agenda to front and centre (Messerli and Ives, 1997). This provides full justification for thorough

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evaluation of highland-lowland interactions, especially within the context of the International Year of Mountains -- 2002.

WHY FOCUS ON MOUNTAINS?

Mountainous lands occupy at least twenty percent of the world's terrestrial surface and provide about ten percent of humankind with their direct life support base. Indirectly, mountains provide extensive material resources, such as water and forest products, as well as the more intangible benefits, such as recreation, tourism, and religious inspiration, to well over half the world's population.

Mountains constitute the most diverse landscapes on earth and thus hold a very large share of the world's biodiversity and cultural diversity. The complex physiography and relative isolation have led over geological time to the evolution of a very large number of endemic plant and animal species. Similarly, the geographical remoteness has ensured the emergence of a high degree of cultural diversity and its preservation. It is this biological and cultural endemism that is one of the reasons for much of the current growth of lowland interest in mountain areas. However, the degree of inaccessibility or, alternatively, the high cost of establishing and maintaining modern communication links, is a major cause of lower economic returns for mountain communities (Kreutzmann, 1991; Hewitt, 1993). Thus, in an open market system

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