HIGHLAND - LOWLAND INTERACTIVE SYSTEMS

1 HIGHLAND - LOWLAND INTERACTIVE SYSTEMS (draft of document for FAO - FORC/IYM 2002) Jack D. Ives, Ottawa, Canada. 15th March, 2001 TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION 4 WHY FOCUS ON MOUNTAINS? 8 MAJOR DIMENSIONS OF HIGHLAND - LOWLAND INTERACTIONS 11 ECOLOGICAL DIMENSIONS 11 SOCIAL DIMENSIONS 23 a. Migration Patterns 23 b. Cultural Diversity 32 c. Environmental Management 35 ECONOMIC DIMENSIONS 38 a. Tourism and Transfer of Economic Costs and Benefits 38 b.

2 Environmental Resources: Transfer of Economic Costs and Benefits 43 c. Technology Transfers 51 POLITICAL AND MILITARY DIMENSIONS 52 1 SUMMARY54 CASE STUDIES 56a. The Eppalock Catchment, Australia, 1960 - 1985 Kenya: Inappropriate Settlement of Highlands by Lowlanders Thailand: Swidden Agriculture, Watershed Management, and Ethnic Minorities 68d. Tajikistan: Lake Sarez and the Pamir Mountains 77e. Northern Chile: Copper and Water Supply 84f. Nepal: Khumbu Himal: Sherpa and Landscape Change 87g. Norway: Rondane National Park 96h.

3 Lijiang County, Yunnan, China: Forests and Tourism Development 103i. Himalayan Deforestation- LOWLAND Flooding 132 HIGHLAND LOWLAND INTERACTIONS AND THE INTERNATIONAL YEAR OF MOUNTAINS 1451. Modelling 1472. Warfare in the Mountains 1483. Production of Illegal Narcotics 1494. Risks and Disasters in Mountain Lands and their LOWLAND Interactions 1495. The Vulnerability of Mountain Women and Children 1526. Environmental Orthodoxies 1537. Watershed Analysis 1548. Global Warming and Mountains 15529. Mountain Tourism 15610.

4 Comparative Advantages of Mountains 156 CONCLUSION157 APPENDIX I Definition of Major Terms 158 REFERENCES1613 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 HIGHLAND - LOWLAND 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.

5 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.

6 The 4interrelationships 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.

7 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.

8 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 5precise 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.

9 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.

10 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).