ICIMOD
INTERNATIONAL CENTRE FOR INTEGRATED MOUNTAIN DEVELOPMENT
On the occasion of the International Year of MOUNTAINS 2002
presents the:
HIGH SUMMIT VIDEOCONFERENCE
day two, Culture
(Knowledge and Values)
PRESS RELEASE No. 3
Kathmandu, 07 May 2002
There is a rich diversity of cultures in the mountains of Asia with over 150 languages spoken in the Hindu Kush Himalayas alone. Mountain cultures provide shared experience and contexts through which mountain people interact with themselves, their environment, and the outside world. Chaired by Dr. Harka Gurung, today's session of the Asia High Summit discussed various aspects of culture and mountain development by four authors from Germany, Nepal, Pakistan and the USA.
India and Pakistan toghether at the High Summit |
The topics were:
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The resilience and strengths of mountain cultures in managing their natural resources, the risks that they face, as well as the difficulties they encounter in dealing with dominant outside cultures were discussed. There are good examples of how government policies have empowered stakeholders to manage their forests and irrigation water. However, there are also many examples of local elite forming alliances with distant governments and further impoverishing poor mountain households leaving women and disadvantaged groups out of new opportunities.
| Like the immense biological diversity of the mountains, mountain cultures too are treasures of indigenous knowledge and have an intrinsic value that can support the development process. Today's session on culture - knowledge and values - advocated working 'with' the people and not 'for' the people, promoting mediating mechanisms for conflict resolution between inside and outside cultures, interacting with local communities to localize knowledge and review policies, and promoting stakeholder institutions, women empowerment and devolution of planning. |
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Asia High Summit 2002 is putting to good use the multimedia technologies |
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| The summit is web cast live and can be viewed at www.asiahs.org and we welcome Internet users to interact virtually with the experts by posing questions and comments through the chat facility. The papers are available online and can be accessed at: http://www.montagna.org/high-summit/r_asia-e.asp | ||
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For further information please visit: www.asiahs.org webcast and chat service
Dr. G. Campbell, DG of ICIMOD |
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released by Anju Shrestha ashrestha@icimod.org.np
Public Relations and Outreach Officer ICIMOD
