About the project
In recent years, scientific attention is increasingly turning to the Himalaya as the bellwether for climate change effects as Himalayan glaciers appear to be retreating rapidly and glacial lake outburst floods (GLOFs) are increasing in frequency.
Flash floods and environmental destruction now associated with anthropogenic climate change are of course nothing new. Himalayan communities have maintained records of their management of floods and other environmental hazards over centuries.
Well-intended development and climate adaptation programmes often fail to account for such local perspectives. Interventions may, therefore, founder because deeper historical and cultural forces often dictate whether or not a development project will be contested or productively managed.
"Himalayan Connections: Melting Glaciers, Sacred Landscapes and Mobile Technologies in a Changing Climate" (HimalConnect) will first conduct an in-depth investigation of the management strategies deployed in Limi, in Nepal’s impoverished Humla District.
The project then builds out from this in-depth case study to a multi-level analysis that encompasses the complexity of different geographical and temporal scales.
The development of a secondary case-study in Bhutan, and of a comparative framework through interaction with scholars working in other remote and vulnerable areas in the world will provide a unique opportunity to test this approach in a wider perspective.
Objectives
Based on case studies in Nepal and Bhutan, HimalConnect explores the questions:
- How have the villagers managed their environment and responded to natural disasters in the past, and what strategies do they use at present?
- How does the introduction of new roads and communication technology, as well as discourses on global climate influence how they perceive and manage their environment?
- How can local knowledge about environmental threats, such as floods caused by melting glaciers, be scaled out and made relevant for environmental decision makers on different levels?
Outcomes
The results of the project will:
(i) provide insight into secular and Buddhist ideas and practices of environmental management in Nepal and Bhutan;
(ii) show the ways in which new technology and connectivities are mediated by culture; (iii) contribute to broader understandings of how extra-local knowledges and framings of climate change and environmental management (for example, from the state and NGOs) affect local perceptions and agency;
(iv) provide a comparative overview of the importance of case study approaches to understanding multi-level environmental management;
(v) develop a methodology across different contexts to explore the scalability of local strategies across the different decision-making levels of environmental management.
Financing
HimalConnect is an interdisciplinary research project (April 2018-March 2023) funded by The Research Council of Norway’s NORGLOBAL-2 programme, in cooperation with the Department of Culture Studies and Oriental Languages, UiO, Mongolia and Inner Asia Studies Unit, University of Cambridge, and UiT The Arctic University of Norway.
Cooperation
University of Cambridge, Cicero, École Pratique des Hautes Études, University of Oregon, ICIMOD, Limi User Group for Flood Protection, Royal University of Bhutan and Loden Foundation.
Events and activities
Revisiting project sites in Bhutan
To round off project work and discuss future collaboration, Riam travelled to Bhutan to meet with colleagues at the College of Language and Culture Studies, Royal University of Bhutan, and college President Lopen Lungtaen.
Workshops in Limi schools
October 2022: Sharing environmental knowledge across cultures and generations
Schools have been an important site of engagement during the HimalConnect project and will be the focus of follow-on impact projects.
Roundtable at the IATS Conference
The 16th Seminar of the International Association for Tibetan Studies (IATS) took place in Prague, 3-9 July 2022.
The HimalConnect team members organised a roundtable on "Changing climate in Tibetan, Himalayan and Mongolian regions: adaptive strategies in dynamic social, ecological and cosmological landscapes".
Exhibition
"Himalayan Connections - Changing Climate and Communities in High Places and Icy Spaces"
The exhibition took place at the Humanities and Social Sciences Library at the University of Oslo from 14 January - 10 March 2022. It was a collaboration between the research project and the library.
HimalConnect Conference: Changing climate and communities in high places and icy spaces
14-15 January 2022, organized at the University of Oslo as a fully digital event.
Twenty-two presenters from various disciplines across the human, social and natural sciences shared in-depth knowledge from local communities in the Himalayas, Mongolia, South and North America, and the Arctic. The contributions enabled fruitful and comparative cross-disciplinary discussions.
Fieldwork in Bhutan
December 2019 - May 2020
Partnering with the Royal University of Bhutan’s College of Language and Culture Studies (CLCS), Dr. Riamsara is conducting field and desk-based research with Lopen Choni Tshewang and Lopen Doriji Gyeltshen.
Environmental management in a changing climate: Communicating local perspectives from the Kailash Sacred Landscape
HimalConnect arranged a stakeholder workshop together with ICIMOD and The Mountain Institute in Kathmandu, 30 September to 1 October 2019.
Roundtable at the IATS Conference in Paris
The 15th Seminar of the International Association for Tibetan Studies (IATS) took place in Paris, 7-13 July 2019. HimalConnect team members organised a project roundtable.
Panel at the BASAS conference
HimalConnect organised a panel at the annual conference of the British Association for South Asian Studies (BASAS) at Durham University, 3-5 April 2019
The panel "Climate change and new connectivities in the Himalaya: Exploring historical and contemporary perspectives" was chaired by Ben Campbell. Hildegard, Riam and Astrid gave presentations.
Fieldwork in Limi
The HimalConnect team conducted fieldwork in Limi autumn 2018, with Astrid going up in September, and Riam, Hanna and Hildegard meeting up in October. We were very ably assisted by RAs Tenzing Lama, Thubten Lama, Sagar Lama, Dawa Tamang (pictured below) and Rinchen Loden Lama.
Launch workshop
Himal Connect's launch workshop was organised at Tøyen Manor, 13-14 August 2018. Main focus was on the methodological development of the research project.
Publications
- Hildegard Diemberger and Astrid Hovden have contributed with the chapter "People of the Cryosphere: A Cross-Regional, Cross-Disciplinary Approach to Icescapes in a Changing Climate" to the new book Risky Futures: Climate, Geopolitics and Local Realities in the Uncertain Circumpolar North. The book, edited by Olga Ulturgasheva and Barbara Bodenhorn, was published by Berghahn, August 2022.
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Kuyakanon, R, H. Diemberger and D. Sneath (eds.) 2022. Cosmopolitical Ecologies Across Asia. Places and Practices of Power in Changing Environments. Abingdon: Routledge.
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Hovden, A. Limi, the Land In-between: the Art of Governing a Buddhist Frontier Community in the Himalaya. Leiden: Brill (in print)
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Kuyakanon, R. and H. Havnevik (eds.) Changing Climate and Communities in High Places and Icy Spaces, OpenBook Publishers (forthcoming)