External Economic Dependency and Changing Human Adjustment to Marginal Environment in the High Himalaya, Nepal

Patterns of the development of tourism in mountain environments

“…These may be worn as status symbols, because the demands of work in tourism make the production of traditional clothing impossible, or simply because they are more suitable for mountain environments (Allan 1988;Coppock 1978;Crystal 1989;Fisher 1990). In Nepal, among the "tourist Sherpas" who form a new elite, jewellery has lost its place as a status symbol to consumer items and mountaineering equipment (Bjonness 1983;Sacherer 1981). An alternative reason for the disappearance of traditional clothing may be its sale to tourists in search of authentic souvenirs (Cohen 1979;West 1990).…”

“…They can also obviate the need to migrate seasonally in order to relieve pressure on local resources and obtain goods or income (Viazzo 1989;von FfirerHaimendorf 1975). As a result, there is often a considerable redistribution of activities between the sexes, demands on women increase, and seasonal workers are often hired to do the necessary tasks that would otherwise be left undone -or the lower-paid jobs that local people would prefer not to do (Baumgartner 1988;Bjonness 1983;Fisher 1990;Goering 1990;Kariel and Kariel 1982;Moser and Moser 1986;Pawson et al 1984a;Sacherer 1981;Stevens 1992). However, these trends often lead to inadequate maintenance of agricultural and forest land, which may be implicated in decreased crop yields and the increasing instability of slopes.…”

“…Changes in the production of food may come about because tourist work comes to take precedence over agricultural work (Barker 1982;Bjonness 1983;Messerli 1989) or in direct response to the demands of tourists: for instance, vegetable cultivation in Ladakh (Singh and Kaur 1985) or increased dairy production in the Alps (Gamper 1981;Keller and Kneubtihl 1982). In developing countries, new patterns of food consumption by local people may derive either from the availability of new sources of food or because new income permits more expensive, higherstatus food to be bought (Sacherer 1981;Stevens 1992).…”

“…Tensions may appear between the newly wealthy and those who live a more traditional lifestyle; those who earn enough income to live the desired lifestyle in the new higher-priced system and those who cannot; those who are self-employed and the wage-earners; and long-term residents and immigrants (Bjonness 1983;Coppock 1978;Crystal 1989;Gilg 1988;Goering 1990;Messerli 1987;Moser and Moser 1986;Reiter 1977;Stevens 1992). Although such tensions can lead to political change, general trends of change are unlikely for many reasons, including the range of political institutions, both local and larger-scale, in mountain regions and the fact that the primary political issues will vary through the different phases of tourism.…”

Mountain commons: Changing space and status at community levels in the Himalayas

“…The natural or environmental factors (historically) promoting institution of CPRs are: high risk, low productivity-limited range of production options; land resources which are hard to harness and less attractive for intensification; local ecological heterogeneities inducing inter-linked land based activities and need for complementing CPR-PPR (private property resource) based sustenance strategies. From the social angle, adaptations to the above circumstances which favour the institution of CPRs are: low attractiveness and efficacy of wholesale privatization of land resources, focus on resource-use diversification (balancing production and conservation), high degree of collective stake in protection and health of natural resource base, and social cohesion to help evolve and enforce norms and practices favouring the above imperatives (Jodha 2001, Bijonness 1983.…”