Linking Indigenous Traditional Knowledge and Sustainable Development Goals in the North-Western Himalayas

Abstract

Sustainable Development Goals-2030 press upon the need for clean energy. Indigenous communities thriving in resource-rich terrains and abundant with traditional knowledge have a crucial role to play in realizing the sustainable goals. The paper highlights the idea of ecological modernization theory, wherein a major stress has been put on the co-existence of economic and ecological practices. Select case studies from the North-Western Himalayan region comprising Kinnaur, Kullu, Lahaul and Spiti, Chamba, and Kangra valley in Himachal Pradesh have been included to highlight key indigenous practices in irrigation, resource management, and conservation and their assimilation with positivist approach based on the scientific approach. Some of the major challenges such as illegal mafia and encroachment are highlighted. A future blueprint for Social Impact Assessment and Economic Impact Assessment has also been laid down, as a paradigm shift in future interventions in the fragile Himalayan ecology.