Fragile heritage ecologies: vernacular cultures and the at-risk landscapes of the Hindu-Kush-Himalaya mountain region

The Hindu-Kush-Himalayas (HKH) mountains stretch along northern Pakistan and are home to unique societies in terms of culture, heritage, biodiversity, environment and diverse terrain that is continuously transforming with the changing climate. They also hold the largest ice-cap outside the polar regions with >7000 glaciers mapped. These glaciers provide water for the entire country and serve as a lifeline for mountain communities providing irrigation water where rainfall in the valley floors can be as little as 200mm a year. They are also a major threat as Global Warming leads to their melting, not always in a steady retreat but creating lakes of meltwater dammed behind deposits the glaciers leave; dams that can suddenly give way leading to Glacial Lake Outburst Floods (GLOF) which have been estimated to pose a threat to up to 7 million people as they pour down the valleys, even affecting centres of population in the south of the country. This configuration is one reason why Pakistan ranks 8th in the Global Climate Risk Index for 2019 but the alarmingly 4th most vulnerable for future climate change impacts.

The peoples of the Northern mountains have long adapted to the harshness and fragility of their environment. The area open to agriculture, already comprising small oases sustained by traditional irrigation canals fed from meltwater is now under multiple threats. The retreat of glaciers can reduce the water for irrigation, flash floods threaten infrastructure and more violent seasonal flows erode the cultivable land. The cultural heritage of the mountain communities is often ignored in favour of attention on the remarkable natural landscape and flora and fauna. With a different cultural heritage from most Pakistanis, with links across the mountains to those in other countries, they are marginalised. This project looks to record their vernacular heritage and the agro-ecological practices that it embodies.

This project uses visual story-telling as a method of narrating the 'great glacial melt' in order to engage the public and policy makers and instigate action on climate change within Pakistan and South Asia. Through visual ethnography, oral history mapping and storytelling, this project will couple scientific data (such as geological data and terrain modelling) with cultural, socio-economic practices of inhabitants to map the adaptation processes employed by mountain communities. It focuses on how heritage is conceptualised by the community - how do they explain its role in the changing landscape and how they engage and employ cultural heritage practices as means to prepare for and respond to disasters. Outputs include audio-visual stories produced by local communities that will be digitised in addition to a participatory framework for at-risk heritage documentation to better inform regional policy on sustainable development within the region. It will train local heritage practitioners to engage with communities and how they might learn from themto enhance heritage stewardship on local, regional and national level in the face of climate change impacts on remote mountain communities.