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

Abstract

Extensive areas of the High Himalaya are economically backward. Other areas, such as Khumbu Himal, are influenced by tourism and modernization which thereby affects the way of life of the local people. The traditional subsistence agriculture is being replaced by a transitional agricultural system. Tourist trekking is competing with traditional demands for both human and natural resources. The results include significant changes in the traditional agricultural patterns and exploitation of other natural resources, especially forest for firewood and grazing land. Political, social, cultural, and economic factors affect the processes of change. Traditional Buddhist values are exposed to western influence and this leads to internal socio-economic and socio-cultural re-structuring. Relative self-sufficiency in food is giving way to an economic dependence on the external world.