Abstract
Aim . To examine the contribution structured systems of social mores (adat) and religious and secular public education have made to developing and sustaining socio‐ecological environment management in one community, Verkhnee Gakvari, in the upper valley of the Andiiskoe Koisu in the Dagestan Caucasus, from deep antiquity to the present day. Discussion . The research involved an extensive review of the relevant literature and on‐line resources dedicated of the region. Communities were visited across the region and discussions were undertaken with their representatives, as well as with other stakeholders. A particular emphasis was placed on the exemplary system of environmental education provided at the Verkhnee Gakvari School and its positive impact in sustaining the socio‐ecological production landscape of its territory. Significant progress was made in researching and documenting the range of issues fundamental to understanding the formation and continuity of the inter‐dependencies with nature and the cultural landscapes unique to these agro‐pastoral cultures of the upper Andiiskoe Koisu. This includes a comprehensive documentation of the contributions the Verkhnee Gakvari School has made to the preservation of its community’s socio‐ecological production landscape. Conclusion . Verkhnee Gakvari and other traditional communities of the upper Andiiskoe Koisu present a unique multi‐millenial cultural continuum of global significance for understanding the evolution of human society and are a remarkable survival in Europe of successful and harmonious socio‐ecological production landscape interdependencies. As the combined impacts of modern society and climate change now inevitably impinge upon the ability of the inhabitants of this ancient homeland to sustain the benefits which they have so successfully crafted from their environment, the region is in priority need of national and international recognition and support.
Highlights
This study was undertaken to document and raise awareness of the long, undisrupted course of human occupation in harmony with nature of the upper Andiiskoe Koisu region in the high Caucasus of Dagestan from the perspective of the role played by social mores and religious and secular education in collective environmental management with a focus on the exemplary contributions of the Verkhnee Gakvari community and its school
Dagestan State University and Verkhnee Gakvari: Contribution to Regional Collaboration and Awareness‐ Raising of the Role of Environmental Management in Sustainable Development To better understand the whole range of issues involved in the sustainable habitation and development of communities like Verkhnee Gakvari, and as an outcome of the resolutions of the 2017 Conference, “Ecology of the Mountain Territories of Dagestan: Problems and Pathway to Their Solution”, the Institute of Ecology and Sustainable Development of Dagestan State University is collaborating with the Verkhnee Gakvari School in the formulation of the initiative entitled, “Conserving the Koisu: Sustaining the Mountain Fastness of the Upper Andiiskoe River – A Uniquely Surviving Socio‐Ecological Continuum in the Dagestan Caucasus”
Together the village of Verkhnee Gakvari and other communities of the upper Andiiskoe Koisu present a unique cultural continuum in which evidences of its principal evolutionary phases remain accessible to scientific and historical research in the form of perpetuations of ancient life style practices, settlement patterns and built structures, material culture, agro‐diversity and plant adaptation, animal resource utilization, customs and beliefs, linguistic “islands”, etc
Summary
This study was undertaken to document and raise awareness of the long, undisrupted course of human occupation in harmony with nature of the upper Andiiskoe Koisu region in the high Caucasus of Dagestan from the perspective of the role played by social mores (adat) and religious and secular education in collective environmental management with a focus on the exemplary contributions of the Verkhnee Gakvari community and its school. A central dynamic of adat in the formation and maintenance of the cultural landscape of communities like Verkhnee Gakvari, where all members were related, was collaboration amongst households in all activities including those of general benefit, such as construction of roads, trails and stone walls for corralling livestock, etc Christianity left no such record of text or depictions relating to the natural world in the region, except in the fine scrolling arabesque frieze which may have drawn on Georgian church architectural decoration over the internal doorway to the 16th century Juma mosque of Gigatli. Provide advanced training for heads of institutions and organizations on compliance with sanitary and environmental norms and regulations
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