Understanding Mountain Poverty in the Hindu Kush-Himalayas

Research suggests that development interventions that do not take mountain specificities into account may threaten rather than facilitate development for the inhabitants in a sustainable mountain environment (Farrington and Gill 2002). There is now a sense of urgency associated with growing population pressure and lack of growth in economic sectors, which collectively accelerate the depletion of natural resources with potentially grave environmental and socioeconomic consequences. Increasing socioeconomic inequalities can also strain the fragile upstream-downstream linkages and structural conflict, which could further destabilise the situation for mountain inhabitants. This could have severe effects because the inhabitants in these areas are already at a greater risk of poverty, and remain so for longer periods of time. It is important to explore the nature of poverty in mountain areas and how it differs from that in non-mountain areas of the same country in order to provide a relevant alternative for generalised national and regional poverty estimates. Thus, there is an urgent need to define, analyse, and understand mountain poverty so that relevant and effective development policies and programmes can be designed that address the specific needs and capacities of mountain people.