Addressing the Climate Crisis in the Indian Himalayas - Can Traditional Ecological Knowledge Help?

This book focuses on the traditional ecological knowledge in addressing the current climate crisis in the Indian Himalayas. Local or indigenous people in the Himalayas, through their low-carbon producing lifestyles, contribute very little to the climate crisis. However, at the same time, they bear the brunt of this crisis way more than many others. It is important to learn about their traditional ways of life and the knowledge that they hold regarding ecology and environment. Traditional ecological knowledge and associated belief systems are given increasing attention across the globe in recent times toward addressing some of the grave environmental concerns. Climate change is one such concern. The rising consideration of concepts such as ethnoecology and ethnobotany signifies the scientific, socio-cultural and economic potential of the traditional ecological knowledge systems. It is indisputable that these knowledge systems have the ability to provide important insights towards tackling many present-day environmental distresses including several climate change challenges. In this book, the authors concentrate on such traditional ecological knowledge systems in the Indian Himalayan region and try to figure out their significance in relation to the modern science. Overall, the authors attempt to write a book where the relevance of traditional ecological knowledge systems could be addressed and communicated to a larger audience-both academic scientific and non-academic.

Dr. Anwesha Borthakur is presently a Landhaus Fellow at the Rachel Carson Center for Environment and Society, Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich in Germany. She is an affiliate with the University of Leuven (KU Leuven) in Belgium from where she completed her Marie Sklodowska-Curie Postdoctoral Fellowship in 2021. Prior to that, she obtained her PhD in science policy from Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), New Delhi, India. She has published over 40 research articles/book chapters in peer-reviewed, indexed journals/books and edited volumes on topics associated with environmental sustainability. Her broad areas of research interest include waste governance, electronic and textile waste, traditional ecological knowledge, public engagement for environmental sustainability and scientometric analysis.
Dr. Pardeep Singh is presently an Assistant Professor at the Department of Environmental Studies, PGDAV College, University of Delhi in New Delhi, India. He obtained his PhD from the Indian Institute of Technology (Banaras Hindu University), Varanasi. He was selected as a Young Scientist by the Department of Science and Technology (DST), India for the BRICS Young Scientist Conclave held in Durban, South Africa. His research interests include waste management, wastewater treatment, water scarcity and global climate change. He has published more than 75 research papers/book chapters in international journals/books in the field of environmental science. He has also edited more than 40 books with various international publishers including Springer Nature, Elsevier, CRC Press and Wiley.