Mountain voices and views

"Mountains play a double role in my life: they are both my partner and my enemy," says Ryszard, an agricultural engineer in the Sudety mountains of Poland. He is one of 350 men and women whose voices and views have been recorded by the Panos Institute and their partners in "High Stakes - the future for mountain societies". Interviews have been gathered in ten countries: in the Himalaya (India and Nepal); the Karakorum (Pakistan); the central Andes (Peru); the Sierra Norte (Mexico); Mount Elgon (Kenya); the highlands of Ethiopia and Lesotho; southwest and northeast China. Frank, honest and incisive, the testimonies paint a detailed picture of what it is like to live and farm in the world's mountainous areas - and they bring into sharp focus the challenges ahead.

Credit: Susie Emmett

Amongst Polish peaks, people are pre-occupied with de-population and the decline of the mountain economy. Amongst the causes mentioned is the damage to mountain forests. "In the 1950's a new danger to the mountain forest appeared." According to Kazimierz, a retired forester, this was an inflow of polluted air from the new generation of brown coal-fired power works in the northern Czech towns. Bronislaw, another retired forester adds, "Too much timber is cut down, too little is planted. And if there are no plants, there is nothing to collect the water, to stop it. And the result is that the water flows down." Flow it did and in 1997, after heavy rain, many of the orchards and farmsteads were destroyed by flood. Bare soil can contribute to flash flooding but Kazimierz contributes his own theory. "It was not the exploitation and pollution of the forest that caused such a quick flow of water, but most of all the disuse of agricultural areas. The weeds and overgrowth forms blankets on the ground. Water simply flew down as if over a thatched roof. It would have delayed the flow if those areas had been used agriculturally."

In the high plateaux of the Central Andes, mountain farmers talk of damage of a different kind: from mining. "In my early days, the hillsides of the mountain range were pure pastureland so we were able to keep cattle and also plant crops," remembers farmer Ignacio. "But, if you look around now, there's no pasture land to be seen; now it's a mountain of pure rubbish from the mine, the silt left over once the minerals have been washed." The Peruvian communities thus affected describe their determination to reverse this damage. Hector, a young teacher, is aware of the responsibility to future generations of mountain farmers. "These lands are the inheritance we've received from our ancestors and we don't want to lose them for anything. We want to recover from the pollution and preserve what is left of our customs." The Andean testimony confirms how mountain people want policy-makers to realise the consequences to local people when natural mountain resources are exploited for national gain. Juan, recently graduated and back in his mountain home, wants to see official endorsement by government to people's plans to develop. "The communities must be strengthened to be able to move forward, to be able to secure loans to set up industries. We would have a mine there, a spinning mill, a leather tannery, a place where you could produce cheese, butter, and in this way diversify, unlike now."

"There should have been more talking. But because we are seen as nothing, the planners planned and we are not part of the planning," is the comment from another mountain farmer, 46 year old Sebeli, on the exploitation of mountain resources in the highlands of Lesotho in southern Africa. The resource is water. Some mountain families have been moved off their land to make way for the reservoirs and tunnels of a massive scheme to divert and export river water to the industrial heartland of South Africa. Sebeli has deep misgivings about the future. "I see compensation as being very little. We are very concerned about how our children will live without access to the fields of their forefathers." Others, like 38 year old Manthatisi, can admit that she sees benefits in current development. "There may be some problems here and there, like in any other things in life. But generally our lives have changed - in some ways for the better. Our sons are employed - they are helping us with the project's bridges and roads."

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