Our Assistant Professor of Lifeways in Indigenous Asia, Pasang Yangjee Sherpa was recently invited to speak at the Stockholm World Water Week panel “Protecting Himalayan Source Waters for Regional Peacebuilding“, co-hosted by the U.S. Department of State and the International Water Management Institute on August 25, 2024.
The Himalayan source waters sustain 1.8 billion+ people in South and Southeast Asia, but recent development plans threaten the area’s ecological balance and impacts water access and ecosystems downstream.
Pasang shared that “peacebuilding and water security have to be community led, involving intentional efforts on the ground to care for the human and more-than-human relations. The high-mountains in the Himalayas that extend to its glaciers personify one such relations. So, it is very important that we recognize Indigenous communities as leaders in this effort, and researchers and institutions should see themselves as partners and supporters to empower the community with what they need instead of the status quo where the community is treated as victims, a passive recipient of science and resources.”
To learn more about Stockholm Water Week, visit https://www.worldwaterweek.org/
