Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
19.11.4.2
ENGAGEMENT OF THE MEDIA AND ACADEMIA
Awareness and knowledge among stakeholders generally about the im-
pacts of global warming and the threat to the ecosystem, communities
and infrastructure are inadequate. The media and academia together can
play a significant role in public education, awareness building and trend
projection.
19.11.4.3 FACILITATION OF INTERNATIONAL POLICY
DIALOGUE AND COOPERATION
Regional and international cooperation needs to advance in order to ad-
dress the ecological, socioeconomic and cultural implications of climate
change in the Himalayas. The international community, including donors,
decision-makers and the private and public sectors needs to be involved in
regional cooperation ventures. This is of particular importance for achiev-
ing sustainable and efficient management of trans boundary rivers.
19.11.4.4
LINKING SCIENCE AND POLICY IN CLIMATE
CHANGE
Good science based on credible, salient, legitimate knowledge can often
lead to good policies in the context of climate change and mountain speci-
ficities, and vice versa (Thompson and Gyawali, 2007). By credible, we
mean knowledge that has been derived from field observations and tested
by local communities. Salient information is information that is imme-
diately relevant and useful to policy makers. Legitimate information is
unbiased in its origins and creation and both fair and reasonably com-
prehensive in its treatment of opposing views and interests. Policy is a
formula for the use of power and application of knowledge. The question
then is who has the power and who has the knowledge, scientific or local,
or a combination of both. Scientific knowledge is useful, but limited and
full of uncertainties on the complex Himalayan scale. So, 'nobody knows
best' becomes the model (Lebel et al., 2004). Alternative perspectives car-
ry their own set of values and perceptions about who should be making
the rules, where the best knowledge lies to guide decisions and about what
