Sustainable Mountain Development - Mountain Geography: Physical and Human Dimensions - page 605

gravity ropeways. These installations are environmentally friendly and less susceptible
to hazards, and local communities have greater economic control over trade and trans-
port than with roads.
In many mountain areas, animals remain the most important means for moving goods
and people; they represent a natural, renewable, widely available, and affordable en-
ergy source (Starkey 2001) (Fig. 12.4). However, government officials and development
experts are largely unaware of the potential and of key issues, as the topic is omit-
ted from their training. Animals are integrated into local subsistence production sys-
tems (Khoabane and Black 2009), are the key source of nonhuman power, consume loc-
al feed, reproduce, supply valuable manure, and minimize environmental damage. An-
imal transport is labor intensive, providing valuable employment. In the mountains of
Ethiopia, 5 million donkeys carry water, fuelwood, and other goods. One-third of all don-
keys are in the mountains of Asia, including China and Pakistan. Yaks and yak-cattle
crossbreeds are important pack animals for trekking tourism in the Himalaya. Llamas
carry small loads for tourists in the Andes, horses are used for local and tourist demands
in many mountains, and camels are widely used for transportation in the mountains of
the Middle East, Central Asia, and the Arab world (Mountain Agenda 2001).
INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGIES (ICTS)
While animals, roads, ropeways, and railroads are still essential elements of SMD, mod-
ern communications technologies, such as the Internet, are growing in importance and,
especially in developing countries, have reversed the “traditional” progression of ac-
cess: road access, followed by electricity supply, and finally telephone. Increasingly, mo-
bile or satellite telephones reach an area first, followed by electricity and, finally, roads,
which are most costly (Montgomery 2002). Simple telephone access has the most im-
pact, as users do not have to be literate and no specific language skills (e.g., in English)
are required. However, linkage and exchange in the information technology sector are
still affected by the “digital divide,” as many people and institutions in the mountain
areas of developing countries do not have access to these technologies. The reasons in-
clude lack of the requisite infrastructure, compounded by problems of connection due
to the complex topography, and high initial costs for equipment such as computers. ICTs
have proven their potential for economic development in mountain regions, in such di-
verse applications as telemedicine, distance education, tourism promotion, and market-
ing of local products. Farms selling salmon in the remote Western Highlands of Scot-
land, for example, reported a 30 percent increase in sales following the use of the In-
ternet (Byers et al. 2001); in the southern highlands of Tanzania, mobile phones, e-mail,
and the Internet have enabled agricultural producers, processors, and traders to obtain
better prices for their products (Light-foot et al. 2008).