Sustainable Mountain Development - Mountain Geography: Physical and Human Dimensions - page 609

loads for women, who have to work even longer hours and become the effective heads
of households, even if this is not their choice—a doubtful mode of emancipation and em-
powerment (de Haas 2007; von Dach 2002). One measure of such stresses is that mater-
nal mortality rates in mountain states are among the highest in the world (Ives 1997).
CONFLICTS AND DRUGS
Whether mountain regions have a particularly high proportion of conflicts is a much
debated question, but where conflicts do occur, they have devastating effects. The Indi-
an mountain states experiencing the greatest decreases in per capita income between
1980 and 1996 were those with political problems. One of these is Jammu and Kashmir,
where the world's longest-running war has continued for more than half a century
(Schofield 2010). During the 1990s, most of the world's wars and insurgencies were
in mountain areas, including the Balkans, Burundi/Rwanda, the Caucasus, Colombia,
Ethiopia/Eritrea, Nepal, and Peru (Libiszewski and Bächler 1997). Longstanding ethnic
and/or religious tensions are often among the causes of these wars, and many mountain
communities around the world have long traditions of providing mercenaries to fight
in other people's wars. However, the integration of mountain societies into the modern
world is also a critical causal factor of conflict in mountain regions, as poverty often
arises from growing dependence on lowland centers (Starr 2004).
FIGURE 12.5 Poppy cultivation in the mountains of northern Laos. This mountain region, which forms
part of the so-called Golden Triangle, provides an ideal environment for poppy cultivation, thanks
to its cooler climate, its remoteness, and difficult accessibility. (Photo by M. Epprecht.)