Oasenbewässerung im Karakorum. Autochtone Techniken und exogene Überprägung in der Hochgebirgslandwirtschaft Nordostpakistans

Abstract

Irrigation as a means of increasing the productivity on marginal lands forms an important concept of development planners in tropical and subtropical regions. Emphasis has been mainly put on lowlands as long as large-scale projects dominated development strategies. This case study focuses on the development of irrigation networks and the relation ship with social organisation in a mountainous region of the Karakoram, which in recent years has become the target of different development agencies. The ecological set-up requires regular irrigation for growing of field crops as the average precipitation on the valley floors never surpasses 150 mm per annum. In a diachronic analysis the expansion of the irrigation network has been elaborated and gives an insight into the socio-political impact of different historical phases. Shortage of foodstuffs, as well as limited water resources for irrigation, resulted in a sophisticated system of rules regulating the access to water and its distribution among clans and/or villages. External transformation of this system has mainly taken place since the deposition of the local rulers in 1972-1974 when a power vacuum occurred affecting the irrigation system as well. Development agencies support village organisations which nowadays are planning and executing irrigation projects for their own communities. Acknowledging local expertise and participation in the expansion of cultivated land promises a stabilisation of existing irrigation networks in the Karakoram.