Preserving Tribal Wisdom: Integrating Western Himalayan Tribal Knowledge for Accelerating Sustainable Development Goals

Growing climatic instability and ecological stress have intensified global debates on how development can proceed within environmental limits. In fragile mountain regions, questions of sustainability are not abstract policy concerns but lived realities shaped by geography, seasonality and resource scarcity. This chapter examines tribal knowledge systems in the Western Himalayan regions of Kinnaur, Lahaul and Spiti in Himachal Pradesh, India, drawing on field-based research in Rangrik village of Spiti Valley. Adopting an anthropological perspective, the study conceptualises tribal knowledge as a locally embedded socio-ecological framework formed through long-term interaction with high- altitude cold desert environments. Rather than treating indigenous practices as static tradition, the chapter analyses them as adaptive, institutionalised and intergenerational systems of environmental regulation. It situates these systems within the broader discourse of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), arguing that tribal knowledge offers context-specific insights into integrated approaches to food security, water governance, ecosystem stability and climate adaptation. By foregrounding participation and applied anthropology, the chapter highlights the need for development planning in mountain regions to move beyond uniform templates and engage collaboratively with locally grounded knowledge systems. In doing so, it contributes to ongoing debates on sustainability, indigenous knowledge and the politics of development in ecologically fragile landscapes.