Environmental myths and narratives of the last half century about the Nepali Himalaya are based on the evidences of general studies. Dynamics in the Himalayan anthropogeographies, particularly in population growth and infrastructure development on the one hand and deforestation, soil erosion, climate change, on the other, lack questioning on research findings. Studies on climate change and associated impacts by climate scientist and economists using empiricist and positivist methodologies have poorly interpreted into social contexts and to the needs of general population. The social understanding of the many issues differs from those of the scientific findings but lack of citizen science discourages critical review of research findings and in policy process. In this work, I conducted a systematic review of related literature of the last half century, further supported by case studies. It is identified that peasant livelihoods of the people of the Himalaya are unnecessarily blamed for environmental degradation and they are not supported through adaptation measures since long-term adaptation planning and mitigation strategies at macro levels using empirical science poorly assist local sustainability and resilience. Rather, social understanding increases people’s willingness to initiate adaptation steps at the micro level. Therefore, this research suspects that the knowledge created through methodolatry of mono discipline has limitations so developing understanding on the Himalayan anthropogeographic dynamics through creation of ‘hybrid knowledge’ using cross-methodological dialogue and interdisciplinary discourse is critical for practical implications. The findings indicated that the population growth and environmental dynamics has many lenses, which is necessary to understand before any policy dialogue. furthermore, as the Himalaya defies all sort of generalization, this study advocated for creation of hybrid knowledge adopting a holistic approach of explaining human-environmental system using humanistic and scientific methodologies and philosophies to promote policies and practice for social-ecological resilience in the Himalaya.
