Pamiri Houses of the Minority Community at the Edge: A Case for Heritage Protection in Tajikistan

Abstract

This dissertation investigates how climate change threatens the sustainability and cultural continuity of the Pamiri house (Chid). The Pamiri house is an architectural element which represents centuries of indigenous knowledge in the high altitude communities of Tajikistan. The climate risks that threaten the Pamir region, including landslides, mudflows, and erosion, intensify, putting the structures and the intangible cultural practices inherent within Pamiri houses in extreme danger. The hypothesis is that neglect of cultural heritage in national and global climate change adaptation policy has a negative effect on sustainable development as well as on the rights of minority communities. The research takes the UNESCO heritage-based resilience framework as a baseline, positioning Pamiri houses not only as a cultural asset but as a critical pillar of a community's identity. It is both articulated and supported by UNESCO and the UN Human Rights Council that access to and participation in cultural heritage is recognized as human rights, particularly under Article 15 of ICESCR and Article 27 of the ICCPR. This approach allows us to bridge sustainable science and international human rights framework without conducting legal analysis. Additionally, the study contributes to the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda, focusing on SDG 11.4 (protect cultural heritage), SDG 13 (climate action) and SDG 17 (inclusive partnerships). The given research includes both quantitative and qualitative analysis. The quantitative analysis focuses on the long-term environmental data from the Climatic Research Unit Time-Series (CRU TS) dataset along with the satellite images from the Geographic information system(GIS). The three main indexes are analyzed: the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), normalized difference moisture index (NDMI), and moisture stress index (MSI) for risk identification according to the UNESCO heritage-based resilience framework. Additionally, the qualitative interviews will reveal the adaptive capacity and vulnerability assessment of the UNESCO framework using the case of Roshqalat district, taking the specific measurements of the village(X) in the region . Ultimately, the study contributes to current debates on climate justice, sustainable cultural preservation, and high-mountain adaptation by highlighting the need to integrate indigenous heritage into climate and development policies as both a sustainability priority and a cultural rights concern.