Introduction
Growing concerns
for deteriorating environment by stakeholders and other over the last four
decades seem to have linkage with gigantic cause-and-effect arguments on
Himalaya and the northern plains being on the receiving end are also plunging
fast towards environmental and socio-economic collapse. The processes -
physical, human, socio-economic and political have contributed to such
debates through visions of deforestation, landslides, large-scale downstream
flooding, uncontrolled population growth, increasing poverty and the malnutrition.
This pattern of thinking has been widely accepted as established fact by
large number of people who often lend their support to perpetuate it as
a truism. Ives & Messerli (1989) has referred it as the ‘Theory of
Himalaya Environmental Degradation''. Their conclusions indicated that:
i) the population explosion was due to the introduction of modern health
care and medicine and the reduction of diseases; ii) the increased population
in subsistence mountain societies has led to a (a) reduced amount of land
per family; (b) deepening poverty and (c) massive deforestation; iii) that
such deforestation will result in total loss of all accessible forest cover
in the countries existing in Himalaya in the near future. While there are
uncertainties, the gaps or lack of accessibility to information is driving
every researchers to different conclusions. The present effort is to analyze
the existing information about problems and prospects in rural development
and preservation of natural resources in Hiamalaya.
This page is a part of ENVIS Monograph 1:Natural
Resource Management and Development in Himalaya - A Recourse to Issues
and Strategies. In case you have any queries about the
page, please contact: Scientist Incharge
- ENVIS at GBPIHED, Kosi-Katarmal, Almora 263 643, India.