The Himalaya are not merely a geographical feature, a mere chain of mountain ranges. They epitomize a people's civilization that goes back to the DAWN OF HISTORY. If these majestic mountains were not there the rain clouds sweeping up from the Indian Ocean would have passed over our subcontinent into Central Asia leaving it a burning desert. The Himalaya have nurtured this land with life sustaining water and enabled a civilization to blossom. Archeological evidence reveals that urban civilization emerged in the river valleys coursing down these mountains. When man elsewhere was cautiously emerging from his cave shelters spectacular cities flourished in the Indus Valley. Vedic hymns, some of the oldest spiritual texts in the world, were composed in the richly wooded valleys of these mountains. The Upanishads were written here more than 3 thousand years ago. The great poet, Kalidas, in his epic poem Kumaya Sambhava invested these mountain ranges with Divinity. Divine they indeed are because from the dawn of history, the Himalaya have influenced our way of life and thought. The mighty and sacred rivers, on whose banks our ancient civilization took root, survived and flourished have their birth in their snowy Vastness.

But today the entire Himalayan range with its rich and biological diversity is facing a deep crisis and is in danger of degraded. It is being relentlessly denuded of its forest cover. Man is posing a threat to our ancient civilization by destroying the ecological base that sustains it. The forests are being ruthlessly exploited for their timber without realizing that trees are only secondary producers of timber. Their primary function is to promote rain, absorb moisture, recharge ground water, conserve soil, and produce oxygen, fuel, fodder and fruits . As part of our culture, we worship trees because of this vital nexus between them and life giving soils and waters. Our Vedic verses are centered around the environment This magnificent vision has eroded and we seem to have entered into a dark age which is witnessed to the maligned impact of massive human intervention in the natural processes.

These mountains must be protected from further damage from human greed and degradation. They have to be rejuvenated so that their past wounds can be healed. It is a gigantic task. The people who live in the shadow of these mighty mountains need to be involved in this task. People must feel that they are also stakeholders and this resource base belongs to them and not to a distant government.

The following slides show what are the realities of the Himalaya degradation and what is being done by the people with support and guidance of HIMCON and other voluntary agencies.