SUSTAINABLE MOUNTAIN DEVELOPMENT GETTING THE FACTS RIGHT

The author takes us on an epic journey in search of recognition of the importance of our mountain regions and their indigenous peoples for preservation of an environmentally viable world. The book embraces far flung field research, challenges to major paradigms of the day, team work, and long-term political manipulation. The journey begins in the 1960s when environmental concern and the recognition of the need for "developing country" aid were in their infancy. Then, mountains that occupy more than a fifth of the world's terrestrial surface and provide home for a tenth of its population were virtually ignored. Yet by the 1970s world authorities were predicting catastrophic consequences, for instance, from assumed total Himalayan deforestation. The author describes how these false assumptions were overthrown. This involved fieldwork in mountain regions throughout the world, from the heights to the homes of indigenous people. It attracted the support of some of the world's most powerful leaders. It also involved high adventure. The associated political struggle led eventually to the Rio de Janeiro 1992 Earth Summit. It assisted Maurice Strong, its Secretary-General, to insert a "mountain chapter" into AGENDA 21 leading to the United Nations declaration of 2002 as the International Year of Mountains. The final chapters examine current unsubstantiated predictions such as: a landslide-dammed lake in the Pamir will burst and eliminate five million people; and climate warming will cause disappearance of all the Himalayan glaciers - to produce devastating floods, followed by drought on the plains downstream and loss of hundreds of millions of lives. The book demonstrates that these latest alarms are not based on fact; they are exposed as melodrama. The narrative encapsulates a great range of personalities, from international leaders to the often wrongly criticized indigenous mountain people. It is illustrated by over 130, many full-page, colour photographs.