Life in the Himalayas

During the course of a three year period while living in Nepal I produced this book for ICIMOD (International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development). The book aims to give a glimpse of life in the countries of the Himalayas, as it has evolved over millennia, and as it adapts to the rapid changes of the last century.

This extensive project took me to some truly challenging locations from Afghanistan at the far western reaches of the Himalayas to the Chittagong hill tracts in Bangladesh at the far east. My overriding goal was to tell the story of the myriad different peoples who live in the region; their origins, diversity, culture, lifestyles, religion and the extraordinary landscape they inhabit.

The book begins by looking at the day-to-day reality of living in the hills, where subsistence agriculture is still the norm. The important role of domestic animals is the theme of the following section, whether for the nomads of the Tibetan Plateau, agropastoralists in Afghanistan, or farmers in Myanmar. The third section emphasises how, from glacier to river to sea, water is the lifeline for 1.3 billion people. Finally, the book looks at the more recent changes in the Himalayan region and how the people of the region are trying to adapt to an uncertain future.