Uncertainty

Description

Uncertainty: On a Himalayan Scale
Michael Thompson, Michael Warburton & Tome Hatley
2007, pp. l+154

The Himalaya, all the experts agree, face serious environmental problems; they are caught in a downward spiral. The rate of fuelwood consumption, for instance, is asserted to be far in excess of the rate at which the forest grows. However, the expert estimates of these two rates vary by such immense factors that we simply cannot say whether the spiral, if it exists, is upward or downward. There is something wrong with the Himalaya but we cannot tell what it is. The traditional response – a call for more research – has not worked and the perceived urgency of the situation call for action now, before it is too late. The challenge is to furnish a non-arbitary strategic framework for the action.
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Originally a professional soldier, Michael Thompson studied anthropology (first degree and PhD at University College London, B.Lift at Oxford) while also following a career as a Himalayan mountaineer (Annapurna South Face 1970, Everest Southwest Face 1975).

The challenging mountains – Makali in particular – lured Michael Warburton (in his saner moments a University of California at Berkeley-trained natural resource economist and lawyer) to the Himalaya; the people he met there taught him that ‘development’ will have to change if it is ever to be seen as ‘help’.

Tom Hatley is a Sequoyah Distinguished Professor in Cherokee Studies at Western Carolina University, where he teaches and directs programmes in the areas of conflict resolution, Native American history, and cultural and environmental issues.