The Himalaya needs no introduction. For obvious reasons it has remained a source of fascination and inspiration for people from all walks of life. Almost all the natural resources of the Himalaya have presented a challenge for environmental scientists and planners alike. It is principally because of their numbers, an extensive array of natural characteristics and the complexity of the cultural pattern of the mountains that the Himalayan environment has lured the intelligensia of the world. However, hostile natural environment together with illconceived human activities have added fury to the fire. It is not an exaggeration, therefore, that the environment of our fragile mountain ecosystem in utter disrepair and indeed in very poor state of health. The renewed enthusiasm for man and biosphere and sustainable development had stemmed in no small measure from the tremendous interest in ecology juxtaposed to mans growing awareness of the degraded Himalaya. As the issues and challenges involved in describing mutual conditioning of the environmental cycles and human association in the Himalaya, quantitative and qualitative surveys for whole stretch of the Central Himalaya in question have not been attempted thus far. We have all good reasons to believe that environmental consciousness is extremely necessary in order to restore the balance in ecological components of the Himalaya.'