Watch this well made documentary from Indian Public Television by Aparna Katara Sharma:

View this movie at cultureunplugged.com

The documentary visits some familiar friends although leaves out the big questions about the complicated role of governments, contractors, and regional economic, ecological, and even foreign policies at play.

A report by Divya Naithani

During a trek in the Himalayan range Yoga sessions were conducted as a trial from 3rd and 18th June 2007. The participants were university students from USA who were on a geographical study trip. The Yoga class was optional for the participants.

The journey started from Rishikesh moving on to Lohajung, Bedni, Aali, Pathar nachauniya, Lata, Gamshali, Lata Kharak, Saini Kharak and Haridwar.
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By Laura Caplins, July 23, 2007

One June 2, a group of students from Georgia Southern University, Statesboro, GA and Nature-Link Institute, Boone, NC traveled to the Garhwal regions of the Himalaya. Dr. Keith Bosak from Georgia Southern University and Laura Caplins from Nature-Link Institute accompanied a diverse group of students into the Himalaya. From June 1 to June 23, 2007 the group traveled from the hot plains of Delhi into the high altitude and alpine environments of the Garhwal.
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May 8, 2007 marked the beginning of an incredible three week, six credit hour adventure course for a team of fifteen students from Georgia Southern University (GSU). The students studied Sustainable Mountain Development and Mountain Geography while being led from the plains of Delhi to the towering Himalayan peaks of the Garhwal by Dr. Keith Bosak, a professor of Geography from GSU and Leah Wallach, a Biology student from Appalachian State University (ASU). The journey would not have been possible without Mountain Shepherds Cooperative which provided the team with highly experienced mountaineering guides who assisted the group from the moment they emerged from the Delhi airport till the time they returned home. The guides of this community-owned ecotourism company are trained at the Nerhu Institute of Mountaineering in basic mountaineering and advanced high altitude courses, making them some of the most experienced and knowledgeable guides in the region.
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Ian Snider and Kelly Sheets will be sharing the culture of Appalachia as they accompany Bhotiya shepherds to their summer pastures

Mountain Works Sustainable Development is announcing its pilot project entitled Leaving Winter. This collaborative field study will center on a month long trekking excursion in the Garhwal Himalaya of Uttarakhand, beginning April 23, 2007. Where as many treks focus on physical scenery Leaving Winter will focus on the human landscape of the transhumant shepherds of the Nanda Devi region. As land use restrictions have increased along the herders traditional grazing routes they have developed adaptive strategies for continuing their marginalized way of life. By moving their flocks at night to avoid traffic along the way, the last of the great trans-Himalayan nomads seek to find passage through an increasingly globalized mountain landscape.

That process of continual adaptation has inspired a rare brand of mountain to mountain collaboration. We are seeking to bridge the gap between theory and practice in sustainable mountain development. Join with the global network of mountain activists and academics and log onto www.mtnworks.org for periodic field updates. While you’re there browse the posts others have made and contribute to the discussion yourself. Preview film footage from previous expeditions and bear witness to the deeper connections we must all make with each other as participants in the mountain ecosystem. Leaving Winter was first a song by Boone, NC artist Jay Brown.

The Leaving Winter Expedition is also a co-project of the Nanda Devi Campaign, The Mountain Shepherds Initiative, and the Nature-Link Institute.

Mountain to Mountain Cultural Exchange

For more information contact:
Kelly Sheets, Project Coordinator for Mountain Works
Sustainable Development and the Nanda Devi Campaign
(828) 773-8286; mkellysheets@gmail.com

BOONE, NC - (March 2007) Building on the success of the Gear for the Garhwal project, the agents of the Indian not-for-profit Nanda Devi Campaign in Boone, NC wish to invite you out to the new Bald Guy Brew coffee shop on the Hwy 105 By-Pass Friday, March 30th at 7:00 PM. Lovers of traditional mountain music will be treated to the sounds of Kelly Sheets, Ian Snider, and friends. Funds donated at this event will support the Trading Traditions goal of facilitating the exchange of music, art, and crafts from one mountain region to another. We plan to conduct community events in the small Garhwal villages where traditional storytelling, dance and folk ways can be bartered in a cultural market for the purposes of positive globalization. Appalachian quilting will influence and be influenced by Himalayan rug making. Square dancing will be to the beat of flutes and goat hide drums as well as fiddle and banjo. Creating tangible harmony between two staunchly independent cultures will only serve to strengthen the resolve they have in their mutual journey towards sustainability in a troubled world. Here in Boone, students from Two Rivers Community School will create a “culture capsule” to exchange with students of the villages visited by the Trading Traditions project team. Upon returning home we will collaborate with the Blue Ridge Fiber Guild to display the items collected and experiences recorded to the public. Anyone seeking to support an innovative approach to preserving local as well as global traditional craft and artisanship should not miss this event.

Vijay Sharma, The Hindu
March 4, 2007

IT is not the highest Indian peak — not unless one imposes the rather stringent condition of requiring the recipient of that honour to be “located entirely within the country’s borders”. But Nanda Devi is arguably the most beautiful, and almost certainly the most enigmatic, of India’s many mighty mountains. The Devi’s shadow, cast from an imperious height of 7,815 metres, spares few villages in the surrounding districts of Kumaon and Garhwal from its infamous caprices. [more]

“This Talking Points document revisits the communities surrounding Nanda Devi, where the Chipko movement in which tree-hugging village women successfully prevented state-organised timber concessionaires from felling forest trees began in the 1970s. These communities where conservation activism traces its roots lost much of their access rights to their traditional commons a decade later in the name of conservation. The book documents in concrete terms some of the realities and impact of conservation on their lives and livelihoods. The picture presented echoes what is happening in many conservation areas around the world: well-meaning conservation measures have failed the very communities that have preserved the landscape through centuries. In Nanda Devi, signs are that the plight of the local communities are gradually being recognised to redress the balance. Much remains to be done, however, and the book hopes to contribute to discussions on the special needs and moral rights of communities in conservation areas, to help governments and policymakers realise the need to integrate communities and local needs into conservation plans.” — From ICIMOD Web Site

• Available for Ordering or PDF Download Here.

by MALLORI MORRIS
Intern News Reporter
Appalachian Online
Tuesday, 05 December 2006

Trekking the Himalayan Mountains while living in villages among native mountain people may thought to be found only in the movies, but Appalachian State University students are getting the chance to do just this.

Through a company called Nature-Link Institute, students from all over the country are getting the chance to participate in a 22-day excursion through the Himalayan Mountains while earning six college credit hours.

Nature-Link Institute is Boone based and founded by Appalachian graduates who have traveled to India and the Himalayan Mountains with the geography department.
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By Ian Snider
Garhwal Post, November 30, 2006

Recently, an event was held which marked the greatest step to date in the struggle for Bhotiya rights to the slopes of their blessed Nanda Devi.

The Nehru Institute of Mountaineering (NIM) graduated a crop of students which come mostly from Niti Valley Garhwal, cradle of the Chipko movement. These boys and their mothers were honoured as leaders in realising the vision of the famous 2001 Biodiversity and Eco-Tourism Declaration issued by Gram Sabha Lata. They will form the first group of guides for the community-owned outfitter Mountain Shepherds.

Last May, a study team from Appalachian State University (ASU) departed Boone, North Carolina (NC) for Lata Village, Chamoli District, Uttarakhand. They were students and professors conducting the latest instalment of the summer field courses now a stalwart of the Nanda Devi Campaign’s eco-tourism initiative.
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