Preview of Himalayan perceptions: Environmental change and the well-being of mountain peoples by JD Ives Routledge, London and New York To be published in August 2004 Himalayan Perspectives returns to the enormously popular development paradigm that Ives dubbed the ‘Theory of Himalayan Degradation’. According to this seductive construct, poverty and overpopulation in the Himalayas was leading to degradation of highland forests, erosion, and downstream flooding. In the ‘Himalayan Dilemma’, Ives and Messerli exposed this “Theory” as a dangerous collection of assumptions and misrepresentations. While most scholars in the field promptly conceded Ives and Messerli’s points, the Theory has somehow survived as the guiding myth of development planners and many government agencies. In his new book, Ives returns to drive a stake through the heart of this revenant. His book not only reviews the research that, over the past 15 years, has confirmed the arguments of the ‘Himalayan Dilemma’; it also takes a close look at all those destructive factors that were overlooked by the conveniently simplistic ‘Theory of Himalayan Environmental Degradation’: government mismanagement, oppression of mountain minorities, armed conflict, and inappropriate tourism development. Himalayan Journal of Sciences 2(3): 17-19, 2004 The full text is of this article is available at the Himalayan Journal of Sciences website

is repeatedly cited as one of the most dangerous glacial lakes in the Himalaya with a glacial lake outburst flood (GLOF) claimed to be imminent. Knowledge of lake development and its dynamics, however, is limited and forecasts of a possible outburst are not scientifically based. Nevertheless, prospects for such a catastrophe are repeatedly exaggerated, attracting alarmist mass media coverage. The paper provides an assessment of the lake expansion rates from 1956 to 2007. Stage 1 (1956Á1975), slowest: coalescence of several small supra-glacial ponds; Stage 2 (1975Á1978), a short period of most rapid expansion; Stage 3 (1978Á1997), slow: gradual expansion of single lake; and Stage 4 (1997Á2007), renewed acceleration: mainly eastward expansion into the glacier surface. The lake's water level has fallen from 5041 m to 5004 m (1964Á2006). The results show that there is no immediate danger of catastrophic outburst although the dynamics of up-glacier and down-valley lake expansion, fluctuation of lake water level, and dead-ice morphology changes should be continuously and comprehensively monitored. Alarmist prognostications based solely upon rapid areal expansion are counterproductive.

During the last hundred years, two widely opposing views of the maximum extent of the Laurentide Ice Sheet have prevailed at diierent times. Between 1860 and 1940, it was assumed that ice extent along the eastern seaboard was limited and that ice-free areas persisted during the Maximum of the Last Glaciation. After 1940, this interpretation was replaced by one contending that all high coastal mountains were inundated. This view, proposed by the late R.F. Flint, was widely accepted as fact until the last few years. This paper reviews the opposing interpretations and analyses the frequently equivocal field evidence and the developments of thought responsible for them. On the basis of field work carried out over the last twenty years, it is suggested that the earlier viewpoint was the more accurate. A map is presented of the author's conclusions regarding maximum ice limits. R~S U M É. L'étendue maximale de la couche glaciaire des Laurentides le long de la côte orientale de l'dmtrique du Nord durant la derni2re période glaciaire. Au cours des cent dernières années, deux opinions nettement opposées ont prévalu, selon les éuoques, quant l'étendue maxima de la couche glaciaire des Laurentides. De 1860 à 1940, il fut admis que l'étendue des glaces le long du littoral oriental était limitée et que des régions dépourvues de glaces persistaient au cours du Maximum de la Dernière Période Glaciaire. Après 1940, cette interprétation fut remplacée par une autre, différente, qui soutenait que toutes les hautes montagnes côtikres étaient recouvertes de glaces. Cette opinion, proposée par feu R.F. Flint, fut admise par la plupart comme un fait, il y a encore quelques années. L'auteur passe en revue dans cette étude ces interprétations opposées, analyse les constatations, souvent équivoques, effectukes sur place, ainsi que la suite des réflexions qui ont abouti à ces interprétations. En s'appuyant sur les travaux effectués sur place au cours des vingt dernières années, il suggèe que c'est la première interprétation qui est la plus exacte. I1 offre une carte pour illustrer ses conclusions quant aux limites extrêmes des étendues des glaces.. 1963. Pleistocene evidence related to glacial theory in northeastern Labrador.

No abstract

No abstract