Publisher's Synopsis
More rugged and elevated than any other zone on earth, Himalaya embraces all of Tibet, plus six of the world's eight major mountain ranges and nearly all its highest peaks. Thirty-five percent of the global population depend on Himalaya's freshwater for crop irrigation, protein, and, increasingly, hydropower. It now sits seismically unstable, as tectonic plates consider to shift and the region remains gridlocked in a global debate surrounding climate change. Keay shows that, without our commitment to an ethos of respect for it confounding, fascinating features, Himalaya will soon cease to exist. --. adapted from jacket.