ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION This chapter and the following three chapters are devoted to an examination of a selection of the salient linkages within the Theory of Himalayan Environmental Degradation. The selection, in part, is a reflection of the unevenness of the available information and, in part, is related to the fact that some of the primary linkages - for example, the relationship between population growth and poverty: which is cause, which effect? - are topics that are too complex to be handled exhaustively and competently within the format of this book. Nevertheless, by introducing them, however briefly, we hope to reinforce our concern about the scale of the uncertainty that pervades the entire Theory of Himalayan Environmental Degradation.
