ABSTRACT
The long-standing debate over the relative importance of natural processes of erosion and those induced by subsistence agriculture in the Himalaya has been indecisive because of the lack of reliable, representative, and consistent (replicated) data. It has also been clouded by emotion, by the personalities of institutions and individuals, and a wide-ranging Westernbased assumption that a combination of poverty, assumed ignorance and uncontrolled population growth must inexorably lead to soil erosion and serious downstream consequences. As with the deforestation debate (Chapter 3), the assumed acceleration of soil erosion and landsliding was a major focus of enquiry at the Mohonk Conference.
