Introduction

Occupying the central third ofthe Himalaya ranges and a small strip of the Ganges plains, Nepal is politically a buffer state between historically antagonistic neighbours, socially and culturally a melting pot between two major civilizations, economically a landlocked backwater and ecologically quite without equal for its range of climates, wildlife and scenery. In population per hectare of agricultural land it is one of the world’s most crowded countries. With an area of 147,181 square km, a length of 880 km and less than 200 km wide from north to south, it is a small state, squeezed between giants (fig. 1). In fact, despite the re-opening of 21 crossing points to China in 1985, Nepal is in reality “India-locked” rather than landlocked: as far as trade is concerned, Nepal will be, to some extent, as successful as India decides. Though at its nearest Bangladesh is no more than 22 km away, most access to foreign trade must be through India, on India’s terms.