Great Himalayan National Park

About the Book
The great Himalayan National Park conservation area (ghnpca), a UNESCO world heritage site, is one of the most important protected areas in the Himalayas, one of the world’s great biological realms. The book is intended both as a history and an ecological overview of the park as well as a plea for continuing conservation of the rich legacy of Himalayan plants and animals. In addition to descriptions of the ecology, the book includes local history and Culture and a review of current development in the region. The inscription of the park into the UNESCO world heritage list in 2014 confirmed the outstanding universal values of the area, which contains the most important and significant natural habitats for in-situ conservation of Western Himalayan biological diversity. The pictures, taken by the authors and their collaborators, vividly illustrate the grandeur and diversity of the area. The book has universal appeal: to naturalists, scholars, resource managers, trekkers, arm-chair traveller. Success and failure along the road to creating today’s Park are discussed frankly to inform future management efforts and there are numerous examples of conservation in action that will motivate a new generation of naturalists and ecologists to continue the fight to protect the ecology of the greatest mountains on Earth.

About the Authors
An officer of the Indian Forest Service (1982 batch), Sanjeeva Pandey has served as Director of GHNP from 1998 to 2006, where he engaged himself in biodiversity conservation through livelihood-based natural resource management. His efforts with Friends of GHNP have resulted in inscription of GHNP Conservation Area as a World Heritage Site in Doha, the State of Qatar, in June 2014. Sanjeeva has travelled to many countries and contributed to numerous training manuals, written peer reviewed papers, newspaper and journal and electronic media articles and formulated project proposals throughout his professional career. Anthony (Tony) Gaston has studied Indian wildlife, especially birds, since 1969, including research for his PhD (at Oxford University) around Delhi and in Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, the Narmada Valley and Kerala. He headed the initial 1980 and 1983 Himachal Wildlife Project, consisting of international teams of scientists, who surveyed Himalayan front-range ecosystems throughout Himachal Pradesh and recommended the creation of GHNP in its present location. Subsequently, he played a major role in supporting GHNP and was involved in developing the application for World Heritage status. He has trekked extensively in the Park and throughout the Western Himalayas and considers Himachal to be his spiritual home.

Marea carte zona de conservare a Parcului National Himalaya (ghnpca), un sit al patrimoniului mondial UNESCO, este una dintre cele mai importante zone protejate din Himalaya, unul dintre marile taramuri biologice ale lumii. Cartea este menita atat ca o istorie si o imagine de ansamblu ecologica a parcului, cat si ca o pledoarie pentru conservarea continua a bogatei mosteniri de plante si animale din Himalaya.