Ongoing research by geographers and scientists from many other disciplines has highlighted the complexity of the processes through which demographics, economics, and other dynamic aspects of human activity induce changes in natural systems as well as in the ways that humans respond to changes in the natural environment. Mountainous regions have been locales where human- environment interactions have been especially significant. The the Himalayas have been the site of some of the most pronounced interactions, because population levels and physical relief both are at relatively high levels. This collaborative research project will be conducted by P.P. Karan of the University of Kentucky and David Zurick of Eastern Kentucky University, both of whom are geographers with considerable experience in the analysis of human-environment interactions in the Himalayas. They will conduct an historical study that focuses on land use and vegetative cover at different geographic scales. In the first part of the study, they will analyze data on population, economic activities, land use, and land cover gathered over the last century at the district level in Pakistan, India, Nepal, and Bhutan. These analyses will identify general trends and permit identification of areas where relationships between key factors, especially population growth and forest cover, indicate that local case studies are likely to yield greater insights into crucial processes. During the second part of the study, rigorous local analyses will be undertaken in the case-study areas using intensive field observation techniques, surveys and interviews, and air-photo interpretation. Special emphasis in this part of the inquiry will be placed on analysis of land-use, socio- economic, and population trends. Through these regional and local studies, the investigators will provide valuable new insights about the processes through which humans impact on natural systems and respond to changes in natural conditions in regions where stresses on both human and natural systems are great. They will assemble a useful century- long database, and they will provide external assessments of the viability of a number of different types of economic development regimes.
