Hello everyone! It’s been a long time indeed - how’ve things been for everyone? A deadly war between Israel and Hamas has erupted since we last wrote to you. If you are someone who has been reeling under its impact, here’s something uplifting we found for you:
This towering peak is located at the buffer zone between Israel and Syria. The range itself effectively straddles the tri-junction between Lebanon-Israel and Syria, and at about 2,800 meters above sea level, one of the highest points in the levant. As residents of the Himalayan region ourselves, we can empathize with the sheer tragedy and conflict that often surrounds mountains. After all, some of the majestic peaks in our part of the world, such as K2, lie in a heavily contested region too:
In fact, in a recent longform interview, one of our prominent politicians, Mehbooba Mufti, emphasized on keeping ancient trade channels that used to be a part of the silk route, open between Kashmir and Central Asia. The interview is largely in Hindi, but here is an article that reflects her position.
Anyways, it’s been a long time since we wrote because honestly, there wasn’t much to share. We could have “created” a series of events to show the meteoric leaps this small nonprofit in the Himalayas has taken but that would have missed the point of this newsletter - to share real happenings and anecdotes from our journey. And the reality is that things move slowly and not each day or week is remarkable.
Last month, we shared some good news about finally publishing the second edition of our handbook on our website. We also shared a bit about the thought process behind the way in which we published the book. Well, guess what - after multiple rounds to and from the printing press - we finally have a feasible physical copy in hand! Check it out:
It’s an A5 size black & white book of close to 300 pages of primary information on Himalayan Environmental issues!
But that is not the biggest reason we write to you today.
We are proud to have successfully gotten an International Standard Book Number (ISBN) for the paperback! Did you know that the Government of India has a portal that seamlessly processes ISBN applications free of cost? Here is what the book will look like, complete with the formal ISBN + Barcode + advance praise from experts.
The image in the top third of the book signifies the larger region that we are talking about, to immediately put things in perspective. Each and every part of this back cover has taken a lot of heartfelt effort, revision and determination, so this photograph means a lot to us:
An ISBN means that it’s easier for any library to keep a record of the handbook + enhances the permanence of our work. Permanence is key if we keep future generations in mind and step into the mold of a historian.
We strongly believe that the key to solving problems is to understand them, and the key to understanding problems is to document them.
And voila, the handbook does exactly that! Onwards to sending copies to libraries across the himalayan region and beyond (write to us at himalayanadvocacy@gmail.com if you’d like one delivered to you via Indian Post) or simply DM on our instagram. Or:
Well, that’s it for this edition folks! Since we were gone for a while, here are some photographs from the eastern Himalayas to feast your eyes on:
Regards,
Himalayan Advocacy Center
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Postscript:
As you may know, we are a small non profit in the environment + law space located in the Indian Himalayas. We are completely bootstrapped! This means no foreign funding and no fancy headquarters - just a small community - of which you all are an integral part - in the long run we hope!
What’s more - we, at the Center, are determined to localise efforts for the planet, without compromising on the best that the law has to offer. If you have the means, and want to support a committed local undertaking, please do consider contributing to our corpus. We hope to pleasantly surprise you with detailed information on where you money has been spent!