Why we're launching "The Dhauladhar"
The Dhauladhar Issue #1
Hi Friends,
If you’ve just come across this post, welcome to this small corner of Substack full of stories about our journey as a nonprofit working to protect the third pole using the power of law!
If you haven’t subscribed yet, please consider being a part of our journey here:
Thank you so much! As a gesture of gratitude, here is a recording of a beautiful, cold and rainy January dawn full of chirping birds from the Dhauladhar, a beautiful mountain range we’re naming our newsletter after:
But first, some context:
We first began online, through our website and instagram in April, 2021. At that time, the Center was just an idea - no physical location & doubts about the pandemic still very much prevalent and a strategy which was at a nascent stage.
Even back then however, we were sure of one thing:
“Legal efforts to protect the Himalayas must be localized and put impacted communities first”
Why? Well, the answer demands a thesis and who has time for that! However, do head over to our website to know more.
Suffice to say that just as we have doctors in every neighborhood that ensure that we are prepared to address disease, we also need lawyers to begin moving closer to land and waterscapes that are ailing due to issues including biodiversity loss, climate change & pollution.
We believe that ideally, there should be lawyers in all such regions - prepared to address environmental issues timely and directly!
Do you agree?
Moving on …
Fast forward to 2023 and we are steadily moving towards our goal of standing with communities in defending the environment, through the power of law - and this is exactly the stage where we want to go public with our experience, past and present - or build in public as some say - to build community & trust + get as much feedback as possible! More than anything else, your thoughts matter to us.
It took time and was challenging, but we finally have a functioning space in close proximity to the entire western Indian Himalayas - a region that is particularly vulnerable to climate change along with a host of other environmental issues.
More on the “Dhauladhar” range
And the Dhauladhars? Well, the photo you see above was taken right outside our office in Dharamshala - the mountains you can see are part of the Dhauladhar range of the Himalayas! More about the range here.
No wonder we decided to name this newsletter “The Dhauladhar” (which means white range or even white stream, since “dhar” means both “edge” and “stream” in english).
Well, that’s it for our inaugural post (hence the background). Stay tuned for fun snippets from our journey next week!
Regards,
Himalayan Advocacy Center
We’re on LinkedIN, YouTube, X, WhatsApp & Instagram. Hit us up anywhere with your thoughts or simply reply to this email—looking forward to collaborating with you!
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.
You made a complex topic easy to understand.