¹CNR Instituto per lo Sudio degli Ecosistemi, Verbania Pallanza, Italy; E-mail: r.baudo@ise.cnr.it
²Fisheries and Oceans Canada, 867 Lakeshore Rd., Burlington, Ontario, Canada

    The Himalayas, in Sanskrit meaning "abode of snow", are the great mountain system of south-central Asia, separating India along its north-central and north-eastern frontier from China (Tibet), and extending about 2,414 km (1,500 mi) through Pakistan, Tibet, Nepal, Sikkim, and Bhutan. The Himalayan mountain system is renowned for including nine of the world's ten highest peaks, including Mount Everest. Geographers like to distinguish a northern range, called the Trans-Himalayas, and a southern range with three parallel zones: the Great Himalayas, perpetually snow-covered with an average elevation of 6,100 m (20,000 ft); the Lesser Himalayas, with 2,130 to 4,570 m (7,000 - 15,000 ft) elevations; and the southernmost Outer Himalayas, 610 to 1,520 m (2,000 - 5,000 ft) high.
    The Aquatic Ecosystem Health & Management Society (AEHMS) cannot help but be interested in such a fascinating mountain range, especially because the Himalayas, broadly defined, are the source of some of the world's longest rivers: the Indus, Ganges, Brahmaputra, Sutlej, Yangtze, and Mekong. Therefore, the region provides the life-support base for about 50 million mountain people and probably in excess of 500 million people of the plains. Moreover, the Himalayas possess an abundance of ecological niches, from subtropical to arctic climates, they are crucial in regulating monsoon climate, and, unfortunately, they are facing an ecological crisis due to forest degradation, declining crop yields and livestock productivity, hydrological imbalances and soil erosion.
The interest of the AEHMS for the Himalayas dates back to 1998, when a monograph entitled "Top of the world Environmental Research: Mount Everest - Himalayan Ecosystem" (Baudo, Tartari and Munawar, 1998) was published under the Ecovision World Monograph Series.
    Since then, the AEHMS worked towards convening a conference on the Himalayan environment, and eventually succeeded in organizing the "International Conference on "The Great Himalayas": Climate, Health, Ecology, Management and Conservation", held in January 2004 in Kathmandu, Nepal and co-sponsored by Kathmandu University. On that occasion, delegates from 10 countries debated topics such as: physical, chemical and geological regime; biodiversity; ecosystem health; watershed conservation; socio-economics; tourism; and management. All 19 papers presented at the Conference can be seen on the web (http://www.aehms.org/hima02.html) in the electronic proceedings that the Society, for the first time, agreed to produce for one of the AEHMS sponsored meetings.
    Whereas the electronic proceedings are restricted to 4 pages for each contribution, this Himalayan Special Issue of the Journal of AEHMS consists of the full version of eight papers, which were accepted as a result of peer review. Obviously, these papers can offer only a limited insight into the many environmental problems of this huge and heterogeneous area, from the water pollution to the potential for hydropower, from the tourism impact to the relevant soil loss in different watersheds. But it is enough to realize that the actual knowledge on the Himalaya range is still largely incomplete, despite the thousands of publications dealing with many aspects of its geology, ecology and socio-economics that can be found by a quick search through the net. Unfortunately, most of these publications are scattered in a number of journals published all around the world, and very few are collected in dedicated journals, such as the Himalayan Research Bulletin (published by the Geography Department of the Portland State University), the Himalayan Journal of Sciences (from Nepal), or the European Bulletin of Himalayan Research.
    For this reason, at the Great Himalaya Conference it was decided to provide a forum for the exchange of scientific information amongst researchers by establishing the AEHMS Working Group. The AEHMS decided to expand the mandate of this Working Group called "Mountainous Ecosystems of the World" (MEOW) which will focus not only on the Great Himalayas but also on other mountainous ecosystems of the world. The MEOW intends to organize regularly a series of Conferences dedicated to the Mountainous habitats, thus providing the chance for scientists of different countries to compare and exchange experiences on such variable environments. For example for Himalayan region it will provide the opportunity of comparing ecosystems ranging from the aridity of the Tibetan plateau and the Tarim basin of western China to the snow-covered and extensively glaciated southern slopes, from the jungle and swamps of the southern piedmont plains of Tarai and Duars to the very densely populated areas of the Indian subcontinent's major rivers.
    In short, the Himalaya offers majestic natural beauty, gold and sapphires, the abominable snowman, rishis (holy sages), gurus (teachers), and Tibetan monks; but it is also facing environmental degradation, explosive population growth, and escalating poverty. The scientists may offer reasons for hope, documenting the success of wildlife preserves and national parks in protecting the region's fragile ecology, the encouraging rise of ecotourism, and the introduction of both new and rediscovered techniques of sustainable development in agriculture, livestock productivity, and management of power production and transmission.
    Willing to take part in this process? The next appointment will be the International Conference of the Aquatic Ecosystem Health and Management Society: Ecosystem Health of River Ganga: Assessment, Sustainability, and Management (December 5th - 7th, 2005, Patna University, Patna, India), followed by the Second Conference on Great Himalayas, (2006, Nainital, India).
    Finally, on behalf of the AEHMS, we would like to sincerely thank Dr. S.R. Sharma, Vice-chancellor, S. Adhikary, Registrar, P.R. Adhikary, Dean, School of Science, R.B. Chhetri, Head, Dept. of Biological Sciences and Environmental Sciences, S. Sharma and the other members of the Local Arrangements Committee. We would also like to thank the members of the International Scientific Committee as well as the staff of the AEHMS Secretariat for the Conference, namely Karen Bonnell and Susan Blunt. Thanks are also due to the following sponsors for their support in the organization of the Conference: International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development, Nepal; The Private and Boarding Schools' Organisation, Nepal; Himalayan Resources Institute, Kathmandu, Nepal; Buddha Academic Enterprises Pvt. Ltd.; Kathmandu College of Management; University Grants Commission, Nepal; Lekali Trading Concern; Sankata Printing Press; and Cascade Consultants.