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Walking up-valley from the Phoksundo Lake and across Churang-La Pass to Shey Monastery in August 2000 for a festival that attracts pilgrims from all over the region to the sacred mountain of Shey once every twelve years, I was breath-taken by the diversity and beauty of our country’s nature and culture. There, in the wind-wept valleys and passes of Dolpo, hundreds of flowers boldly display their majestic colors braving the extremes of nature. There, snow leopard and blue sheep are intricately linked in the cycle of life and death, and eagles circle the sky in search of prey. There, human culture has withstood the vagaries of time and the environment through distinct niches and skillful practices tried and perfected over time. There at Shey Monastery, the multitude of pilgrims participating in the ceremonies and circumambulating the sacred mountain in the torrential downpour illustrated the deep-rooted ties between cultures and their landscapes, formed and reinforced through a belief system that attaches great importance to the relationships and interrelationships of life. Few places and even fewer cultures on earth can surpass the beauty and the resilience of this land of Dolpo and its people.

I am pleased that this book attempts to document some of the medicinal plants important to local lives and livelihoods and highlight the role of the traditional doctors or amchis and their unsung yet indispensable contributions to local health. This book is also useful as it discusses the specificity and the complexity of the conservation and management issues related to medicinal plants and the need for appropriate guidelines for management and sustainable use …