The Axing of the Himalayas
Narrated by Edward Woodward
' Once Man would go to the trees in a spirit of worship; now he goes with a felling axe.'
That is how Sunderlal Bahaguna , India's ' Man of the Trees' describes the predicament in his homeland.
' Remove the trees in these mountains and you lose your soil. Today the wealth of the Himalayas is disappearing into the Bay of Bengal.' Down in the plains, India's developing industries need timber both for the nation and for ex-, port. But they should not have it, says SUNDERLAL BAHAGUNA, at the hill people's expense. They need the forests for their very survival! To do something about this, the villagers of the hills have established the Chipko movement. ' Chipko ' means ' to embrace ' - and that is what they do. When the contractors come for felling, the villagers run out and hug the trees to stop them.
Photography MIKE SPOONER Film editor EDWARD ROBERTS Producer Richard TAYLOR Series editors
ANTHONY ISAACS. PETER JONES BBC Bristol