What is H.E.L.P?
Himalayan Environment and Life Protection is a Nepal-based non-profit organisation that aims to protect the Himalayan environment. It helps communities adapt to climate change and improve human and animal welfare. It was founded by Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche in March 2023 as a special unit of the continued and expanded environmental and community development work of Tergar Charity Nepal.The organisation's work focuses on Samagaun and Samdo villages in the Nubri Valley, Nepal, near Mount Manaslu. These are remote villages, and they traditionally depend on farming, livestock rearing, forests, and seasonal trade.
HELP is not only an environmental organisation. It adopts an approach that connects ecological protection with food security, women’s empowerment, education, sustainable livelihoods, and biodiversity conservation. The major principle behind this integrated approach is that the environment will be better protected when environmental action improves everyday lives.
What is their mission?
The primary vision of H.E.L.P is to empower Himalayan communities to develop local, sustainable, innovative, and replicable solutions to climate change. The expected outcomes include economic prosperity, social harmony, community well-being, and preservation of cultural identity.
They believe that climate change is not only an environmental problem but also a social and economic problem. They integrate indigenous knowledge about ecosystems, agriculture, and seasonal change into conservation projects. The broader vision is that human welfare and environmental protection must be pursued together. They prioritise human-nature interdependence over individual profit. It is actualised through reforestation, agroecology, organic farming, climate-smart agriculture, biodiversity-based businesses, renewable energy, etc.
How do they protect the High Himalayas?
Combining indigenous knowledge and modern technology
Indigenous communities have long understood local weather patterns, grazing systems, medicinal plants, forests, soil conditions, and the behaviour of livestock. H.E.L.P. does not seek to replace this knowledge with outside models. Instead, it uses it as the foundation for new solutions. Drone-assisted reforestation, solar greenhouses, agricultural methods, and renewable energy equipment improve the effectiveness of local conservation. This is an example of technology employed for practical strengthening of local resilience.
Reforestation and agroforestry
Deforestation is a problem in Nubri Valley, which is located in the Manasly Conservation Area. Climate change and demand for firewood have increased deforestation. They aim to restore 20 hectares of forest around the villages. H.E.L.P supports these village nurseries and the collection and cultivation of local tree species. This community-led forest restoration has restored around 20 hectares of forest and cultivates more than 50,000 seedlings. Agroforestry is another technique through which reforestation is promoted. Crops and livestock are integrated with trees to stabilise soil, reduce erosion and support biodiversity.
Climate-smart food production
High Himalayas are characterised by fragile ecosystems due to climate vulnerability. The ecosystem is threatened by rising temperatures, changing snowfall and rainfall patterns, crop diseases, etc. A response to these challenges is bioclimatic greenhouses. These passive solar structures trap and retain heat, allowing villagers to grow vegetables in extremely cold and high-altitude conditions. Currently, there are sixty-two such installations where the villagers grow tomatoes, zucchini, beans, cucumber, chillies, spinach, etc. This also creates opportunities for small-scale income generation.
Biodiversity-based livelihoods
Conservation is more durable when communities receive economic benefits from protecting ecosystems. H.E.L.P promotes it by developing sustainable value chains based on local biodiversity. One example is the organisation’s Rosa macrophylla rose-hip value chain. The profits from the rosehip cultivation are returned to the community and benefit hundreds of households. Other products include medicinal herbs, essential oils, wild garlic, yak cheese, and yak-wool handicrafts.
Apart from these activities, the organisation supports women’s literacy, entrepreneurship, youth-led green businesses, eco-tourism, and animal welfare. These activities underline that environmental protection depends on healthy, educated, and economically secure communities.
What can we learn from them?
Firstly, conservation must be community-led. H.E.L.P understands local needs, consults villages, proposes solutions and adapts projects according to feedback. Communities are more likely to maintain forests and biodiversity when doing so also supports food security and income.
Second, coexistence of Indigenous knowledge and modern science. The challenges of the High Himalayas cannot be addressed through a single universal model. Traditional ecological knowledge identifies suitable species, farming practices, and local risks. Modern technology takes it a step further through forest monitoring, greenhouse production, and reforestation.
About the Author
Aparna A Nair is a Postgraduate Student at the Department of Political Science, Madras Christian College, Chennai.
