Thank you for printing the excellent expose by Hem Bahadur Bista on the plunder of northern Humla ("Nepali timber to Tibet", #17). The deforestation was already rampant two years ago when I visited the area, and at the pace it was going I was certain there would be no forests left by the end of the decade. If I were a concerned Humlali, I would give up on the government in Kathmandu doing anything. It is this dependency that created the crisis in the first place. After all, you can't keep flying in foodgrains forever-even if it means the foodgrains will save the forests.

P Gurung
Kathmandu