We wish to acknowledge with gratitude the continued financial support from the Ministry of Environment & Forests, Government of India, and encouragement by Drs. D. Bandyopadhyay, Director and Harjeet Singh, Senior Advisor of the Ministry of Environment & Forests for the activities of ENVIS Centre on Himalayan Ecology at the Institute. The unrelenting interest of Dr. L.M.S. Palni, Director of the Institute from the beginning to final compilation of this publication is gratefully acknowledged. We respectfully express our gratitude to Prof. B.K. Joshi, Ex. Vice Chancellor of Kumaon University and Prof. Amitabh Kundu, Centre for the Study of Regional Development, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi for reviewing the earlier drafts and providing valuable suggestions, which lead to immense improvement in the document. The keen interest shown by Dr. M.S. Miral in digitizing the district boundaries is thankfully accepted. The support of Central Statistical Organisation and Ministry of Agricultural Cooperation, New Delhi besides numerous District Statistical Offices of the Himalayan region, by providing the secondary data, is thankfully acknowledged. The help of Dr. Sunil Nautiyal and Mr. D.S. Negi for the statistical compilation and final publication is also acknowledged.