But Norberg-Hodge is also an activist working to introduce changes of her own. Recently, IC founder Robert Gilman spoke with her about what the Ladakhi experience can teach the rest of the world about population and family planning. Yes, I've spent half of every year in Ladakh, and I've witnessed a significant population increase. It's an explosion really - in Ladakh it's shooting up higher than the Indian national average. First, I'd like to say how important it is to take a systemic approach in trying to understand what is happening.
Population growth is part of the complex process of modernization and development.
More and more people are cut off from their traditional dependence on their immediate surroundings for survival. Before modernization, people were consciously aware of the fact that this piece of land is where our food comes from, these pasturelands are where our animals graze. They could clearly see the limits of that land, and they were conscious of the fact that they needed to adapt their numbers and their practices to that limited resource base. In Ladakh, adaptation to very scarce resources sometimes involved polyandry, which means several husbands to one wife. This practice was supported by the status given to the Buddhist religion and members of the religious community.