Amidst the snow-capped peaks of the Annapurna Himal, in the northern reaches of central Nepal, nestles the high valley of Manang, sprinkled with small settlements clinging to its steep slopes. The panorama is as breathtaking as the terrain is harsh; the terraces cradled by the craggy slopes do not yield enough high-altitude grains to feed the district's 10,000 or so inhabitants.
Since the time of their ancestors, the 'Manangba' of this region have had to make the most of brief summers, with quick-growing crops like potatoes and buckwheat to support their subsistence living.
So it went, until a few years ago. Manang and its surroundings, it seems, are experiencing a slow but deliberate thaw. Someone seems to have hit the defrost button.
"Before my very eyes, this valley has become greener than I have seen it in all my 80 years," a local farmer told scientist Ngamindra Dahal, when he visited the area last fall. "Today we grow cauliflower, cabbage and tomato – unthinkable even a decade ago."