The People and Resource Dynamics Project (PARDYP) is an integrated watershed-based research for development project concerned with natural resource dynamics and degradation processes in the middle mountains of the Hindu Kush-Himalayas. The primary objectives are to provide a basic understanding of natural resource degradation processes, to recommend proven strategies and programmes for community and farm-based prevention of degradation, and to promote rehabilitation and improved management of the natural resources, using five different watersheds in four countries – China, India, Nepal, and Pakistan – as an example. PARDYP Phase I began in October 1996 and ended in September 1999. The first three years gave rise to many findings. The five watersheds were found to have both common and individual characteristics, advantages, and problems. Major issues common to many of the watersheds in the HKH were identified including population issues leading to land use intensification, drinking and irrigation water shortages in the dry seasons, problems of soil acidity and soil nutrient deficiency, soil erosion and downstream sedimentation, forest degradation, and fodder and firewood deficiencies, the need for more land and the presence of unproductive degraded lands, poor agricultural productivity due to poor or non-existent support and insufficient inputs, gender inequities and socioeconomic problems due to resource deficiencies and/or mismanagement, and general lack of information – for example, about new and indigenous techniques, appropriate modern farming methods and resource management, and marketing opportunities. A workshop was held in Baoshan, China, in March 1999, to review the activities and highlight the achievements of the first three years. This document comprises the papers presented at the workshop. The papers are grouped under four thematic headings – ‘The People and Their Resources’; ‘The People and Their Forests’; ‘Climate, Water and Sedimentation Issues’; and ‘Geology and Soils’. The volume concludes with a summary section placing PARDYP in the global context of Chapter 13 of Agenda 21 and summarising the conclusions from the first phase and the recommendations for the future.