Renowned for its biological and cultural diversity as well as its beauty, the Tibetan sacred mountain Khawa Karpo supports one of the most exceptional areas of plant and animal diversity in the world. Lying within the Menri (or Meili) mountain range that straddles the border of Tibet and Yunnan in southwest China, the area is known for both its sacred geography and its abundance of medicinal plants used in traditional Tibetan medicine (Men = medicine and Ri = mountain in Tibetan). A UNESCO World Heritage site protects the temperate biodiversity of Khawa Karpo and the Menri range, which includes such plants and animals as the sacred snow lotus and the endangered snow leopard. The book details conservation programs focused on Tibetan traditional knowledge of ethnobotany, ecology, and natural resource management as well as conservation biology and planning to create a Tibetan community-centered approach to conservation. It includes spectacular photographs, an inside look at Tibetans views on their changing landscape, the first comprehensive checklist of plants, and a checklist of animals.

Authors Jan Salick, ethnobotanist and climate change scientist working in the Himalaya, and Robert Moseley, director of conservation for The Nature Conservancy in Illinois, led Khawa Karpo and Menri conservation programs.