The Himalayas are changing. In many places, those changes are no longer gradual. They are visible in the form of landslides, shifting water systems, and infrastructure that struggles to hold under new conditions. These are often treated as isolated events, but they point to something more fundamental. Across the region, development continues to move forward – roads expand, settlements grow, tourism intensifies. Much of this is necessary. But it is also happening in a landscape that does not respond well to decisions made in isolation. This White Paper brings together perspectives from across disciplines to look at this condition more closely. What emerges is not a lack of knowledge, but a lack of alignment — between deeply interconnected systems, and processes that remain fragmented. The Himalayas do not behave like a collection of separate problems. They function as a system. And when interventions fail to account for that, the consequences are not always immediate, but they are rarely contained. Many of these changes are not simply difficult to reverse; they are, in effect, terminal. This document does not attempt to offer a single solution. Instead, it tries to reframe the question — from how development can continue, to how it can be better understood in relation to the systems it depends on. Because the issue is not whether change will happen. It already is.