The work of LEDeG was initiated by Helena Norberg-Hodge, a Swedish linguist who first came to Ladakh in 1975, just after the region had opened up to tourism. In the 1970s, Ladakh emerged from a virtual isolation from the rest of the world. She was amongst the first of the many visitors who braved up the Himalayas to see Little Tibet for herself. Concerned by the speed at which the winds of change were blowing, and the growing trends towards ‘western modernity’ and the resultant degeneration of local culture and degradation of environment, Ms. Norberg-Hodge set up the Ladakh Project in 1978 which later evolved into the ISEC.

In 1981, the Project put down indigenous roots and the Ladakh Ecological Development Group, independent of the Ladakh Project, came into being with the guiding philosophy that while change is inevitable, the direction of change needs to be directed in a manner that will benefit the people but with minimum damage to the environment and ecological well being of Ladakh region.

In 1983, LEDeG was registered as a Society in J&K State vide No. 766-S under the Jammu and Kashmir Society Act.

(LEDeG was inaugurated by His Holiness the Dalai Lama (in the picture Ms. Helena Norberg Hodge and Sh. S.S. Kapoor, then Distt. Dev. Commissioner, Leh).