Coinciding with the recently held Dihing-Patkai Festival, representatives of the Assam Government, the Forest Department and NGOs had got together under the aegis of the Assam Science, Technology and Environment Council to draft a policy document on protection of the forest resources of the State. Though grandiosely touted by a section of the media as the "Lekhapain Declaration", there is nothing novel in the call given by the gathering. Ecological issues raised by pioneer conservationists for the last five decades have merely been reiterated by the "Declaration", bearing witness to the reality that it has been a steady change for the worse in the environmental scenario of this region...editorial