The World Meteorological Organization’s State of the Climate in Asia 2024 report warns that the region is warming nearly twice as fast as the global average, driving more extreme weather and posing serious threats to lives, ecosystems, and economies. In 2024, Asia experienced its warmest or second warmest year on …
Kulekhani dam, Nepal's only high dam hydroelectricity project, faces the unwelcome prospect of closure in less than seven years if the present high levels of sedimentation continue. The Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) is undertaking topographical and geological studies to identify possible sites for check dams to trap silt. "We would …
The travails of Nepal's estimated 50,000 cancer patients may soon be at an end. Instead of going abroad for treatment, they will have access to medical treatment at the 100-bed B.P. Koirala Memorial Cancer Hospital at Chitwan in south Nepal. The US $ 10 million hospital, being built with help …
GERMAN concern for child labour has hit carpet manufacturers in Nepal. A Panos report says that approximately 35 per cent of their export orders have fallen through and 100,000 sq metres of carpet meant for export lie in stores as a fallout of an adverse German television programme. On April …
THE apathy of the Nepalese government to the pollution of the once crystal-pure waters of the Bagmati river has landed it in court, writes Jan Sharma from Kathmandu. Environmentalists have filed a petition at the country's apex court, questioning why action should not be taken against prime minister Girija Prasad …
KATHMANDU'S summer of discontent seems to have set in. As the residents of the capital city of Nepal faced an unprecedented drinking water shortage, Bimarsha, a Kathmandu weekly, reported that the World Bank had withdrawn its $60 million support from the rehabilitation of the urban drinking water supply in the …
THE inauguration of a 400 kw mini hydro-electric project, at Chilambu in Solukhumbu district, 240 km northeast of Kathmandu, has given a boost to hydel power generation in Nepal. The $8 million plant, set up with the help of the Swiss government, is providing electricity to 30 villages in the …
In Nepal, the Environment Conservation Council, headed by prime minister Girija Prasad Koirala, has stipulated permissible smoke limits of 65 Hartridge smoke unit (HSU) on diesel vehicles and 3 percent carbon monoxide standards on petrol vehicles. Initially, the new regulation will cover only government and diplomatic vehicles, reports Jan Sharma …
FOR nearly 400 years, Nepal has been using an indigenous irrigation system fortified remarkably without the help of cement or girders. The farmers in the Gorkha, Palpa and Rupandehi districts have built over centuries a complex network of canals and weirs using only boulders, tree branches, soil and wood to …
NEPALESE environmentalists have taken the Arun-III hydroelectric dam issue to court, even as the World Bank is expected to approve a loan of about $750 million for the project. Negotiations for the loan are in a "difficult stage", admits Nepalese minister of state for water resources Laxman Prasad Ghimire. However, …
MORE THAN 40 people have died of kala-azar and 120-odd people have been infected in Mahottari district of Nepal, close to the Indo-Nepal border, reports Jan Sarma for Panos Features. A shortage of insecticides has made it difficult to keep the virus at bay. In fact, in 1992-93, supplies were …
NEPAL will use a $3.3 million grant from the Global Environment Facility to conserve the unique ecosystem of the Barun valley on the southern slopes of Mount Everest. The valley lies in the Makalu-Barun National Park and conservation area and is believed to be one of the Himalayan kingdom's richest …
FROM EXCELLENT vegetable growers to taxi drivers -- that's the transformation the Jyapus of Kathmandu valley are undergoing. The agricultural practices of the Jyapus, a farming community that produces most of the fresh vegetables sold in Kathmandu, exemplifies the benefits of traditional farming methods. Indra Raj Pandey, an official in …
NEPAL'S carpet manufacturers have alleged that some environmental groups are the booming carpet industry in the name of a cleaner environment. Bijay Bahadur Shrestha, former president of the Central Carpet Industry Association, accused the government of not pursuing a clear-cut policy on the carpet industry, whose exports amount to $205 …
SOLID waste is piling up in the Nepalese capital, Kathmandu. Entrepreneurs whose businesses are based on tourism say the country will lose tourists -- its major foreign exchange earner -- if the situation does not improve soon. Garbage disposal has been a problem since erstwhile West Germany, which had earlier …
A TEAM of US researchers have said carbon monoxide and hydrocarbon pollution levels in Kathmandu were the highest among Asian cities, writes Jan Sharma in a Panos report. The average carbon monoxide and hydrocarbon content of emissions of 8,000 vehicles monitored by the team were 3.95 per cent and 0.76 …
THOUGH under increasing pressure from conservation groups, Kathmandu is yet to impose a moratorium on giving away baby rhinoceroses to friendly countries as gifts. Animal lovers contend the government is actually selling the animals, because they are being shown as gifts against payments for rehabilitation and conservation. Conservation groups also …
MORE THAN 36 tonnes of highly toxic chemicals are stored even after their date of expiry in the godowns of the Agriculture Inputs Corp at Amlekhgunj, in central Nepal. The Nepal Forum of Environmental Journalists (NEFEJ) says these pesticides were supposed to be burnt in the kiln of the Hetauda …
A RISE in poaching has threatened one-horned rhinoceroses in the Royal Chitwan National Park and the Royal Bardiya Wildlife Reserve along the Indian border. International groups are increasingly using traps and poisons to gather the rhinoceros horn, which fetches $25,000 per kg, according to a Panos report. Tirtha Man Maskey, …
FOREST degradation around a Nepali mountain village has been reversed in a span of 10 years despite an annual population growth rate of 2.5 per cent. In 1980, grazing and fodder collection was a major cause of degradation in Bhogteni, a village in the hills of central Nepal. However, in …
NEPALI environmentalists are opposing the Arun III hydro-electric power project in east Nepal on the grounds that there are "more practical, cost-effective and environmentally sound" alternatives, writes Jan Sharma in a Panos Features report from Nepal. However, the Kathmandu-based Alliance for Energy says the project "will be built entirely using …
