UN Secretary-General António Guterres addressed a joint session of Parliament on Tuesday as part of his four-day visit to Nepal. Guterres spoke about global conflicts, Nepal’s transitional justice process, and the impact of climate change on the Himalayas. During his remarks, Guterres described Nepal as “a promoter of peace, a champion of multilateralism, and a staunch supporter of sustainable development and climate action.” Guterres said he welcomed efforts to drive progress and find solutions in regard to transitional justice, and that the UN, “respecting Nepali leadership” stood ready to support Nepal. “We know that transitional justice has the greatest chance of success when it is inclusive, comprehensive, and has victims at its heart--when it centres on truth, reparations and justice,” he said. “When women participate fully. And when all victims of human rights violations can find meaningful redress.” Meanwhile, victims of Nepal’s decade-long armed conflict were gathered in front of Kathmandu District Court on Tuesday to demand amendments to the Transitional Justice Bill. Conflict victims' groups appealed to the government and political parties to ensure that the transitional justice process adheres to international standards, the Supreme Court’s verdict, as well as the concerns expressed by survivors.  <figure><img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20231031161024_7130d4b3f64d24ceb93ff0d2ad2076f4dba7d7a0d52446cad4c48de5c70d6499.jpg" data-media-id="editor_0" data-image-id="20231031161024_7130d4b3f64d24ceb93ff0d2ad2076f4dba7d7a0d52446cad4c48de5c70d6499" data-rendition-name="original" width="1500" height="1000" loading="lazy" alt="Transitional justice"><figcaption>Conflict victims gathered in front of Kathmandu District Court on Tuesday to demand amendments to Nepal's Transitional Justice Bill. Photo: SUMAN NEPALI</figcaption></figure>  The UN Secretary-General then shifted focus to climate change and the need for “climate justice”, noting that although Nepal contributes negligible amounts to global carbon emissions, the country, especially the Himalaya have been significantly impacted by the climate crisis. He also added that he has proposed a Sustainable Development Goal stimulus that would release at least $500 billion a year in affordable long-term finance for sustainable development and climate action in countries like Nepal. Meanwhile, members of the civil society wrote to the Secretary-General to express gratitude for his stand on Gaza and the need for a humanitarian truce in the region, world peace, Nepal’s transitional justice, and the climate crisis. The letter also warned the UN Secretary-General about ‘national and international ‘spoilers’ wanting to foist a perpetrator-friendly ending to the peace process in the name of elapsed time and geopolitical expediency.’ However, the letter-- signed by former Commissioners of the National Human Rights Commission Gauri Shankar Lal Das and Sushil Pyakurel, MP and former Foreign Minister Bimala Rai Paudyal, activist Hira Bishwakarma, former advisor to the President Tika P. Dhakal, and writer/journalist Kanak Mani Dixit—also expressed disappointment at Guterres not having met with conflict victims. Wrote the signatories: “It is the victims, as the main stakeholders, who ensured through years of lonely struggle that opportunistic politicians and other players did not derail our transitional justice process. While you did meet the two erstwhile warring sides, you were not able to meet the victims of conflict even though representatives of five organisations had submitted a letter on the morning of 30 October seeking an appointment." Full text of UN Secretary-General António Guterres' remarks during the joint session of Parliament Your Excellencies, the two presidents of the two Houses of the Nepali Parliament, Excellencies, distinguished Ministers, Parliamentarians and Friends, allow me, before I start, to express my deep gratitude for the wonderful hospitality that the Government and the people of Nepal have provided to me during these three days. All the facilities that were put at my disposal have transformed this visit into an enormous success. I learned a lot and I commit to using what I learned to support Nepal in your struggle against climate change and for the development of your country. When I am here, I am twice at home. I have been astounded. Tthis trip has been no exception. What I have seen and experienced in the past few days will stay with me always. The sunlight hitting the Himalayas, the warmth of the people, the richness of your cultural diversity and, of course, the sanctity of Lumbini. I thank the Government of Nepal for your invitation, your hospitality and your welcome to me and to my delegation. Excellencies, we meet today amidst a world in turmoil. Decades of progress on poverty and hunger are being reversed in large parts of the world. Inflation is undermining households and national budgets. Families and countries alike face financial crises. Women are underrepresented and underpaid. I recognize the enormous effort that Nepal is making in the way for gender equality, full gender equality, and I praise your efforts and its results. Violence and conflict abound. While the conflict in the Middle East is thousands of miles away, Nepalis were among the many victims of Hamas' brutal attacks in Israel. I send my sincere condolences to the families of the 10 Nepalese students who were killed and express my best wishes for the safe return of Mr Bipin Joshi, who is missing. Distinguished parliamentarians, as geopolitical tensions rise, global divisions are becoming deeper and more dangerous. And smaller countries fear becoming collateral damage in the competition between the great powers. And climate catastrophe is accelerating with a deadly force. In responding to this crisis, the world could learn much from Nepal. This country is a promoter of peace, a champion of multilateralism, and a staunch supporter of sustainable development and climate action. Nestled between two great powers, you have forged your own path to safeguard your sovereignty and your independence, and your journey over the past 20 years has been wonderful to see. A new republic, with a new constitution, with the UN Charter at its heart. You were quick to embrace the Sustainable Development Goals, and are making progress on many of them, independently of the difficult financial conditions that developing countries face in today's unfair world. Your country has successfully calmed the storms of conflict and moved from war to peace, a process the United Nations has been proud to support. Dear parliamentarian colleagues, Nepal does not stand still. Your dynamic story of progress continues today. Your graduation from the Least Developed Countries status is imminent, and the United Nations is committed to supporting a smooth transition. You are preparing the final stages of your Nepal-led peace process, healing the wounds of war through transitional justice. A process to bring peace to victims, families and communities haunted by questions and scarred by injustice, and one that will help put the past to rest. Transitional justice can play a vital role in securing lasting peace. But we all know it's not easy. By nature, it is a delicate and complex process. We know that transitional justice has the greatest chance of success when it is inclusive, comprehensive and has victims at its heart. When it centres on truth, reparation and justice, when women participate fully, and when all victims of human rights violations can find meaningful redress. I welcome efforts here in Nepal to drive progress and find solutions in this regard, and want to tell you you are not alone. The United Nations, respecting the Nepali leadership of this process, stands ready to support you, with your victim-centred process and its implementation in line with international standards, and your own Supreme Court's rulings. The United Nations and Nepal are old friends. Our cooperation runs deep. Nepal has long been a cherished member of the UN family and a powerful voice for developing countries, most recently as chair of the Least Developed Countries Group. This relatively small country, compared with the big powers, has made an outsized contribution to international peace. Of all the countries on earth, Nepal is the second largest contributor of troops to United Nations Missions, military and police. I am sincerely grateful to the Nepali people for their dedication, their courage and their service in peacekeeping. I would like to take a moment and ask for one moment of silence to honour those Nepalis who have lost their lives serving under the blue flag. Their memory will never be forgotten, and the United Nations is proud of the exceptional contribution of Nepali soldiers and police officers in our peacekeeping missions. Dear parliamentarian colleagues, on climate action, Nepal is a frontrunner. You are on target to reach net zero emissions by 2045. Thanks to extraordinary reforestation efforts, trees now cover almost half of the country. And you are one of the pioneers of the Early Warning Systems for All initiative, which aims to protect every person on earth by 2027. Yet global crises are hitting Nepal hard, as they are developing countries around the world. The lingering effects of the Covid-19 pandemic, inflation, and above all the climate crisis are threatening hard-won development gains and squeezing the funds available for investment. Nepal contributes a minimal fraction of a percent to global emissions. But monsoons, storms, landslides are growing in force and ferocity, sweeping away crops, livestock and entire villages, decimating economies and ruining lives. In August, landslides caused by heavy rains caused devastation and killed scores of people. And glaciers are melting at record levels. I was a witness. Nepal has lost close to a third of its ice in just over 30 years. The effect is devastating. Swollen lakes bursting. Rivers and seas rising. Cultures threatened, and mountainsides exposed, inflaming the risk of rockslides, landslides and avalanches. Threats will continue mounting. Himalayan glaciers provide fresh water to over a billion people. As they shrink, so do river flows. Now, we have too much floods. But one day in the future, Himalayan rivers like the Hindus, the Ganges and the Brahmaputra will have their flows severely limited. Combined with saltwater intrusion, that will decimate deltas in this region and beyond. That could mean low-lying communities and entire countries erased forever— millions of people on the move and fierce competition for water and land. Nepal is now one of the countries that is suffering the most. But other South Asian countries might become, in the future, terrible victims of the receding glaciers of Nepal. Dear parliamentarian colleagues, what is happening in this country as a result of climate change is an appalling injustice and a scathing indictment of the fossil fuel age. I am deeply concerned by those communities in Nepal facing the brutal impacts of the climate crisis. The United Nations stands with them. The world must do the same. That was one of the reasons why I took profit of my visit to the Everest Base Camp to issue a video for the whole world showing the drama of receding glaciers and the impacts that will have in the future. Nepal and other developing countries need far greater international support to aid development, accelerate climate action and weather the current global storms. I have proposed a Sustainable Development Goals Stimulus that would release at least $500 billion a year in affordable long-term finance for sustainable development and climate action in developing countries like Nepal. Member States welcomed the proposal at the General Assembly last month and committed to advancing it. I call on them to take action now to make this commitment a reality. Unfortunately in our world, many times people announce commitments and then do not implement those commitments. These commitments about finance for developing countries and climate action must be implemented. I urge leaders to act on climate without delay with the biggest emitters leading from the front. All countries must put the acceleration agenda I propose into effect to limit the rise in global temperature to 1.5°C, and they must make COP28 count with a strong outcome building on the so-called global stocktake. We also need to deliver climate justice. Developed countries must honour the promise of $100 billion a year to support developing countries in climate, and double adaptation finance as a first step of devoting half of climate finance to adaptation. Investment in the resilience of communities, in the resilience of infrastructure is today a must, because climate change impacts are not a problem of the future, they are felt today by the population—and it is today that developed countries must support countries like Nepal to do the necessary investments in that regard. The most vulnerable must be at the centre of efforts to build climate resilience. And all parties must operationalise the landmark Loss and Damage Fund at COP28 this year. There is loss and there is damage. You can see it in Nepal. There must be compensation for it. The Nepali people depend on it, for families that have lost their homes to storms, for communities forced to abandon their villages by rising rivers. Loss and damage is not a negotiating point or a bureaucratic abstraction. It is a lifeline. Dear parliamentarian colleagues, Nepal has long been a friend to the international system. And today their system is in dire need of refresh, revitalisation and reform. The world is in a state of flux. It is moving towards multipolarity. And that is a good thing. A multipolar world provides new opportunities for leadership and balance on the global stage. But this new dynamic requires strong multilateral institutions to maintain peace. History shows us that. At the beginning of the 20th century, Europe was multipolar. But without strong multilateral institutions, it descended into a war that engulfed the world. That is not a risk we can take. We need strong, international reformed institutions that reflect the realities of today. But ours, like the Security Council or the Bretton Woods system, mirror the world in a different way. Since they were founded almost 80 years ago. They correspond to 1945—they do not correspond to what is the world in 2023. That must change. Developing countries must have far greater representation in international institutions. I have called for reform of the outdated United Nations Security Council, and I have proposed measures to reform the global financial architecture so that it better represents developing countries and responds to their needs. And these proposals are gaining traction at this year's United Nations General Assembly and beyond. But of course, there is always the resistance of those that benefit from the present unfair systems. The United Nations Summit of the Future next year is an important chance to push further progress, and I count on Nepal's support to help make the change we need a reality. Dear parliamentarian colleagues, multilateralism must both reflect the world and respond to it. That means creating the institutions and tools we need to address new threats and seize new opportunities. Today, technology is an example of both. It can solve problems and spur development, or it can entrench divisions and inflame inequality. Today, it is doing too little of the former and too much of the latter. We need a global response to the technologies that are changing the world at a stunning speed to harness them for the good of humanity. And all countries must have a say, not only the most rich countries in the world that have more resources to develop those new technologies. My high-level board on Artificial Intelligence includes experts from G77 countries, the global source. It will report this year, so member states can consider global governance options for artificial intelligence. And it must also bring the benefits of technology to all and ensure that in a new technological era no one is left behind. This is the purpose of the Global Digital Compact the United Nations is proposing. It aims to bring together governments and industries to ensure that technology works for all and accelerate the Sustainable Development Goals. And I hope the Summit of the Future will be an excellent chance to push progress. As a steadfast champion of multilateralism, peace and developing countries' interests, Nepal will be a vital ally at the summit. Dear parliamentary colleagues, it has been my great pleasure to visit this extraordinary country over the past few days. What I've seen confirms a simple truth. Nepal is a friend of the world. So the world must be a better friend to Nepal, and the United Nations will never stop fighting to make that a reality. I thank you.

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Justice delayed, justice denied

UN Secretary General António Guterres who is on a 4-day visit to Nepal has pledged to raise global awareness about the impact of the climate crisis on the Himalaya at the COP28 climate summit in Dubai next month. He flew by helicopter from Kathmandu to the shrinking glacier below Mt Everest on Monday to record a warning to the world that the planet is in grave peril. He also vowed to take up the cause of countries like Nepal that are vulnerable to climate impact in Dubai to raise money for adaptation, and a fund for loss and damage. “Nepal is an example of a country that does not contribute much to the climate crisis but is in the first line of impact of its consequences. And I’m here to show Nepal to the world and show how dramatic climate change is,” said Guterres following a visit to the Everest Base Camp (EBC) and Syangboche on Monday morning. Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/editorial/antonio-guterres-agenda-in-kathmandu">António Guterres' agenda in Kathmandu</a>, Editorial  <figure><img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20231030111020_250b078bd5f5d6f6e3fb6e39303c6604dc27fa1cda4744357f2f2f5796c345c8.jpg" data-media-id="editor_1" data-image-id="20231030111020_250b078bd5f5d6f6e3fb6e39303c6604dc27fa1cda4744357f2f2f5796c345c8" data-rendition-name="original" width="1920" height="1280" loading="lazy" alt="UN Sec General"><figcaption>Photo: RATNA SHRESTHA/RSSRSS</figcaption></figure>  He further noted that it was disheartening that countries like Nepal are experiencing consequences disproportionately. He added: “At COP28, we have to urge countries to reduce emissions and double contributions for adaptation and the loss and damage fund. It is not generosity, but their duty.” The UN Secretary-General spoke with the local community in Nepal’s Khumbu region about everyday challenges they face, including weather extremes, shrinking glaciers, the depletion of water sources, and climate-related disasters like glacial lake outbursts floods and avalanches. He also discussed solutions like clean energy, and residents asked for support for micro-hydro projects. Guterres later took to X (Twitter) to write: ‘Today from the base of Mt Everest, I saw for myself the terrible impact of the climate crisis on the Himalayas. As temperatures rise, glacier melt increases - threatening the lives and livelihoods of entire communities. #ClimateAction can’t wait.’ <div class="embed-block"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">Today from the base of Mt. Everest, I saw for myself the terrible impact of the climate crisis on the Himalayas. As temperatures rise, glacier melt increases - threatening the lives and livelihoods of entire communities.<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/ClimateAction?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#ClimateAction</a> can’t wait. <a href="https://t.co/Ih12Qb8roi">pic.twitter.com/Ih12Qb8roi</a>— António Guterres (@antonioguterres) <a href="https://twitter.com/antonioguterres/status/1718900241615736901?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 30, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div> The Secretary-General flew on Monday to Pokhara, and on Tuesday will visit the base camp of Annapurna, another 8,000m Himalayan peak where the snowline is also receding dramatically. Guterres announced he will also be visiting Antarctica in November to highlight the thawing of the polar ice caps and the result this will have on seas level and weather patterns. At Annapurna Base Camp Guterress will be accompanied by glaciologists who will show him evidence of Elevation Dependent Warming which means that the Himalayan mountains are warming at 0.7 degrees Celsius higher than the global average. Even if atmospheric temperatures worldwide were to be capped at 2.0 Celsius by 2025, the Himalayan would be 2.7 Celsius. At that rate, two-thirds of Himalayan glaciers will be gone during this century. Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/antonio-guterres-meets-nepal-s-leaders">António Guterres meets Nepal’s leaders</a>, Nepali Times  <figure><img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20231030111020_4dbe27e0a919a04af43b45f2c457bf5f270a8b08392b96be17f738ad1f63a8a4.jpg" data-media-id="editor_4" data-image-id="20231030111020_4dbe27e0a919a04af43b45f2c457bf5f270a8b08392b96be17f738ad1f63a8a4" data-rendition-name="original" width="1800" height="1350" loading="lazy" alt="UN Sec Gen"><figcaption>Photo: RSS</figcaption></figure>  From there he will fly to Lumbini to the birthplace of the Buddha in southern Nepal to send a message of peace and compassion to the world. Guterres will be the sixth UN Secretary General to visit Lumbini. Back in 1967, Burmese Buddhist Secretary-General of the United Nations, U Thant, visited Nepal and flew to Lumbini for a pilgrimage. Seeing the ruins, U Thant during his meeting with King Mahendra in Kathmandu discussed restoring the nativity site and later set up a UN Committee to turn Lumbini into an international centre for peace. Another issue on the agenda for Guterres is Nepal’s long-standing commitment to the UN peacekeeping, the country is the second biggest contributor to the operations. Guterres told UN staff at a gathering in Kathmandu on Monday: “Nepal is an example of a country that is not only able to make peace with itself but also contributes to peace in conflict regions around the world.” Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/climate-change-is-a-disaster-in-the-nepal-himalaya">Climate change is a disaster in the Nepal Himalaya</a>, Sonam Choekyi Lama

Below Mt Everest, António Guterres urges climate action

<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/editorial/antonio-guterres-agenda-in-kathmandu">United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres</a> spent a busy first day in Nepal after landing in Kathmandu at 1AM on Sunday on his four-day visit. He had a one-on-one with Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal, Defence Minister Purna Bahadur Khadka and Foreign Minister N P Saud at their offices in Singha Darbar. He also paid a courtesy call on President Ram Chandra Paudel, visited Patan Darbar Square heritage site and took part in a banquet hosted by Prime Minister Dahal.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20231029151024_9eb3d96ff0538da012c853f151a54af94ae653412bc9559764af96a5569c812f.jpg" data-media-id="editor_1" data-image-id="20231029151024_9eb3d96ff0538da012c853f151a54af94ae653412bc9559764af96a5569c812f" data-rendition-name="original" width="1800" height="1200" loading="lazy" alt="António Guterres in Nepal"> <figcaption>António Guterres with president Ram Chandra Paudel. Photo: RATNA SHRESTHA/RSS</figcaption> </figure>  Dahal and Guterres told a press meet that their discussions centred on the international situation, <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/comment/no-closure-after-nepal-s-insurgency">Nepal’s peace process</a>, the <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/for-destruction-ice-is-also-great-and-will-suffice">impact of the climate crisis on the Himalaya</a>, the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals as well Nepal’s imminent graduation from least developed to developing country status. “Our talks were extremely cordial and we spoke frankly about expanding ties between Nepal and the United Nations system,” Dahal said, “we delved deeply into climate impacts, and appreciated the Secretary-General’s role in helping Nepal adapt to the crisis, and for greater future assistance for adaptation.” Dahal also said that Nepal’s peace process was nearing its final phase, adding: “We feel that the UN and the Secretary-General’s role in seeing it through will be important.”  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20231029151024_725f11f9c9bbe69181b9c3cdd6a9be6c72f0c4e0526199f770124ab1d92dd1fb.jpg" data-media-id="editor_4" data-image-id="20231029151024_725f11f9c9bbe69181b9c3cdd6a9be6c72f0c4e0526199f770124ab1d92dd1fb" data-rendition-name="original" width="3600" height="2400" loading="lazy" alt="António Guterres in Nepal"> <figcaption>Photo: PRADEEP RAJ ONTA/RSS</figcaption> </figure>  Dahal added that he got the impression that Guterres was well informed about Nepal’s political situation, and the <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/nepal-tj-bill-protects-perpetrators-shortchanges-survivors">transitional justice process</a>. The other matter on the agenda was Nepal’s important role in contributing to the UN’s peacekeeping forces in conflict zones around the world. Dahal said Guterres was full-praise for Nepal’s contribution to peacekeeping. Antonio Guterres told the press that Nepal’s peace process and traditional justice should be concluded adhering to international law, the Supreme Court’s ruling on the matter, and the needs of the survivors and families of the victims. Guterres also met the main opposition leader K P Oli of the UML during which Oli is said to have complained about Dahal still promoting a culture of violence despite the Maoist party having entered democratic politics.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20231029151024_daaf2c46d6a9303a37aa671800990ba86d2fe9b6f452594a48bf442e8f1333b6.jpg" data-media-id="editor_6" data-image-id="20231029151024_daaf2c46d6a9303a37aa671800990ba86d2fe9b6f452594a48bf442e8f1333b6" data-rendition-name="original" width="3600" height="2400" loading="lazy" alt="António Guterres in Nepal"> <figcaption>António Guterres with the main opposition leader K P Oli of UML. Photo: RSS</figcaption> </figure>  Former foreign minister and UML leader Pradeep Gyawali said Oli told Guterres that he was opposed to the Maoist party pushing the anniversary of the conflict on 13 February as ‘<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/uproar-over-maoist-war-anniversary-holiday">People’s War Day</a>’. “We all need to conclude the peace process and the prime minister as a former guerrilla commander has an important role, but he is actively glorifying violence, and this is worrying for the survivors of the conflict,” Gyawali quoted Oli as telling Guterres. Oli also raised the issue of the Truth and Reconciliation Bill which still has <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/comment/nepal-s-transitional-justice-and-the-west-s-recalibration">provisions for general amnesty for murders and other war crimes</a>, and violates a Supreme Court ruling.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20231029151028_5152f622d878e93bc95d92fa6243fb5a11657d7fafee49e710864e283ca1f59c.jpg" data-media-id="editor_9" data-image-id="20231029151028_5152f622d878e93bc95d92fa6243fb5a11657d7fafee49e710864e283ca1f59c" data-rendition-name="original" width="3600" height="2113" loading="lazy" alt="António Guterres in Nepal"> <figcaption>Photo: PRADEEP RAJ ONTA/RSS</figcaption> </figure>  “Transitional justice cannot be transitional injustice, and should be governed by the wishes of the survivors and families of the victims,” Oli reportedly said. Nepal’s peace process is regarded as a model for post-conflict societies because of the successful demobilisation of the insurgents, their induction into the national army and rehabilitation of the rest. However, there are some loose ends including <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/transitional-injustice-in-nepal">lack of justice against known perpetrators of war crimes</a>, the <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/20-years-ago-this-week/child-soldiers">recruitment of child soldiers</a> and summary executions and disappearances by state security forces. --- UN Secretary-General's press encounter with the Prime Minister of Nepal THE SECRETARY-GENERAL -- Joint press encounter with the Prime Minister of Nepal, Mr. Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ Kathmandu, 29 October 2023 [as delivered] Good afternoon. It is a great pleasure to be back in beautiful Nepal. The Prime Minister and I have just had a very productive meeting and I thank him for his wonderful hospitality. Indeed, the warm welcome that I received in Nepal is something I will never forget. We are living in difficult and tense times. I know that even though the conflict in the Middle East is thousands of miles away, it has hit very close to home for the people of Nepal. I extend my deepest condolences to the families of the ten Nepalese students killed in the terror attacks by Hamas in Israel on 7 October, and my best wishes for the safe return of Mr. Bipin Joshi, who is missing. I have just arrived here from Qatar and I will continue to insist on the immediate and unconditional release of all the hostages in Gaza. And I repeat my utter condemnation of the appalling attacks perpetrated by Hamas. There is no justification, ever, for the killing, injuring and abduction of civilians. The situation in Gaza is growing more desperate by the hours. I regret that instead of a critically needed humanitarian pause supported by the international community, Israel has intensified its military operations. The number of civilians who have been killed and injured is totally unacceptable. All parties must respect their obligations under International Humanitarian Law. That Law emerged from the tragedy and awful experiences of war. I have always been consistent in my call for strict compliance of the well-established principles and rule of International Humanitarian Law. The protection of civilians is paramount. The Laws of War establish clear rules to protect human life and respect humanitarian concerns. Those laws cannot be contorted for the sake of expedience. The world is witnessing a humanitarian catastrophe taking place before our eyes. More than two million people, with nowhere safe to go, are being denied the essentials for life – food, water, shelter and medical care – while being subjected to relentless bombardment. I urge all those with responsibility to step back from the brink. And I reiterate my appeal for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire, the unconditional release of all hostages, and the delivery of a sustained humanitarian relief at a scale that meets the needs of the people of Gaza. We must join forces to end this nightmare for the people of Gaza, Israel and all those affected around the world, including here in Nepal. Ladies and gentlemen, I am here in Kathmandu to strengthen the deep friendship and cooperation between Nepal and the United Nations. Nepal has a long and proud tradition of championing peace and multilateralism. And the United Nations is hugely grateful to Nepal for your support for multilateral solutions – backed up by the enormous contribution you make to peacekeeping missions around the world. Nepal’s progress over the past twenty years has been astonishing: You have become a republic, established peace, and thrown yourselves behind the Sustainable Development Goals and climate action. And there’s more to come. The next few years will be decisive, as Nepal prepares to graduate from Least Developed Country status. And as it embarks on the final stages of the peace process with transitional justice. Transitional justice must help to bring peace to victims, families and communities. The United Nations stands ready to support Nepal to develop a process that meets international standards, the Supreme Court’s rulings, and the needs of victims – and to put it into practice. Nepal is also caught in a blizzard of global crises not of its making: the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, inflation caused by the international economic situation, and the enormous threat posed by climate chaos. Much more international action is needed. Developed countries must step up to support sustainable development, and help developing economies including Nepal to tackle the climate crisis. On this trip, I will visit the Himalayas to see for myself the terrible impact of the climate crisis on the glaciers. The situation is dire and it is accelerating. Nepal has lost close to a third of its ice in just over thirty years. And glaciers are melting at record rates. The impact on communities is devastating and I will meet local people in the Himalayas to hear directly from them about how they are affected. I will travel to Pokhara and to Lumbini, to reflect on the Lord Buddha’s teachings of peace and non-violence, which are more relevant than ever in our deeply troubled world. And I want to explore how the United Nations and Nepal can work together even more to solve problems, boost prospects, and improve international support. Because Nepal is a friend of the world, and so the world must be a better friend to Nepal. Working together, we can make that a reality. Thank you.

António Guterres meets Nepal’s leaders

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres is arriving in Kathmandu on Sunday on a visit that was originally scheduled for mid-October, but was put off due to the Israel-Hamas crisis. Even during his visit he will be busy trying to find a path to peace in the Gaza war. &nbsp; The Israeli government has criticised the Secretary-General for remarks in the Security Council this week in which Guterres said the Hamas attack on Israel on 7 October “<a href="https://www.un.org/sg/en/content/sg/speeches/2023-10-24/secretary-generals-remarks-the-security-council-the-middle-east%C2%A0">did not happen in a vacuum</a>”.&nbsp; Israel took offence even though Guterres had added that the “grievances of the Palestinian people cannot justify the appalling attacks by Hamas”. Israel’s censure of the UN Secretary-General’s carefully balanced speech to the Council is itself an indication of the extreme geopolitical polarisation over <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/as-in-nepal-thais-mourn-nationals-killed-in-israel">the Gaza war</a>. On his way to Kathmandu, Guterres will be stopping in Doha where he is expected to engage with Hamas’ Iranian mentors.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20231028031036_52c1f0f8be09553e6f6a26831289b6600f4b5fd0181746432cf534b4d50cb3df.jpg" data-media-id="editor_2" data-image-id="20231028031036_52c1f0f8be09553e6f6a26831289b6600f4b5fd0181746432cf534b4d50cb3df" data-rendition-name="original" width="2478" height="1416" loading="lazy" alt="UN resolution"> <figcaption>An Emergency Special Session of the UN General Assembly on 27 October adopted a resolution calling for 'immediate and sustained humanitarian truce' in the Middle East. Even though it did not explicitly call for a ceasefire, 120 countries (including Nepal voted for the resolution) while most western countries either voted against or abstained. Interestingly, Bhutan voted for the resolution, while India abstained.</figcaption> </figure>  Though not directly involved, Nepal has been affected by the Israel conflict. <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/nepalis-confirmed-killed-in-hamas-attack">Ten Nepali agriculture students were killed</a> by Hamas, and <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/waiting-for-bipin-joshi">one is still missing</a>.&nbsp; The brutality of <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/war-in-israel-earthquake-and-grief-in-nepal">the Hamas raid</a> in which most of the 1,400 victims were civilians, including women and children, has been widely condemned. The Israeli response, however, has been disproportionate, asymmetrical, and indiscriminate. More than 7,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza, and many innocent women and children have been killed and injured. Even in purely strategic terms, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s response will be militarily counterproductive for Israel. And what is puzzling is the West’s carte blanche to the IDF to continue its carpet bombing of Gaza. The western media’s partisan coverage of the conflict in the name of ‘balance’ is even more troubling. President Joe Biden possibly is driven by his re-election bid in 2024, and bipartisan domestic support for Israel. Western governments do not even want to use the word ‘ceasefire’, preferring to call for ‘a humanitarian pause’ to Israel’s bombing. There is a danger that António Guterres will be preoccupied with the deepening crisis in West Asia so that his two main agenda points in Kathmandu (<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/comment/no-closure-after-nepal-s-insurgency">transitional justice</a> and <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/for-destruction-ice-is-also-great-and-will-suffice">climate change</a>) will be eclipsed. &nbsp; Guterres is scheduled to address a joint session of Nepal’s Federal Parliament on 31 October, and meet former Maoist commander Pushpa Kamal Dahal who is now prime minister.&nbsp; Dahal’s main purpose in inviting Guterres to Nepal is to get a UN stamp of approval to the transitional justice process. Survivors and families of the victims of war crimes have opposed efforts by the current coalition government to ram through <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/nepal-tj-bill-protects-perpetrators-shortchanges-survivors">a bill that would grant amnesty to perpetrators</a>. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission and the Commission on the Investigation of Enforced Disappeared Persons were led by political appointees and remain dissolved.&nbsp; Since the former enemies are now in government together, <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/transitional-injustice-in-nepal">they do not want to rake up the past</a>. The Maoists have tried to make a distinction between ‘political murder’ and ‘criminal murder’, while state security says it was just responding to an anti-government insurgency.&nbsp; Guterres will have to impress upon his Nepali interlocutors that absence of war is not peace, and that there can be no peace without justice. Dahal, Deuba &amp; Co, on the other hand, will try to convince the Secretary General that Nepalis are ready to l<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/restorative-justice-for-peace-building">et bygones be bygones</a> and focus on economic progress, job creation and development.&nbsp; Western support for justice and human rights in Nepal <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/comment/nepal-s-transitional-justice-and-the-west-s-recalibration">is not as robust as it used to be post-2006</a>. A weaker West, and ascendant India and China in Nepal’s neighbourhood may have emboldened Nepal’s leaders to determine that the geopolitical climate is conducive to conclude the peace process 17 years after the conflict ended.&nbsp; The current <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/forgetting-to-remember">Truth and Reconciliation Commission draft bill </a>allows pardons for murder, disappearances, sexual offences and torture. It legitimises the recruitment of child soldiers. And it is fuzzy on who should try such crimes.&nbsp; Allowing known perpetrators of war crimes on both sides to get away would reinforce the climate of impunity that has become even more evident after the recent presidential pardon for a convicted murderer and <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/editorial/nepal-gets-gold-medal-for-corruption">political interference into police investigations into high profile corruption scandals</a>. A predecessor of António Guterres, Dag Hammarskjöld of Sweden, visited Nepal in 1961, and that helped give <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/latest/putsch-ek">King Mahendra’s coup</a> some legitimacy. Guterres is in Nepal at a time when crimes against humanity are being committed in the <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/remittonomics-and-conflict">Gaza war and other conflict zones around the world</a>.&nbsp; The Secretary-General’s message in Kathmandu has to be: forgetting war crimes risks a repeat of war.

António Guterres' agenda in Kathmandu

International Mountain Day on 11 December should inspire celebration, not cynicism. It follows &nbsp;a small but rare diplomatic win: the agreement at COP30 in Belém to hold a dedicated global dialogue on mountains in 2026, and to include mountain-specific indicators in the new climate adaptation framework.&nbsp;
A welcome shift, certainly. But the old narrative lingers — mountains are fragile, disaster-prone, eternally vulnerable. But the uncomfortable truth is that safe and environment-friendly development in the mountains is simply too expensive than anyone wants to admit.
To build a kilometre of two-lane highway in the Tarai costs Rs200 million. That same kilometre on a Himalayan slope with retaining walls, drainage, bioengineering, and landslide protection costs more than Rs1 billion. Add tunnels, viaducts or highways designed for minimum 80km/h speeds and that figure can easily triple.
This pattern repeats across all sectors. A 50MW run-of-river hydropower plant that costs $80 million in low-ling valleys costs four times more in the mountains. The headrace tunnels have to be longer, desanding basins must trap the silt, the access roads cost more than the entire project. And there is no way to prevent the scheme from being washed away by a glacial collapse flood.
Nepal's annual road budget is only Rs150 billion. It is scattered thinly across 753 municipalities, most of them perched on steep, unstable slopes. When resources are inadequate and political cycles are short, the incentives for corruption are predictable &nbsp;— shaving a mountain flank at 70 degrees instead of 45, taking a shortcut on drainage canals, skimping on asphalt thickness, or skipping the Gabion.
In high Nepal, the bulldozer is the engineer. We hang on the prayer that the monsoon will be merciful. July arrives, and reality returns. Mountains fall on roads, flash floods wash away swathes of expensive highways.
The entrance to the Siddhababa Tunnel in Palpa collapses yet again. The Nagdhunga Tunnel faces another landslide delay. The Melamchi headworks go under — again. Each failure costs more to repair than proper engineering would have cost when that infrastructure was built.
We are not just paying once. We the taxpayers are signing up for a subscription to disaster. The real fragility of Nepal’s mountains is of governance, not geology.
This is what the international climate conversation habitually misses. Mountain communities are repeatedly told to ‘respect nature’ and avoid linear infrastructure, often by the same countries proudly announcing new expressways and airports in their own countries.
Mountain people are not anti-development. They want what everyone else wants: electricity that does not flicker, roads that survive the monsoon, schools their children can reach in winter. What they lack is not aspiration, it is the budget required to build things safely that is not stolen by politicians and their crony contractors.
If the world truly wants to protect the Himalaya, Andes or Alps, and the billions who rely on them for water, the answer is not more romantic slogans about fragility of the mountains. It is concessional, patient financing that narrows the gap between cheap and dangerous versus expensive and resilient. And it is transparent government that spends that money wisely.
This means money for tunnels instead of unstable surface cuts. Money for bioengineered slopes instead of naked bulldozer scars. Money for hydropower built for 1-in-100-year floods, not 1-in-25-year budgets.&nbsp;
This is not charity. Mountain infrastructure safeguards global water, carbon, energy and biodiversity systems. It is a global public good, and should be financed as such.&nbsp;
In Syangja, small investments under the Climate Adaptive Equitable Water Management Practices have restored nine community ponds, protected recharge zones and increased dry-season spring flow by about a third. All of this for less than the cost of repairing a single kilometre of poorly built hillside road after the next landslide.
Our experience from the Subnational Governance Programme (SNGP) in some districts of mountains and plains show that when municipalities receive practical guidance backed by scientific research, they can scale these solutions with modest, targeted budgets. Local governments are not the problem — they are the missing link. &nbsp;
The tragedy is not technical incapacity; it is chronic under-financing of the most cost-intensive terrain on earth. Lets stop romanticising mountain poverty on 11 December, International Mountain Day. Let us retire the language of fragility that excuses inaction.
Mountains are not pleading for sympathy. They are demanding fairness: that the true cost of safe development in the world’s steepest geographies be acknowledged and shared. Until that bill is paid, the monsoon will continue to do the accounting, one landslide, one road, one abandoned promise at a time.
Ngamindra Dahal is a water and climate adaptation practitioner based at the Nepal Water Conservation Foundation, Kathmandu.

The Himalaya is not fragile

This is the 76th episode of Diaspora Diaries, a Nepali Times series in collaboration with Migration Lab providing a platform to share experiences of living, working and studying abroad. We did not have a whole lot, but did not grow up in scarcity either. When I was in Grade 7, my father migrated to Malaysia but returned just after 18 days and was heavily in debt. It is the interest and not the principal from loan sharks that ruins borrowers. As we grew up, family expenses rose and my father migrated again to Qatar, determined to make it work this time. I used to watch him via IMO in buildings under construction eating rice out of plastic bags. There was no AC, no oven, no shade. Those images are etched into my memory.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20251208081244_3f46ccdd1fab8f85ccce9fc8bec677cb7466a1b9556f36d0f92d19c6478369b6.jpg" data-media-id="editor_0" data-image-id="20251208081244_3f46ccdd1fab8f85ccce9fc8bec677cb7466a1b9556f36d0f92d19c6478369b6" data-rendition-name="original" width="600" height="800" loading="lazy" alt="Diaspora Diaries 76"> <figcaption>Family picture from 2014 sent to Anil's father who was working in Qatar.</figcaption> </figure>  After Grade 10, I was encouraged to take up computers in +2 as I was a bright student. I did not have access to a computer, and the 30 minutes we got weekly at the computer lab was just not enough. My parents could not afford to buy a computer, but a friend had both a desktop and laptop at home.&nbsp; I did his homework in exchange for using his computer. When my father in Qatar, found out he bought me a laptop. Today, a decade later, I am still using it. Maybe I valued the computer more because it was bought with my father’s sweat. The laptop reminds me of how he toiled overseas.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20251208081240_2b3dc0b903d0b01caf875b5f50c22053aa28097b405cf14f36c6324a93f5dfef.jpg" data-media-id="editor_1" data-image-id="20251208081240_2b3dc0b903d0b01caf875b5f50c22053aa28097b405cf14f36c6324a93f5dfef" data-rendition-name="original" width="1200" height="1600" loading="lazy" alt="Diaspora Diaries 76"> <figcaption>Anil still uses the laptop his father bought him ten years ago.</figcaption> </figure>  The money he sent home did help with household expenses. My mother did tailoring, although the income was not stable. After my father returned from Qatar, we he bought a three-wheeler which he still uses in Makwanpur. After completing Grade 12, I came to college in Kathmandu to study IT. It cost Rs20,000 a month in tuition, rent and food just to survive. I could not complete my bachelor’s. Although my father kept saying, “Don’t worry, I am here,” he just did not have the money to pay for me. So, I took up a data entry job which helped cover living expenses. The pandemic meant my father could not earn money from his auto-rickshaw. We had no savings and had outstanding loans. Migration was the only way to get us out of the rut. I told my father that both of us should go abroad to earn some money. He could return earlier and I would stay on.&nbsp; My father agreed, and I visited recruiting agencies with both our passports. After reviewing our CVs, they said it was easy to find jobs for my father but not for me, given my educational background and my experience in software. “How can we send you for jobs as a cleaner or security guard?” they asked. I finally found a job in Romania, and decided to have my father stay back because going to Europe would have doubled the cost. My mother and sister came to see me off at Kathmandu airport. It felt just like my father leaving for Qatar many years ago. Perhaps some day, my brother would also leave in a similar manner, I thought.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20251208081240_c1a00b70223f048e994e1cab7c0e6cd6944c4a2f3f7740b0a8e76921da9d23f0.jpg" data-media-id="editor_2" data-image-id="20251208081240_c1a00b70223f048e994e1cab7c0e6cd6944c4a2f3f7740b0a8e76921da9d23f0" data-rendition-name="original" width="1200" height="1600" loading="lazy" alt="Diaspora Diaries 76"> <figcaption>Anil's sister hugging him at the airport before he left for Romania.</figcaption> </figure>  In Romania, I work in a factory making car seat belts. It is not physically demanding and it is indoors. Even though I did not share it with my family, the initial period was difficult as I had no experience standing and working for so many hours at a time. Once, when I was tired at work, I wondered how my father managed in Qatar in a much more physically taxing job. Here I was not carrying heavy loads, my work was not outdoors. I was so emotional, I wrote a ghazal in my head. The words “खाडीको तातो घाम” kept repeating in my head. After work, I jotted down the verse in my diary:&nbsp; बुवा, तपाई जस्तो बन्न म सक्दै सक्दिनँ Father, I cannot become like you कति गाह्रो छ, म भन्नै सक्दिनँ I cannot imagine how hard it is म मान्छे हेर्दा मात्रै ठूलो I only look like a grown man बानी अझै बच्चै छ But I am still childish किनकि जता त्यतै जान मन लाग्छ I feel like roaming around जे देख्यो त्यो खान मन लाग्छ Eat whatever I see. न पैसा बच्छ I cannot save. न खाएको कुरा सबै पच्छ The food doesn’t agree with me&nbsp; कहिले काहीँ त मलाई म्याकडोनाल्डको बर्गर पनि पच्दैन Not even a burger at McDonalds तर प्लास्टिकमा पोको परेको त्यो चिसो भात But how did my father eat that cold rice खाडीको त्यो तातो घाममा सेक्दै खाँदा मेरो बुवालाई कसरी पच्छ? Under the hot Gulf sun? मेरो पेटले यस्तो पचाउन सक्दै सक्दैन I would not be able to eat that. बुवा, तपाई जस्तो बन्न म सक्दै सक्दिनँ Father, I cannot be like you. कति गाह्रो छ, म भन्नै सक्दिनँ I cannot say how difficult it is.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20251208081240_51eb68a130750f1c79ab1046406a5b940c780ebd87cfff5ff6861d3287bd69c0.jpg" data-media-id="editor_3" data-image-id="20251208081240_51eb68a130750f1c79ab1046406a5b940c780ebd87cfff5ff6861d3287bd69c0" data-rendition-name="original" width="1200" height="1600" loading="lazy" alt="Diaspora Diaries 76"> <figcaption>Anil Gole's diary entry of his ghazal compares his migration with his father’s journey.</figcaption> </figure>  I posted it online, and it went viral. But more importantly, people found the words relatable and engaging. My sister first saw it on Tiktok and shared it with my mother. It moved them to tears while my father kept watching it on repeat, deep in thought. Even though my birth father decided to leave my mother when I was less than a year old, my step father never made me feel the absence of anything. My friend from Grade 6 in Makwanpur, Sharan, introduced me to ghazal. He was six years older because he had to pause his studies during the Maoist conflict. He worked in a brick factory in Kathmandu, saved money, and returned to school. He was very talented and we became friends through the school children’s club.&nbsp; Sharan and I spent most of our time together, sharing meals to save money and even skipping classes. One day, in Grade 9 when our teacher was absent, he wrote a ghazal on the spot and explained the form, the rhyme, the meter. I listened half-heartedly as it was not of interest. We left it at that. Shortly after, Sharan was diagnosed with leukemia and he could not finish exam. Because he was a sharp student, the teachers decided to not hold him back. He died just before Grade 10. I cried. I do not have any pictures of Sharan. He had small ears, and I used to tease him that people with small ears do not live long. That still haunts me. <div class="embed-block"><div style="max-width: 56vh;"><div style="left: 0; width: 100%; height: 0; position: relative; padding-bottom: 177.7778%;"><iframe src="https://cdn.iframe.ly/api/iframe?url=https%3A%2F%2Fyoutube.com%2Fshorts%2FLpizGQWTbMs%3Ffeature%3Dshare&key=87ca3314a9fa775b5c3a7726100694b0" style="top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute; border: 0;" allowfullscreen scrolling="no" allow="accelerometer *; clipboard-write *; encrypted-media *; gyroscope *; picture-in-picture *; web-share *;"></iframe></div></div></div> At the school assembly at the start of the new year, we were asked to share a talent. I did not know what to do, but I wrote a ghazal just as Sharan had taught me and dedicated it to him. Halfway through, I started crying and the principal took me to his office and calmed me down.&nbsp; I do not write much poetry except a few posts on social media here and there. But a video of me reciting went viral on TikTok and that encouraged me to write more. That made me feel validated, and I began writing more about real life experiences. It has been three years in Romania. My brother will also be joining me soon. Things have improved for us financially, but we are not where we want to be. We will get there. When we do, I will resume my studies. I’m interested in programming, especially back-end development and working with databases. It is on hold right now.&nbsp; I do not have big dreams, I just want to make sure my parents get what they deserve. It is okay if I get delayed if my parents are able to access what they had scarified for us when they were of my age. For now, my family is my priority.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20251208081240_9e8d3cad3b505d3ec5adcea94ed05b2ea9de1d2cd8507335eec86c2659a11b34.jpg" data-media-id="editor_5" data-image-id="20251208081240_9e8d3cad3b505d3ec5adcea94ed05b2ea9de1d2cd8507335eec86c2659a11b34" data-rendition-name="original" width="2016" height="1512" loading="lazy" alt="Diaspora Diaries 76"> <figcaption>Anil's family.</figcaption> </figure>

My father’s son

Singha Bahadur Lama worked for six years in Malaysia, but back home in Nepal he is now earning more than he ever did overseas. Here in his village 60km east of Kathmandu, Lama now harvests Buddhachitta seeds from sacred trees that grow in the mountains, and turns them into prayer bead necklaces revered in Tibetan Buddhism. The Buddhachitta tree (Ziziphus budhensis) is indigenous to Nepal and grows in the mountains of Kavre district, and demand boomed after the Dalai Lama proclaimed that the seeds found in Nepal were the best. People from Kavre had gone to Bodh Gaya 12 years ago and presented the Dalai Lama with Buddhachitta prayer beads. Not long after, while speaking in Taiwan the Dalai Lama told followers that the seeds from Nepal had special powers.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20251209141220_dd1fddffc2f22652f57b0fdebe5d0612aa48c79c1e5c1a82da10b1d0a0af69b8.jpg" data-media-id="editor_0" data-image-id="20251209141220_dd1fddffc2f22652f57b0fdebe5d0612aa48c79c1e5c1a82da10b1d0a0af69b8" data-rendition-name="original" width="737" height="536" loading="lazy" alt="Buddhachitta NT"> </figure>  Lama shows a visiting journalist different types of Buddhachitta seeds. Single-faced beads are the rarest and most valuable, as are the smallest 8mm beads. A prayer necklace made of 108 beads would easily cost Rs1.5 million (over $10,630). “We cannot say if our trees will give smaller beads or even how many faces or clear eyes, it’s all natural,” says Lama, who now works as a consultant, advising people all over Nepal about planting the tree, and has since spread it across the country. Four years ago, a Chinese middleman made 7mm plastic cups to cover the seeds, hoping the trees would produce smaller pods. It did not work, and the trees died. Such is the demand for high-quality Buddhachitta beads that a group of 20 men employed by a Chinese dealer cut down a tree along the Rosi River last year. The harvest from that tree had made $212,600 the year before. With that kind of price, the trees are in danger of being chopped down. &nbsp; Lama himself used to make Rs10 million ($70,880) from the seeds of each tree. With this money, he built new houses and sent his daughter to Japan, all with Buddhachitta income. But the market for the seeds is volatile.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20251209141224_0fd29cdc36db0c3ad5f5add513b8b220d0101760e1c42d5c54266eac7c2dfe75.jpg" data-media-id="editor_1" data-image-id="20251209141224_0fd29cdc36db0c3ad5f5add513b8b220d0101760e1c42d5c54266eac7c2dfe75" data-rendition-name="original" width="1500" height="1125" loading="lazy" alt="Buddhachitta NT"> </figure>  Lama invested Rs10 million when prices were high ten years ago, but he lost most of that when the prices collapsed for bigger seeds.&nbsp; He adds: “That year the demand was only for small seeds, and it has only been three years since the prices have risen again for seeds that make no sound when you shake them.”&nbsp; HISTORY Legend has it that Guru Rinpoche left seeds of Buddhachitta while meditating in the Temal region of Kavre district in the 8th century as a blessing. He is known in the Himalaya as the ‘Second Buddha’ whose birth was foretold by the Buddha himself, and spread Buddhism in Tibet. Now, almost every household from the Tamang community here has on average 50 trees. The tree thrives on gravel and sandy soil, needs to be protected from excess water, and can grow up to 10 meters high. It starts bearing fruit annually from its third year and one tree lives for 90 years. The fruits are handpicked every June and July, and then have to be processed by boiling the seeds to remove their hard outer skin. The seeds are then dried in the sun for a few days.&nbsp; “Our families have been growing Buddhachitta for generations, but it started becoming hugely profitable only about 12 years ago, it has become a cash crop and has even replaced staples like maize,” says Dev Lama, 55.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20251209141224_7820e90f918489045c0668465190df37120167cc7d4401bb128adf931e156bc3.jpg" data-media-id="editor_2" data-image-id="20251209141224_7820e90f918489045c0668465190df37120167cc7d4401bb128adf931e156bc3" data-rendition-name="original" width="1500" height="1125" loading="lazy" alt="Buddhachitta NT"> <figcaption>Dev Lama</figcaption> </figure>  What helps is that Buddhachitta is not a high-maintenance crop, it just needs some weeding, watering, and protection from hailstorms and pesticides. Once it matures, it does not need much care, and farmers intercrop it with other grain.&nbsp; “You don’t have to work on it every year like maize, which needs to be planted year after year,” explains Shova Shrestha, 33. “We also continue to grow other vegetables and spices, all of which help to preserve soil nutrients.” Generally, farmers do not sell directly to Chinese traders but deal with local middlemen who take a cut before they take it to the Chinese traders who lodge in Kathmandu during the harvest season. But the bulk of the profit is made by Chinese wholesalers across the border. &nbsp; And now with the proliferation of the plant, and with nearly every family growing several trees, farmers sometimes struggle to find buyers and are often severely short-changed, as was the case with Maiya Tamang’s family.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20251209141220_2d82949a8a32b272216e4f288e976c5af68abf65f52500947ba366526a9b2a2c.jpg" data-media-id="editor_3" data-image-id="20251209141220_2d82949a8a32b272216e4f288e976c5af68abf65f52500947ba366526a9b2a2c" data-rendition-name="original" width="1500" height="1125" loading="lazy" alt="Buddhachitta NT"> <figcaption>Maiya Tamang</figcaption> </figure>  “I wasn’t home that day two years ago, but my sons later told me that my husband sold an entire tree for just Rs1,500,” recalls Tamang, 60. “We asked him why he sold it for a price that wouldn’t even buy a sack of rice, and he just shrugged.” Tamang did make a profit two years ago, but last year’s crop was destroyed by a hailstorm. Despite this, the bead business has augmented the income of a family dependent on subsistence agriculture. &nbsp; A neighbour, Sonam Tamang, had a few Buddhachitta trees in his backyard and has bought saplings from a nursery to expand. Saplings cost Rs500, but it is double that for plants that give high value seeds. Says Sonam Tamang: “The middlemen sometimes cheat us by offering much less than the seeds are worth, and they don’t allow us to speak directly with the Chinese buyers. But even if we did, there would be a language barrier.” Meanwhile, Singha Bahadur Lama who started out as a Buddhachitta farmer now owns a nursery and is a dealer in saplings himself. Some Nepalis have tried to sell directly in China, but face added costs of travel and hotel while there. &nbsp; With contributions from Qian Sun, Global Voices.

Sacred seed feeds boom

Dimar Chaudhary was born and raised in Old Padampur, the village inside what is now Chitwan National Park before it was dsignated a protected area. His Tharu community, as well as other indigenous groups, traditionally relied on Chitwan’s jungles and rivers for generations. Chaudhary himself had grown up collecting medicinal plants and wild vegetables, gathering wood, and grazing cattle in the forest. Chitwan, along with much of Nepal’s Tarai, was plagued by malaria until a US-supported DDT spraying campaign to wipe out the disease in the district in the 1950s. This opened the valley up to trans-migration of farmers from the hills. Before that, Chitwan was inhabited entirely by indigenous people: 90% of the district’s population was Tharu, and the rest were Bote, Mushar, Darai and Majhi communities. In 1973 Chitwan National Park became Nepal's first protected area and in 1996, the Nepal government introduced the Buffer Zone Management Rule under the National Parks and Wildlife Conservation Act to manage forests surrounding protected areas, and ensure local participation in parks management. Old Padampur was subsequently relocated outside the park. Ntional parks formed buffer zone user committees (BZUCs) to manage and oversee community forests. Hundreds of thousands of local people were directly involved in managing buffer zone community forests across the country. Over three decades, these forests have not only made conservation collaborative, but also helped to mitigate wildlife-related crimes and human wildlife conflict. In 2014, 2015 and 2016, Nepal achieved zero poaching for its three flagship species: rhinos, tigers and elephants. But while these user communities have made wildlife conservation participatory, the process hasn’t been inclusive of Nepal’s indigenous and underserved communities. In 2022, WWF supported Community Conservation Nepal to collect data on natural resources used by Tharu indigenous people before the establishment of Chitwan National Park. The project also looked into the inclusion of indigenous, women, Dalit and disabled communities in the Baghauda, Paachpandav, Meghauli, Mrigakunja, and Amaltari Buffer Zone User Committees (BZUC) as well as the Someshwor, Gardi Chure, Radha Krishna, and Baghmara Buffer Zone Community Forests (BZCF).  <figure><img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20251210141228_83a5b021c62b6c4a67888e5eee85d3fdcba3fd34d00e581996213d1ae10d6977.jpg" data-media-id="editor_0" data-image-id="20251210141228_83a5b021c62b6c4a67888e5eee85d3fdcba3fd34d00e581996213d1ae10d6977" data-rendition-name="original" width="1342" height="941" loading="lazy" alt="BZUC map"></figure>  BARRIERS TO INCLUSION The survey found that women are underrepresented in all the BZUCs despite women user groups being larger. Nepal’s Buffer Zone laws dictate that each BZUC has 13 members. Each BZUC is made up of nine units, and as many representatives are elected from those units. The elected members have the authority to choose the remaining four members. This meant that indigenous peoples, marginalised groups, and women have a far lower chance of being elected. Indeed, out of the total members, Paachpandav and Mrigakunja BCUZs had four women, Meghauli had three women, and Baghauda had only one woman, whereas Amaltari user committee had no woman member. In contrast, the BZCF are relatively more inclusive of women, with two out of four surveyed BZCF comprising half women members. Additionally, some grassroots user committees are made up entirely of women. Most women members of the user committees are not appointed through elections, but chosen by elected male members, and are not given positions of leadership. “Women have been the ones protecting the forests ever since the concept of forest conservation initially emerged,” one female participant told us during a focus group discussion. People would get angry when the women stopped them from cutting down trees and grass, and grazing cattle in the jungles, she recalled, adding, “We were dedicated to the user committees. However, we are no longer involved in the committees, nor are we invited to meetings.” When asked about the absence of women in the user committees, one BZUC chairperson responded, “There are only men here because they won the election. Women are unwilling to run for the election. How will they fit into the committee if no woman has ever run for election?” However, not only are women deprived of the chance to contest elections, the chances of them winning polls are also very low because a majority of the positions in the committee will already have been allocated by political parties to their male cadres. Women from marginalised communities face further hurdles.  <figure><img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20251210141228_7ee7dc43b925b4d6e97bfdc5a02df85d4d828e8a82eb00d3086217baf2438b43.png" data-media-id="editor_1" data-image-id="20251210141228_7ee7dc43b925b4d6e97bfdc5a02df85d4d828e8a82eb00d3086217baf2438b43" data-rendition-name="original" width="959" height="508" loading="lazy" alt="BZUC "></figure>  “No male member from the Musahar community has been elected in the user community, if they had, they could have suggested that women from our community be included in the committee as well,” said a female participant from the Musahar community. While the native Musahar and Bote people lack representation in the BZUC, indigenous people did make up the majority of the members in the committees, while Dalit members were included in some collectives. However, only one committee is led by an indigenous person. The others are chaired by upper-caste hill migrants. In addition, no committee had any representative with disabilities. One of the key reasons for the under-representation of marginalised communities in Nepal’s BZUC is its non-inclusive policy. When Nepal’s Constitution was promulgated in 2015, residents living in proximity to protected areas across Nepal had hoped that policies relating to buffer zones and their governance would be reformed to reflect Nepal’s new socio-political reality. But this has not been the case. However, this has not discouraged indigenous Nepalis, who have continued to demand buffer zone policy reforms that ensure the inclusion of women, indigenous and marginalised communities. In addition to policy revision, it is necessary to reform the buffer zone election so that it is more participatory for underserved communities. Reforms should also regulate the number of members in a user group. Similarly, the budget allocated for buffer zones must be used on activities that benefit conservation instead of local infrastructure development. Women, people with disabilities, indigenous and marginalised communities should be the primary beneficiaries of budget dispensation. Crop damage compensation, which currently is Rs10,000, can be increased by five times to Rs50,000. Policy revisions should ultimately guarantee the rights of indigenous communities like the Sonaha, Bote and Musahar to practice their culture and traditional livelihoods and receive a formal education. Buffer Zone User Committees must apply indigenous conservation practices for park management. Birendra Mahato is an elected member of the Ratnanagar Municipality Ward 6 and Founder Chair of the Tharu Culture Museum Research Centre in Sauraha.

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