<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/human-face-of-a-himalayan-climate-crisis" target="_blank">Janmu Sherpa</a> was a grandmother with a dozen goats and a tea house in Donggang in the Rolwaling Valley. Her stopover served trekkers en route to Tso Rolpa Glacial Lake and the trail over Tashi Laptsa Pass to Khumbu. In 2018, I spent months in the Rolwaling Valley studying how <a href="https://www.ted.com/talks/rastraraj_bhandari_what_climate_activists_are_doing_wrong" target="_blank">mountain communities perceive</a> climate change. Unlike my climate-anxious self, Janmu was calm, even hopeful, despite having lived through floods, landslides, and the 2015 earthquakes. “No one knows when Tso Rolpa will burst, so we cannot stop our daily chores. Let fate decide,” Janmu Sherpa had said. Last year, fate did decide. On 22 June 2024, the Dorji Phungmo Glacial Lake burst. The resulting flood swept through the Rolwaling River, washing away homes and hotels in Donggang. Janmu <a href="https://thehimalayantimes.com/nepal/climbers-valley-devastated-by-floods-immediate-relief-sought" target="_blank">was among</a> the missing, and later declared dead.&nbsp; I learned of her disappearance during a recent cycling trip through Panauti along the <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/multimedia/a-flood-of-tears-on-the-rosi" target="_blank">Rosi Khola</a>, which was devastated by deadly flash floods on 28 September 2024.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2025051918054_14898953b7a5808b51440f7a6fa35a7d66146bbb1d62bf88729a83a558ca8ebf.jpg" data-media-id="editor_4" data-image-id="2025051918054_14898953b7a5808b51440f7a6fa35a7d66146bbb1d62bf88729a83a558ca8ebf" data-rendition-name="original" width="1500" height="1000" loading="lazy" alt="A pre-monsoon déjà vu"> <figcaption>Tso Rolpa glacial lake at 4,580m has grown seven times in size in the past 60 years due to global warming. </figcaption> </figure>  Tipper trucks rumbled through the dusty road, carrying stones and gravel from unregulated quarries and sand mining along the Rosi. This was destruction disguised as development, and the crusher industries had <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/the-revenge-of-the-rivers" target="_blank">magnified the impact of record rainfall</a>. On the other side of the mountain, along the Lele and Karmanasa Khola, families are still reeling from last year’s floods. Here, too, a quarrying frenzy exacerbated the <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/nepal-valley-suffers-quadruple-disaster">destructive power of the floods</a>. There are thousands of untold stories like Janmu, and the estimated 200 who perished in the September floods. Most have been forgotten, their deaths blamed on fate. I write this from afar, as Kathmandu hosts the Sagarmatha Sambaad this week to draw global attention to the impact of the climate crisis on the Himalaya. The summit took place as pre-monsoon rains lashed the Rosi and Lele Valleys. Even before the start of the rainy season, more debris flows from the mining operations destroyed repaired roads and neighbourhoods rebuilt after floods last year. The rivers that flooded Kathmandu in September 2024 are still vulnerable. Aside from a few sandbanks built by local hands, nothing has changed. No national reckoning. No systemic response. Instead, everything is blamed on climate change.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2025051918054_57fa57586b1e370e715daf837aa4cae3e73b0f029bb0ccef8be768e85656cc5f.jpg" data-media-id="editor_7" data-image-id="2025051918054_57fa57586b1e370e715daf837aa4cae3e73b0f029bb0ccef8be768e85656cc5f" data-rendition-name="original" width="1499" height="1000" loading="lazy" alt="A pre-monsoon déjà vu NT"> <figcaption>Janmu Sherpa's village of Donggang is directly downstream from Tso Rolpa Glacial Lake.</figcaption> </figure>  <a href="http://as%20kathmandu%20hosts%20the%20sagarmatha%20sambaad/" target="_blank">Janmu Sherpa’s story</a> haunts me not just because of her loss, but because she shaped my journey as a climate activist. She taught me that climate action is not just about carbon or conferences, it is about livelihoods, listening, and the impossible trade-offs faced by communities where survival is more urgent than sustainability. As monsoon clouds gather again, there is a sense of dread not just about floods, but for the apathy that follows. We are trapped in a cycle of climate inaction fueled by corruption, state neglect, and a development model that treats rivers as resources to be drained, not lifelines to be protected. It is no longer a question of if the floods will come, but when, and how devastating they will be. And yet, <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/politicians-and-cronies-blamed-for-kavre-floods" target="_blank">those in power remain unmoved</a> even when disaster strikes their own backyard. We are still chasing climate finance and hosting international summits, while local insurance markets stagnate and communities fend for themselves. To be sure, global advocacy matters. The Himalayan climate crisis must be on the international agenda. Melting glaciers here affect billions downstream. But adaptation cannot begin and end in air-conditioned conference halls. It must bring real preparedness to villages, valleys, and riverbanks of Nepal.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2025051918058_3ec77114d434385351ad1637fd5ab42dc6a76b94b0e90f1c6e683c71535f6e6a.jpg" data-media-id="editor_10" data-image-id="2025051918058_3ec77114d434385351ad1637fd5ab42dc6a76b94b0e90f1c6e683c71535f6e6a" data-rendition-name="original" width="1701" height="1000" loading="lazy" alt="A pre-monsoon déjà vu"> <figcaption>The Sagarmatha Sambaad climate conference in Kathmandu this week. Photo: PRADEEP RAJ ONTA / RSSseasonmedia2007</figcaption> </figure>  I visited the communities ravaged by floods in September and as I wrote in <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/flood-of-despair" target="_blank">Nepali Times</a> then, top-down responses are always too little, too late and too ineffective. The only real solution is bottom-up, community-led adaptation. Those who lived through the floods know what needs to be done, and those privileged and in power need to enable them. Community-led adaptation is not just a buzzword. It is our only viable path forward. It means empowering local people with the tools, knowledge, and resources to protect themselves. It means investing in early warning systems that reach the last mile and actually work, restoring ecosystems that buffer floods, and supporting indigenous knowledge that has long helped communities live in harmony with nature. It means letting go of our belief that somehow our degrees in climate change and attendance in global climate conferences enable us to tell communities how they should be responding to climate change. It means shifting power and funding to the grassroots, where resilience is not theoretical — it is lived, practiced, and urgently needed. As the rains return, I am reminded of Janmu Sherpa’s voice of quiet wisdom. Her innate resilience did not save her life. Let us not wait for the next flood to act. Let us protect what we still have. Rastra Raj Bhandari is co-founder and fellow at the Himalayan Water Project, where he leads the research on climate finance opportunities for the Himalaya.

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A pre-monsoon déjà vu

The <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/editorial/trump-s-second-coming">Donald Trump administration</a> is withdrawing from multilateral mechanisms to tackle <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/editorial/development-destruction-yt3t1yhu">development</a>, health and environmental challenges just as the world is impacted by accelerated<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/climate-breakdown-linked-to-thame-flood"> climate breakdown</a>. The US pullout of the Paris Agreement signed by most countries in 2015 to curb emissions, his plans to increase <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/fuel-of-the-future-is-here">fossil fuel production</a>, and cut funding for global <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/saving-nature-by-protecting-orchids">nature conservation</a> and <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/editorial/nepal-needs-to-get-its-climate-act-together">climate adaptation</a>, threaten to reverse the past decade of progress. All this comes as the United States has decided to cancel participation of its scientists in a critical meeting this week of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in the Chinese city of Hangzhou which is set to agree on a timeline and budget for its Seventh Assessment Report. The Conference will be also discussing geoengineering options to remove carbon that has accumulated in the atmosphere, to capture and store it. Some scientists say that at the rate emissions are spiking worldwide, cutting back on fossil fuel use will not be enough to keep global average temperatures in check. Some of the CO2 emitted today is absorbed by the oceans and plants, but most of it remains in the atmosphere for as much as 1,000 years. Carbon sequestration remains controversial, and environmentalists argue that the best method of removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere is to increase forest cover around the world.&nbsp; The <a href="https://earth.org/what-is-the-ipcc/" target="_blank">Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change</a> is an international body of scientists from 195 countries and was set up nearly 20 years ago to provide governments regular reports on the state of the global climate as well as propose measures to adapt to the climate crisis and reduce emissions. Previous IPCC assessments have painted an increasingly alarming picture of overshoot of <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/nepal-doubles-its-carbon-footprint">greenhouse gas emissions</a>, and the world is already nearing the 1.5C target for 2050 set in Paris 20 years ago.&nbsp; The 62nd session of the IPCC taking place in Hangzhou from 24-28 February will pool available scientific data on <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/climate-change-is-a-disaster-in-the-nepal-himalaya">climate change</a>, analyse it and come up with recommendations for governments as part of its regular 6-year process.&nbsp; But the outlines of the Seventh Assessment report is not due till 2028, and many scientists worry that at present rate of <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepal-s-mountains-are-melting">atmospheric and ocean warming</a>, it will be too late to take meaningful action.&nbsp; Now, a new study has shown that past IPCC reports have failed to align its targets with another time bound plan agreed to by most of the world’s countries at the United Nations: the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/un-climate-report-declares-planetary-emergency">UN climate report declares planetary emergency</a> “The Hangzhou meeting is the right time to influence decision-making to holistically link climate change and sustainability issues in the upcoming IPCC reports,” says Prajal Pradhan of the Integrated Research on Energy, Environment, and Society at the University of Groningen in The Netherlands, and lead author of a new report in the journal <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666916125000040?via=ihub" target="_blank">Resources, Environment and Sustainability</a>. The SDGs were agreed upon at the United Nations the same year as the Paris Climate Agreement to achieve a set of 17 development targets by 2030 to, among other things, end poverty and hunger, ensure health and education, and reduce emissions to mitigate <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/nepal-s-citizen-scientists-track-climate-change">climate change</a>. The SDGs superseded the earlier Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and underlined the interlinkages of the global crises like inequality, migration, food production, poverty and climate breakdown. Pradhan, who is a scientist from Nepal, and his fellow researchers and authors analysed 150 chapters of the Fifth and Sixth Assessment Reports of the IPCC to see how much they had incorporated SDG targets. “Our analysis shows that the reports contain gaps when it comes to the SDGs,” notes Pradhan. “Climate change and sustainability cannot be seen in isolation, and several SDGs are not sufficiently reflected in the previous IPCC reports, such as <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/business/gender-equality-lesson">gender equality</a>, education, inequality, and health issues.” Besides its 17 broad goals, the SDGs also have 169 sub-goals and incorporate them into the next scientific assessment of the IPCC because they relate to structural problems with national development, many of which pre-date the <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/those-who-stay">climate crisis</a>.&nbsp; Says Pradhan: “If we want to achieve climate action, we need to link them to development issues. Climate change has negative impacts on several SDGs. At the same time, they can also have a positive effect on several sustainability goals. There are synergies and trade-offs.”&nbsp; The paper in Resource, Environment and Sustainability notes that while SDGs figure more prominently in the IPCC”s Sixth Assessment Report compared to the Fifth, there is a need for a &nbsp;more holistic coverage of sustainability and development goals as the underlying causes and solutions to the climate crisis. Incorporating SDGs into the Seventh Assessment Report, it adds, would make the next one more policy-relevant, stimulate more research on SDG and climate change linkages. Says Klaus Hubacek, another co-author from the University of Groningen: “Climate change is not just about rising temperatures, there is also a direct link to people’s well-being, which the SDGs emphasise. These development issues resonate more with governments, and this is how they hope to accelerate climate actions.” Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/underreporting-the-climate-emergency">Underreporting the climate emergency</a> The paper was a collaboration between scientists from 15 institutions worldwide which also included other Nepali scientists like Shobhakar Dhakal of the Asian Institute of Technology in Thailand and , Maheswar Rupakheti, as well as former and present members of IPCC working groups like Bart van den Hurk, Debra C Roberts.&nbsp; The researchers hope that the journal article will convince participants at the IPCC meeting in China this week to push urgent <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/global-crisis-local-solutions">global action on climate mitigation</a> and adaptation by integrating SDGs more closely with emission targets and strategies to cope with impact.&nbsp; “Timing is key,” Hubacek notes. “The SDGs are in place until 2030. If the IPCC reports incorporate SDG targets they will help the sustainability agenda beyond 2030, a potential follow-up.” Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/editorial/more-equal-than-others">More equal than others</a> This article is brought to you by <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/" target="_blank">Nepali Times</a>, in collaboration with <a href="https://inpsjapan.com/en/" target="_blank">INPS Japan</a> and <a href="https://sgi-peace.org/" target="_blank">Soka Gakkai International</a>, in consultative status with UN ECOSOC.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250131060116_30c3782f9c09219bf1c249b51483a3cfb7a53a06d117d2aebd23ca7080d12758.jpg" data-media-id="editor_21" data-image-id="20250131060116_30c3782f9c09219bf1c249b51483a3cfb7a53a06d117d2aebd23ca7080d12758" data-rendition-name="original" width="680" height="103" loading="lazy" alt="SDG logo"> </figure>

Combining IPCC targets with SDGs

Despite countries amassing huge atomic arsenals, one reason deterrence has worked since the end of World War II, according to proponents, is that all-out nuclear war is so unthinkable.&nbsp; Yet, with no end in sight to fighting in Ukraine and West Asia, a new Cold War that pits US vs Russia and China, and the second coming of an erratic American president, have all made nuclear conflict thinkable in 2025 and beyond. Russia has repeatedly threatened the use of nuclear weapons against Ukraine and last month fired a new hypersonic intermediate-range ballistic missile at the Dnipro. And it has put into orbit a new <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2024/12/05/opinion/nuclear-weapons-space.html" target="_blank">prototype satellite</a> that can knock out other satellites with a nuclear explosion in space.&nbsp; Donald Trump and Benjamin Netyanyahu have reportedly spoken about a joint strike on Iranian nuclear installations. North Korea has been testing long range missiles for its nuclear warheads. Tensions remain high between nuclear-armed India and Pakistan. These dangers come on top of signs of accelerated climate breakdown with weather extremes, record-breaking heat, and rapid melting of polar icecaps and Himalayan glaciers. ‘The world-ending potential of nuclear weapons looms over populations around the world,’ writes Cameron Vega in <a href="https://thebulletin.org/2023/11/the-climate-blind-spot-in-nuclear-weapons-policy/" target="_blank">Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists</a>. ‘Climate change is a slower-moving catastrophe, but it openly threatens every community.’  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20241226081236_8ebdd11d4d252d449b0347548372e1649de3637e1947f75609909bbf26d00555.jpg" data-media-id="editor_2" data-image-id="20241226081236_8ebdd11d4d252d449b0347548372e1649de3637e1947f75609909bbf26d00555" data-rendition-name="original" width="800" height="533" loading="lazy" alt="Thinking the thinkable NT"> </figure>  The Bulletin’s <a href="https://thebulletin.org/doomsday-clock/" target="_blank">Doomsday Clock</a> was reset to 90 seconds before midnight (from 100 seconds) in January this year due to ‘ominous trends that continue to point the world toward global catastrophe’. The minute hand on the Doomsday Clock has been reset 25 times since 1947, and it is most likely be brought forward to less than a minute in 2025. &nbsp; Both climate breakdown and nuclear war are human induced, but while one is heating up the planet the smoke and dust from explosions of the other will cool it. Either way, both threats are inextricably linked.&nbsp; Even the tactical use of battlefield nuclear weapons would have a climate impact. And climate-induced disasters, crop failures, water shortage, mass migration and ensuing socio-political unrest could spark wars that go nuclear. This is without even considering the long term effect of radioactive fallout on land, water and sea. <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s43016-022-00573-0" target="_blank">Research at Rutgers University</a> recently projected that even a one-week nuclear exchange between India and Pakistan would cause the collapse of food systems worldwide, killing 2 billion people from starvation. Prevailing winds would carry the fallout to the Himalaya and Tibetan Plateau, irradiating glaciers that feed into all of Asia’s main rivers. An all-out nuclear war between the United States and Russia would cause a nuclear winter lasting more than 15 years, the study showed, unleashing a global famine that would kill 5 billion people.&nbsp; Anti-nuclear activists now challenge the security paradigm based on nuclear deterrence, and have instead pushed for a ban on nuclear weapons. At a meeting on the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons at the United Nations in New York last December, members declared that the doctrine of deterrence used by nuclear-armed states and their allies was a threat to human security and an obstacle to nuclear disarmament.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20241226081236_407d70a5620963d36f53e2c5718e0e12aad446374f358fb4b574701ee1f03e14.jpg" data-media-id="editor_5" data-image-id="20241226081236_407d70a5620963d36f53e2c5718e0e12aad446374f358fb4b574701ee1f03e14" data-rendition-name="original" width="667" height="726" loading="lazy" alt="Thinking the thinkable NT"> </figure>  The meeting heard that deterrence is an unproven gamble and based on the implicit threat to use nuclear weapons which itself is playing brinkmanship with nuclear annihilation. “Deterrence is unacceptable,” stated Melissa Parke of <a href="https://www.icanw.org/people_and_structure" target="_blank">ICAN ((International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons)</a>. “It is based on the threat to wage nuclear war which would kill millions outright and lead to a nuclear winter and mass starvation that would kill billions of people.”&nbsp; ICAN was awarded the <a href="https://www.icanw.org/nobel_prize" target="_blank">Nobel Peace Prize in 2017</a> for its activism against the catastrophic humanitarian consequences of any use of atomic weapons, and its work to push the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.&nbsp; It has been 50 years since the discussions on a draft of the <a href="http://www.un.org/disarmament/WMD/Nuclear/NPTtext.shtml" target="_blank">Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT)</a> was first held in Geneva. The NPT entered into force in 1970, and has the membership of <a href="http://disarmament.un.org/treaties/t/npt" target="_blank">191 States</a>, with mandatory obligations on disarmament and non-proliferation.&nbsp; However, these commitments are now threatened by a new Cold War and increased global tensions. Nine nuclear weapon states have total stockpiles of 14,500 warheads, many of them on missiles ready to be launched. Three countries in Nepal’s immediate neighbourhood (China, India, Pakistan) have nuclear weapons, and they do not share good relations.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20241226081236_cb12ff19e7ad0691773a0cc4a74b4f2b699832495aa90e5dc21462a287f11dcb.jpg" data-media-id="editor_10" data-image-id="20241226081236_cb12ff19e7ad0691773a0cc4a74b4f2b699832495aa90e5dc21462a287f11dcb" data-rendition-name="original" width="1232" height="513" loading="lazy" alt="Doomsday clock"> </figure>  Of the five regions around the world that have declared themselves nuclear weapons free, three are in Asia: Central Asia, Mongolia and the South Pacific. The <a href="https://www.unrcpd.org/about/" target="_blank">United Nations Regional Centre for Peace and Disarmament in Asia and the Pacific (UNRCPD)</a> is located in Kathmandu and helps countries to meet disarmament goals. A report titled <a href="https://www.ippnw.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/ENGLISH-Nuclear-Famine-Report-Final-bleed-marks.pdf" target="_blank">Nuclear Famine</a> by the group <a href="https://www.ippnw.org/programs/nuclear-weapons-abolition/nuclear-famine-climate-effects-of-regional-nuclear-war" target="_blank">International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War</a> sounds a sobering alarm: even a limited nuclear war using only 100 weapons anywhere in the world would disrupt the global climate and agricultural production, and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=89_d9AFmk9Y&amp;t=83s" target="_blank">put 2 billion people at risk of starvation</a>. Coincidentally, 2 billion is also the number of people who would be affected by the melting of glaciers in the mountains of High Asia, according to the <a href="https://hkh.icimod.org/hi-wise/" target="_blank">International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD)</a>. Given the twin global threats, climate activism now has to go hand-in-hand with the campaign to abolish nuclear weapons.&nbsp; Kunda Dixit This Editorial is brought to you by <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/" target="_blank">Nepali Times</a>, in collaboration with <a href="https://inpsjapan.com/en/" target="_blank">INPS Japan</a> and <a href="https://sgi-peace.org/" target="_blank">Soka Gakkai International</a>, in consultative status with UN ECOSOC.

Thinking the thinkable

Those who stay

Nepal’s national electricity grid is supplied with power from a remarkably decentralised array of 162 hydropower projects and 14 solar photovoltaic schemes spread across 43 districts, supplying power over the grid to 30 million people.
Another 249 hydropower projects and 14 solar projects are at different stages of construction, positioning 11 new districts to contribute power to the grid by 2030. Six of the country’s seven provinces generate hydropower as their main energy source, while Madhes Province generates solar energy.&nbsp;
While NEA (Nepal Electricity Authority) and its subsidiaries own and operate 20 generation stations, the remaining are owned and operated by Independent Power Producers (IPP). All but two of the IPPs are Nepali companies that have successfully mobilised over $2 billion in investment.
This investment has been spread widely across the country. Eleven districts generate more than 100MW each with Dolakha, Lamjung, Solukhumbu, and Ramechhap each exceeding 200MW (map). The average size of hydropower projects on Nepal’s grid is 15.5MW, while the average solar project is 4.2MW.
The average size of projects under construction is larger -- 39.5MW for hydro and 6.9MW for solar respectively.&nbsp;
For most hill and mountain districts, hydropower is easily the largest investment, private or public, in their history. &nbsp;
This decentralised power generation model is a relatively recent development for Nepal. In 1995 when the World Bank withdrew (adjoining article) its planned investment from the 201MW Arun III project, NEA had not envisioned the entry of the private sector. In fact, its published strategy was to mobilise international aid for hydropower projects larger than Arun III.
The well-known cancellation of Arun III in 1995 and the availability of alternative models led to Nepal's decentralised power development. It matters that this distributed generation and storage of electricity is close to the point of use.
Centralised power stations have been the norm for industrialised and emerging economies to achieve rapid and cheap electrification, taking advantage of economies of scale of large power plants.
Also in Nepal, when its vast hydropower potential was first quantified in the 1960s, plans were drawn up for mega hydropower projects with reservoirs such as Karnali, Kosi, and Pancheswar. None of these could be realised, however, due to lack of financing.&nbsp;
Donor funds could never be aggregated at the scale needed for the investments required, and the country was not attractive to the international private sector. Nepal opted not to invite India to construct its large hydropower projects to supply the Indian market the way Bhutan did.
It took the country 40 years to find its way -- generation led by private domestic investment supplemented by public sector involvement by the NEA.&nbsp;
The cancellation of Arun III resulted in the government signing expensive dollar-denominated power purchase agreements (PPA) with international producers like Khimti (60MW) and Bhote Kosi (45MW) to partially make up for the shortfall. These were against the wishes of NEA management.&nbsp;
It was in reaction to these expensive PPAs that engineers at NEA received permission to develop Chilime (20MW) with rupee-denominated PPA and the government at the time announced a standard tariff in NPR for power generated by IPPs.&nbsp;
Once NEA showed its willingness to sign these PPAs, hundreds of companies sprang up to apply for licenses to survey and construct small hydropower plants throughout the country.
Decentralised power development contributes to construction jobs and infrastructure investment, especially in remote districts where many of the best hydropower sites are located.&nbsp;
Construction of an electricity generation station provides at one go the two most important infrastructure any district needs to generate jobs — power and a road.&nbsp;
Decentralised generation provides energy security to load centres throughout the country since damage to power plants in one part of the country need not affect other areas that have their own generation. It also reduces transmission losses as large amounts of power do not have to be transported from one end of the country to another.
Nepal’s strategy of decentralised power development is coming to maturity in the era of the climate crisis, when the global response has been a surge in renewable energy investments and grids all over the world pushing to become decentralised.&nbsp;
Landslides, flooding and glacial lake outburst floods have always posed risks to infrastructure projects in the Himalaya, and climate breakdown has increased this risk with the severity and frequency of cloud bursts.&nbsp;
The 2024 monsoon has been particularly bad, temporarily shutting down NEA’s 456MW Upper Tamakosi, 60MW Upper Trisuli 3A, 40MW Chameliya, and 10MW Sunkosi projects,&nbsp;
It also downed the 36MW Balefi, 20MW Lower Modi, 18MW Middle Modi, and 7.5 MW Indrawati III operated by IPPs.
Nonetheless, there has not been any increase in load shedding because power plants across other river basins continued to generate without interruption.&nbsp;
Having power plants spread across two thirds of the country rather than concentrated in a few river valleys distributes the risk to the country’s entire power supply.&nbsp;
Adding solar energy to the generation mix diversifies the types of renewable energy available and contributes to power in the winter months. It also makes the grid more secure during periods of drought when hydropower production declines.&nbsp;
Solar energy is a perfect complement to hydro since by definition its production will peak during periods with low rainfall.
Distributed generation is shaping up to be an important component of Nepal’s decentralised energy system. This increases energy security to users and reduces transmission losses.
The roughly 10MW of rooftop solar PV systems that have been installed in the past year by hotels, factories, medical colleges and flour mills to reduce their electricity bills is an example of how it is catching on.
Decentralised and distributed generation do have additional costs in the need for more extensive power networks. Extending high voltage transmission lines to evacuate power from smaller local projects adds cost.&nbsp;
However, every power plant and the transmission line to access it has aided Nepal in accelerating electrification and strengthening power infrastructure to the district where it is located.
As networks become more complex, utility-scale battery storage, and the availability of distributed storage in electric vehicles, the grid needs to be made smarter to better manage the tens of thousands of generation and storage points Nepal is likely to have in the coming years. &nbsp;
Bikash Pandey is Director of Clean Energy and Circular Economy at Winrock International. People Power is his new regular column in Nepali Times on global energy issues relevant to Nepal. &nbsp;

Bikash Pandey

Decentralising power in Nepal

A flash debris flow just after noon on 16 August had damaged half the village of Thame in the Everest region, but no human casualties have been reported.&nbsp; Experts and residents have said <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/himalayan-icecap-melting-faster-than-thought">rapid melting of the Himalaya</a> due to climate breakdown was the cause of this and more frequent flash floods on Nepal glacier-fed rivers in the past years. Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepal-s-mountains-are-melting">Nepal’s mountains are melting</a>, Alton C Byers  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20240817040812_b5c90a2ec0cdf7aede204f3912c646f2a30b8fbb668548f8f6ba832c47e6a608.png" data-media-id="editor_2" data-image-id="20240817040812_b5c90a2ec0cdf7aede204f3912c646f2a30b8fbb668548f8f6ba832c47e6a608" data-rendition-name="original" width="1050" height="535" loading="lazy" alt="Thame flash flood NT 2"> <figcaption>Friday afternoon after the flood hit Thame.</figcaption> </figure>  Early reports said five lodges, a school, a health clinic and 12 homes were damaged in Thame, which usually has a population of 300 Sherpa people who depend mostly on trekking and mountaineering for their livelihood. One person who was trapped in one of the buildings is said to be missing.&nbsp; Thame was hit by an even more devastating <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Dig-Tsho-4-400-m-as1-the-pear-shaped-glacial-lake-lies-embedded-in-the-uppermost_fig12_271811212" target="_blank">glacial lake outburst flood on 4 August 1985</a> when the Dig Tso lake burst after an avalanche from the east face of the 6,940m high Tengi Rau fell into the lake. Twelve people were killed then, a hydropower plant was destroyed and part of the Everest trekking trail was washed away. Thame also suffered extensive damage in the 2015 earthquake.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20240817030856_ab024c339325d46527245315cdf1682da699499c8b2532388f4d8d93e76d0c72.png" data-media-id="editor_4" data-image-id="20240817030856_ab024c339325d46527245315cdf1682da699499c8b2532388f4d8d93e76d0c72" data-rendition-name="original" width="1182" height="774" loading="lazy" alt="4 August 1985 Dig Tso lake glacial lake outburst flood NT"> <figcaption>The glacial lake outburst flood in 1985. </figcaption> </figure>  Dig Tso has again filled up in the past decades due to glacial melt and could have burst again, experts say. There was heavy rain in the catchment area of the Bhote Kosi this week, and this could have also swept down melted glacial moraine from further up the mountain.&nbsp; “Unfortunately, those of us who have done the least to contribute to this man-made climate change are the ones facing the worst consequences,” said Dawa Steven Sherpa, mountaineer and tourism entrepreneur. “When will we learn that for many of us, <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/the-climate-crisis-is-a-water-crisis-in-the-himalaya">the threats of climate change</a> are not in some distant future but are already happening?” Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/living-with-climate-anxiety">Living with climate anxiety</a>, Rastraraj Bhandari <div class="embed-block"><div><div style="left: 0; width: 100%; height: 0; position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.25%;"><iframe src="//cdn.iframe.ly/api/iframe?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fembed%2FkYJ95MCRpWY%3Fsi%3DEuyCEbZPK8Eew368&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> Thame is on the former trade route between Nepal’s Khumbu region and Tibet across the 5,806m high Nangpa La pass. After The Chinese annexation of Tibet, the trade route was closed and the Sherpa people turned from being traders to mountaineering guides. There are several other smaller glacial lakes upstream from Thame, and a team from the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority (NDRRMA) flew to the valley on Saturday morning to find the actual cause. “We weren’t aware that the lakes were at the risk of bursting but we suspect it might have been Dig Tso again, or one of them,” Ward chair Pasang Galzen Sherpa. Dig is a highland yak pasture below the lakes, and it is not known if any livestock of herders were affected.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20240817040812_08b1a13e9e5cff070775f7b91aa46e1c57298a26e56f7ddf8e75586020fff596.png" data-media-id="editor_8" data-image-id="20240817040812_08b1a13e9e5cff070775f7b91aa46e1c57298a26e56f7ddf8e75586020fff596" data-rendition-name="original" width="1070" height="1610" loading="lazy" alt="Glacial outburst Thame flash flood NT 3"> </figure>  The sudden flood in Thame Khola at about 1:30PM on Friday gave locals just enough time to flee to safer higher ground. The trekking off-season meant this Sherpa village of 45 families at about 3,800m in Khumbu Valley was relatively empty. Thame is also the staging point for the Renzo La traverse from Thame to Gokyo Valley. Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/tracing-past-glacial-floods-in-kangchenjunga">Tracing past glacial floods in Kangchenjunga</a>, Alton C Byers  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20240817040816_72a0727d11706de3e845caf759a3356f47c5751f72535d4d2bd7ecc3baa31a42.png" data-media-id="editor_10" data-image-id="20240817040816_72a0727d11706de3e845caf759a3356f47c5751f72535d4d2bd7ecc3baa31a42" data-rendition-name="original" width="1300" height="926" loading="lazy" alt="Thame flash flood NT 4"> </figure>  The District Administration Office of Khotang issued an alert about a flash flood downstream on the Dudh Kosi into which the Bhote Kosi flows. The District Police Office, Halesi Tuwachung Municipality, Aiselukharka Rural Municipality and Rawabensi Rural Municipality have asked people to move to higher ground, but no casualties or major damage was reported overnight. Nepal Police in Thambuche and Namche and a team from the Nepal Army have been deployed in the flood-damaged areas. Helicopter flights were prevented from reaching the site on Friday due to bad weather.

Climate breakdown linked to Thame flood

Mustang district is in the cold and arid trans-Himalayan region of Nepal, and used to get very little rain. But with climate breakdown, precipitation patterns have changed, bringing frequent winter drought and summer floods. This is forcing families here to abandon traditional flat-roofed, mud-walled house designs for modern reinforced concrete and brick structures that can better withstand heavy rainfall. Most flat roofs of Mustang homes used to be stacked with precious firewood, and the size of the pile indicated the family’s affluence. A large stack suggested wealth, and even better marriage prospects. Roofs lined with juniper branches are still an integral part of Mustang’s architecture and identity, and is a tourist attraction in a part of Nepal that is geologically and culturally close to Tibet. The firewood fits together like tetris, capping the clay roofs of houses with sloping rammed earth walls, traditionally plastered with white, black and orange clay. The late artist Robert Powell documented Mustang’s architecture with detailed paintings in his book, Earth Door Sky Door (pictured) which explained that the firewood on the roof, besides signifying status, also protected the clay roofs and walls from melting snow. The front yards and porches of these houses are laid in stone, as are the main paths that run through towns like Marpha. Altogether there is a cohesive, congruent feeling to the architecture.  <figure><img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2024071906070_2f3802c7544ab3492acea14a615a4f465a520402e22e4e40d8694a76414dc17c.png" data-media-id="editor_0" data-image-id="2024071906070_2f3802c7544ab3492acea14a615a4f465a520402e22e4e40d8694a76414dc17c" data-rendition-name="original" width="817" height="664" loading="lazy" alt="Leaky roofs on the Roof of the World NT"></figure>  But the roofs on the Roof of the World are changing. Unusually heavy rains caused by the climate crisis means the roofs now leak and the mud walls dissolve in downpours. Traditional buildings are being torn down to be replaced with cement houses. Mustang is now connected to the rest of Nepal by a new highway, and this means families use LPG cylinders to cook and do not need firewood anymore. Kamala Linchin runs a hotel built in the local style in Marpha, but is replacing it with a multi-storey cement structure. “Even after repairs, there are a lot of problems with this house,” she explains, “The firewood rots, the roof leaks, and the walls break down. It is costly to maintain and I am losing business.” Linchin has noticed the change in weather patterns: it snows very little, if at all, in winter, and there are summer storms that unleash flash floods and torrential rain. She adds, “It used to snow so much in Mustang that you couldn’t leave your house for months. We stored firewood for cooking and heating. But it doesn’t matter how much firewood you store now, it rots quickly, and water starts dripping from the roof.” Two years ago, her neighbour Ripesh Linchin was also forced to build a concrete house with a sloping tile roof. He tells us: “The firewood on the roof may look photogenic for tourists but it leaks, and your sons want a more comfortable house. What to do?”  <figure><img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2024071906074_a14ddd5493310227facabab2a5722423fab361cf201585d1a69822aa7cc3e035.jpg" data-media-id="editor_1" data-image-id="2024071906074_a14ddd5493310227facabab2a5722423fab361cf201585d1a69822aa7cc3e035" data-rendition-name="original" width="2250" height="1688" loading="lazy" alt="Leaky roofs on the Roof of the World NT"><figcaption>Juniper firewood on a roof of a house in Lo Manthang. Photo: KUNDA DIXIT</figcaption></figure>  In nearby Gharpajhong, village chair Mohan Singh Lalchan has data that show a shift in the style of houses. Sixty of the 600 houses in the village now have tin or concrete roofs and the trend is catching on. Gas cylinders are available even in the remotest villages in Mustang, so people do not need to stack firewood on their roofs anymore. This is not necessarily a bad thing: government-subsidised gas means less pressure on high altitude forests where trees take a lot longer to grow. Kitchens are also less smoky now, so children are less exposed to respiratory ailments. Just about every family in Mustang has someone working in Japan, South Korea or the US, and the money they send means households can buy cooking gas, and build modern houses. The main reason for the shift, though, is climate breakdown, Lalchan says, adding: “It used to snow so much that flights at Jomsom airport would be cancelled for weeks, but it’s been a while since that happened. Now the only snow we see is on top of Mt Nilgiri.” Rainfall data from Nepal’s Department of Hydrology and Meteorology also shows heavier precipitation in summer. In 2010, there was 286mm of rain in Jomsom. By 2018, total precipitation was 301mm. In 2020 403mm of rain fell, with a whopping 666mm in 2021. In the last 14 years, average annual rainfall has doubled, sometimes triggering destructive flash floods like the ones in Lubra and Kagbeni. Data also shows an increase in temperature. In 2011, the average annual temperature here was 17.68°C, and last year it was 18°C. Other meteorological stations in Mustang show similar increases.  <figure><img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2024071906074_f70c10a5189deedf82a66a1f5a4b986c7705184adccaaeb5ba5db060b538a9d2.jpg" data-media-id="editor_2" data-image-id="2024071906074_f70c10a5189deedf82a66a1f5a4b986c7705184adccaaeb5ba5db060b538a9d2" data-rendition-name="original" width="1750" height="2376" loading="lazy" alt="Leaky roofs on the Roof of the World NT"><figcaption>The late artist Robert Powell's book Earth Door Sky Door had paintings of Mustang's architectural heritage. One of the water colours shows a traditional Mustang house with sloping rammed earth walls and firewood on the flat roof.</figcaption></figure>  Environmental researcher Hemu Kafle warns that even a 0.1% change in average annual temperature or rainfall can cause drastic changes in weather. In Manang and Mustang districts, vegetables can now be grown and apple orchards have recorded higher yields. Sociologist Krishna Bhattachan notes that the most affected by these changes are Mustang’s indigenous people. He says, “For many of Mustang’s natives, cement will never be an alternative to wood, culturally and economically. The government needs to help find an ideal solution.” Tourists have to pay a $500 fee for a 15-day permit to visit Upper Mustang where visitor numbers are controlled to protect local culture. Mustang has been voted among the 52 must-go places by the New York Times for the second year in a row in 2024, and what attracts tourists is the region’s unique and fragile heritage and architecture. The firewood roof tradition is an important part of the tourism economy even as globalisation homogenises the world. Juddha Gurung is an expert in natural resources and tourism, and he thinks the way to go is to make local communities more aware of their heritage so they protect it. “The number of new-fashioned houses is still quite small. This is a result of economic and social change in the locality, so the local government must get active about this,” says Gurung. Head of Gharpajhong village Mohan Lalchan is worried that modernity and climate change will erode Mustang’s identity, affecting tourism. “We are examining how we can support local families to keep the traditional look of their homes,” he told us. Architects say a compromise between modern architecture and tradition is possible. A firewood-stacked roof need not be demolished to prevent leaks. In fact, some homes have poured concrete on their roofs while keeping the traditional façade of the stone and clay plaster houses. With another monsoon now bringing fresh showers, Mustang looks like it is in a race against time to save what is left.

Leaky roofs on the Roof of the World

The mountains of western Nepal have always been food deficit because of the lack of irrigation. Farmers migrated to the plains, where farming has been easier. But a searing heatwave this year accompanied by a delayed monsoon has led to a water crisis that threatens to undermine Nepal’s gains in achieving the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). The climate crisis is a water crisis, and it has hit food production, nutrition and the availability of safe drinking water.&nbsp; Not everything can be blamed on climate breakdown. Wells that used to be the last resort for rice planting, for example, have gone dry because of a falling water table. In the highway town of Attariyia, there used to be five deep tubewells that supplied 4 million litres of water each day to the city’s 5,500 households. In the last three years, all but one of them has dried up. The municipality then drilled four more 80m deep wells, but even these have water only for six months in a year.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20240630100656_5bddc97ff2727a37fbc7840675384f93678a8eeeb21136bda739f3e1af801bb9.jpg" data-media-id="editor_0" data-image-id="20240630100656_5bddc97ff2727a37fbc7840675384f93678a8eeeb21136bda739f3e1af801bb9" data-rendition-name="original" width="1949" height="1299" loading="lazy" alt="water crisis in Tarai Nepal"> <figcaption>Towns in Tarai are parched for drinking water, there is no water for irrigation. They have to dig deeper for water and even then, new borewells have dried up. Photos: UNNATI CHAUDHARI</figcaption> </figure>  In the city of Dhangadi with a population of 300,000 on the Indian border, the municipality dug three deep wells after household wells went dry. This summer, even the tubewells ran out of water. The situation is similar in other nearby border towns. Experts say the reason for the falling water levels in the acquifers has more to do with over-extraction of groundwater both in Nepal and neighbouring India, where farmers get subsidised electricity for irrigation pumps. The area’s industries and farms also have their own wells that have tapped into what used to be a plentiful groundwater supply. “The water begins to dry out after the end of winter,” says Phulram Chaudhary of the nearby town of Krishnapur. “And till the monsoon arrives in June there is no water at all.” Indeed, towns and cities desperate for water are drilling ever deeper for precious water, using up a diminishing supply in the groundwater. Milanpur town dug a 90m deep borewell, but it ran out within ten days.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2024063011064_8a3fd7f3f9daa81d3e7dabe15e6b56d5000351e2ba040797a77cfb8e82903307.jpg" data-media-id="editor_1" data-image-id="2024063011064_8a3fd7f3f9daa81d3e7dabe15e6b56d5000351e2ba040797a77cfb8e82903307" data-rendition-name="original" width="6960" height="4640" loading="lazy" alt="Water crisis in tarai Nepal"> <figcaption>Over-extraction of ground water both in Nepal and neighbouring India is causing water lavels to fall in the Tarai. </figcaption> </figure>  The over-exploitation of ground water by an expanding populating and growing household and agricultural use has magnified the impact of climate breakdown which has led to chronic winter drought, heatwaves and erratic monsoons in western Nepal. “Ten years ago, it was enough to drill 20 metres to get water all year round, now it is no water even at 80 metres,” says Kalidevi Chaudhary, a farmer in the village of Kailari. She adds: “There is no water for drinking. Don’t even ask me about irrigation.” Water expert and professor at Tribhuvan University’s Central Department of Environmental Science Sudeep Thakuri says research has shown that the groundwater table across the Tarai has dropped mainly because of over-extraction, denudation in the catchment areas of the Chure, sand mining in the rivers, as well as climate change. “We have disturbed the water cycle, and the climate crisis has made the problem more acute with long droughts and uncertain monsoons,” Thakuri says. “This means there is not enough recharge of groundwater.” The distance between borewells and tube wells has also decreased as Tarai settlements grow and water demand increases. Indeed, 140 boreholes have been dug in Kailali and Kanchanpur, out of which only 91 still have water.&nbsp; Additionally, water has also been extracted through 1,001 deep tube wells in these two districts, according to the Groundwater Resources and Irrigation Development Division offices there.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2024063011064_dc58f42acd2c79ead04f8175b24deb04a3c05244f8b6929e4dd42fd1d2d679ce.jpg" data-media-id="editor_2" data-image-id="2024063011064_dc58f42acd2c79ead04f8175b24deb04a3c05244f8b6929e4dd42fd1d2d679ce" data-rendition-name="original" width="6960" height="4640" loading="lazy" alt="Water crisis in tarai Nepal"> <figcaption>Tarai’s groundwater is being used as a bargaining chip by elected officials, who have drilled arbitrarily to appease voters.</figcaption> </figure>  Nepal’s provincial and local governments have invested heavily in subsidising drilling for groundwater, as per the federal policy of maximum utilisation of groundwater with a budget to drill 100 borewells.&nbsp; Tara Dutta Joshi, head of the Mahakali Irrigation Project in Kanchanpur says that although the aim was to use the groundwater extracted from these projects for the next 20 years, six of the 90 boreholes have already dried up.&nbsp; While tube wells pump up water from up to 40m feet below ground, there is no water to be found at this depth anymore in most of the western Tarai. Meanwhile, boreholes require drilling up to 110m, and artesian water is extracted between 110-400m below.&nbsp; Experts say the Tarai’s groundwater is being used as a bargaining chip by elected officials, who have drilled arbitrarily to appease voters. There is a lack of research as well as policy regarding how many boreholes can be drilled in a given area, and how much water can be extracted.&nbsp; Sankar Dutta Awasthi of Kailari village says federal decentralisation led to competition among local politicians to see who could supply more water to their electorates. Indeed, 1,200 small-scale groundwater projects have been constructed in this municipality since the formation of the local government in 2017 in addition to larger-scale projects carried out by the provincial and federal governments. “Elected officials are far more concerned about how to repeatedly ensure groundwater projects in their constituency than about how this uncontrolled extraction is going to affect the region in the future,” says Awasthi.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2024063011064_9da4708137cda6375aaf5953f857b643fe85d223b8d8fb2fcf81e66198f53377.jpg" data-media-id="editor_3" data-image-id="2024063011064_9da4708137cda6375aaf5953f857b643fe85d223b8d8fb2fcf81e66198f53377" data-rendition-name="original" width="6000" height="4000" loading="lazy" alt="Water crisis in tarai Nepal"> <figcaption>One tubewell used to be enough to sustain a village some decades ago, while today even three tubewells in one household in not enough to fulfil basic water needs.</figcaption> </figure>  One of the bores drilled in Kailari was for Ramesh Chaudhary four years ago for irrigation, but the water dried up within two years before a canal could be completed. Nearby in the village of Rampur, a 200m deep borewell drilled for irrigation also went dry.&nbsp; “The water never even reached any farmer’s field, what a waste of Rs10 million,” says Chaudhary. Water expert Tarka Raj Joshi notes that one tubewell should be enough to sustain a village some decades ago, while today even three tubewells in one household in not enough to fulfil basic water needs.&nbsp; “The local, provincial, and federal governments’ water distribution schemes will have a major impact on groundwater levels in the Tarai,” says Joshi. “No one is thinking about what this crisis means for the future.” The shortage of water threatens to undermine Nepal’s gains in reducing infant and child mortality as targeted in the SDG because children are forced to drink contaminated water. Their nutrition is also affected as food production is reduced because of lack of irrigation water. All this feeds into the outmigration trend. The answer is to allow ground recharge through regeneration of trees in the Chure, zoning to regulate rampant urbanisation, a tax on extraction of deep groundwater, and channeling water from the Karnali and Mahakali rivers to augment supply so there is less reliance on acquifers. <h2>Water shortage drives Surkhet villagers out</h2> ----  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2024063011060_7ce1243b2fe49f183bd338cc25af8347c1602badcdf112fcb53b03db9b116078.jpg" data-media-id="editor_4" data-image-id="2024063011060_7ce1243b2fe49f183bd338cc25af8347c1602badcdf112fcb53b03db9b116078" data-rendition-name="original" width="1536" height="976" loading="lazy" alt="water crisis in Tarai Nepal"> <figcaption>Rekcha residents marched to the municipality office with pitchers in their staw basket to demonstate their desperation for water. Photos: LAXMI BHANDARI</figcaption> </figure>  The delay in the onset of the monsoon rains in June meant that the village of Rekcha had a severe shortage of water.&nbsp; Residents started their day as usual, placing pitchers in their straw baskets by the community taps. But instead of heading to the wells to fetch water, they marched to the municipality office to demonstrate. The village’s Water Supply Struggle Committee was led by Ward member Tapendra Chhetri who had to resort to a sit-in outside the municipality out of desperation for water. Rekcha used to be an ideal place for settlers because of its fertile soil and plentiful water. Even though the 11 wells in the village produced enough water to sustain its families for decades, they have now all dried up.&nbsp; “Villagers now collect what little water is left on the bottom of the wells, using cloth for filtration,” says ward member Chhetri. “This village is dying of thirst.”&nbsp; The extreme water shortage has begun to drive residents out. Until five years ago, Rekcha village had 115 households, but 35 families have migrated elsewhere since. Khagisara Shahi was one of the villagers who walked with her water pitcher to the rural municipality headquarters. Like the rest of her neighbours she is finding it increasingly difficult to survive in Rekcha.&nbsp; “Our pleas fell on deaf ears, so we walked all the way here with our pitchers to make the leadership aware of our plight,” says Shahi. “We make do at other times, but it is impossible to live without water, especially when it is getting hotter.”&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2024063011060_689983a311f320cec4427b7f0496cf9b4f6ff5dae0840bfec6b254d8c19abfac.png" data-media-id="editor_5" data-image-id="2024063011060_689983a311f320cec4427b7f0496cf9b4f6ff5dae0840bfec6b254d8c19abfac" data-rendition-name="original" width="1203" height="679" loading="lazy" alt="water crisis in Tarai Nepal"> <figcaption>Now that wells have dried up in Rekcha, the journey to other sources of water is even longer, and the drudgery falls on women.</figcaption> </figure>  Even when the village’s wells had water, it used to take hours of standing in queue for each household to collect water from their homes. Now that the wells have dried up, the journey to other sources of water is even longer, and the drudgery falls on women. “There is not enough time in the day to do all the housework, look after the farm and livestock, and fetch water,” says Shahi. Four years ago, the rural municipality made plans to bring water up to the village from the Karnali river, for which they allocated a budget of Rs17.2 million. However, the project fell through due to difficulties with road access.&nbsp; Chaukune Rural Municipality Chair Khadka BK says that local government resources alone will not be enough to provide drinking water to Rekcha. “The remoteness of the village means we need federal and provincial support.” Meanwhile, the villagers look down on the clear blue water of the snowfed Karnali River below, while their fields are parched and their children are complaining of thirst. Laxmi Bhandari This article is brought to you by <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/" target="_blank">Nepali Times</a>, in collaboration with <a href="https://inpsjapan.com/en/" target="_blank">INPS Japan</a> and <a href="https://sgi-peace.org/" target="_blank">Soka Gakkai International</a>, in consultative status with UN ECOSOC.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20240630110640_30c3782f9c09219bf1c249b51483a3cfb7a53a06d117d2aebd23ca7080d12758.jpg" data-media-id="editor_9" data-image-id="20240630110640_30c3782f9c09219bf1c249b51483a3cfb7a53a06d117d2aebd23ca7080d12758" data-rendition-name="original" width="680" height="103" loading="lazy" alt="SDG logo"> </figure>

Climate breakdown magnifies western Nepal’s woes

Yaks that used to be the mainstay of the culture of Himalayan communities in Nepal have been in steady decline due to lifestyle changes, outmigration, inbreeding, and impact of the climate crisis. The National Agricultural Census shows that the total number of yaks in Nepal went down from 53,000 to 48,000 in the past three years. There are now fewer than 10,000 households rearing yaks for a living across the mountains. Yaks are the generic name for the long haired bison-like oxen that live at 4,000-5,000m in the Himalaya and the Tibetan Plateau.&nbsp; The Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development runs a Yak Genetic Resource Centre here in Syangboche at 3,885m. Established in 1973, the centre is supposed to ensure that the yak population of Khumbu remains robust, gives adequate milk, and maintains a healthy variation in its genotype.&nbsp; The Centre has 155 yaks for research, but a lack of budget and priority means that it has not been able to fulfil its true potential to meet the challenges that this domesticated cattle species faces. “All we are doing is protecting the yaks we have, we do not have the resources to conduct genetic studies,” admits technical officer Ramlallan Yadav who has been stationed at the centre for the past 24 years.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20240615130636_e36c2e0dd66cdf54c41d21aae5076cd7c0705336e8f8984eed35ee0901bfef35.jpg" data-media-id="editor_0" data-image-id="20240615130636_e36c2e0dd66cdf54c41d21aae5076cd7c0705336e8f8984eed35ee0901bfef35" data-rendition-name="original" width="4032" height="3024" loading="lazy" alt="Yak climate crisis outmigration Nepal NT 1"> <figcaption>Yak in Langtang where the milk is used to produce Emmental cheese. Photo: KUNDA DIXIT</figcaption> </figure>  The high altitude cattle are all lumped together as yak, but there are specific types. Nak are female domesticated yak. Chauri (Dzo) are females born from mating of yak-nak with lowland cows. A Lang is a Tibetan bull, while a female calf born from a Lang is a Dimzo. A calf born from a Yak and a lowland mountain cow is a Urang. The dwarf Lulu found in Mustang and Manang is a mixture of lowland cattle with yaks.&nbsp; A recent decline in the population of purebred yak-nak and the difficulty in accessing Tibetan bulls means that farmers now have more Urang than Dimzo. In addition, male calves known as Jopke or Tole born from crossbreeding cannot continue the generation, and are used only as pack animals in the high Himalaya.&nbsp; “A nak gives at most 2 litres of milk a day, while a chauri can produce as much as 6 litres daily,” explains yak researcher Shanker Raj Barsila. “If we had facilities for genetic studies, we could improve the hardiness of the species. Yak milk has medicinal properties and is generally healthier than dairy milk.”  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20240615130640_d43ca3d702b94cb775101279cc5df65a32f2d12776c89cc783ad4bb458b5bbf1.jpg" data-media-id="editor_1" data-image-id="20240615130640_d43ca3d702b94cb775101279cc5df65a32f2d12776c89cc783ad4bb458b5bbf1" data-rendition-name="original" width="2000" height="1333" loading="lazy" alt="Yaks"> </figure>  Besides changing lifestyles of local populations, outmigration, and lack of access to traditional pastures in Tibet for the yak population, Barsila points to inbreeding as the main challenge facing Nepal’s yaks. This is manifested in yak-naks being more prone to disease, a reduction in milk production, and yaks lacking horns. The agricultural census mixes up different types of yak, and Barsila estimates that contrary to the census, there are only about 20,000 yak-nak, and 40,000 to 60,000 chauri.&nbsp; These numbers are declining further due to climate breakdown which is warming the mountains, and affecting pastures due to deficient snowfall in winter.&nbsp; "The snow that should fall from October-November now falls in March-May, and the wind blows in January-February.” Yadav says. “And all winter there is just dry cold wind.” Human outmigration is directly linked to declining yak herds. Young people leaving mountain villages for Kathmandu or abroad means the next generation is not following the ancestral occupation of pastoralism.&nbsp; Fewer yaks mean the intangible heritage of yak rearing with a pastoral culture, festivals, local diet, vocabulary and an intimate knowledge about the habits of the animals is in danger of being lost forever. Yak milk is hardened into chhurpi that preserves dairy protein for times when milk is not as plentiful. Yak milk is also used in brewing salty Himalayan tea favoured by people of the higher altitudes, and its butter is used for sacred lamps in monasteries. Yak hair is woven into woollen clothing and blankets, and yak meat is consumed.&nbsp; “The domesticated yak is now becoming an endangered species due to migration from the mountains and shrinking grazing areas due to environmental impact,” says Prajwal Sharma of the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) who recently researched the impact of migration on yak rearing in Helambu, north of Kathmandu. The number of farmers moving to high pastures with their herds in the summer, and descending to lower elevations during winter has decreased, Sharma observed during his field research. In Syangboche Yadav has observed changes in the pasture grass because of years of winter drought.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20240615130640_e775274443175b2710bc6a8e2496c40e716cfd2304a89490c3f635cb1500e3fb.jpg" data-media-id="editor_2" data-image-id="20240615130640_e775274443175b2710bc6a8e2496c40e716cfd2304a89490c3f635cb1500e3fb" data-rendition-name="original" width="2000" height="1500" loading="lazy" alt="Yaks"> </figure>  The mating season of the yak-nak has also been affected. Yadav explains, “Earlier, almost all nak conceived on time, but now there are seasonal changes. Mating season used to be July-August, now it is October-November.” The pastureland where grass used to grow in April was barren this time. In Yadav’s experience, in recent years, grass and herbs have only started sprouting from May-June. The Syangboche centre sells yak milk, but that is not even enough to buy potatoes for the yaks, let alone for conducting genetic studies. The National Animal Breeding and Genetic Research Centre is supposed to study indigenous and local animal breeds, but its chief Sagar Paudel says there has been no study of the yak-nak inbreeding problem. The National Cattle Research Program in Rampur of Chitwan has surveyed yak-nak in Rasuwa and Mustang to find out their adaptability to climate change, but there is no detailed genetic study planned.&nbsp; Further research could also help find ways for yak-nak and chauri to adapt to a heating Himalaya and weather extremes.&nbsp;

When yaks go, so does culture

During an event at <a href="https://www.google.com/maps/search/10+Downing+Street?entry=gmail&amp;source=g" target="_blank">10 Downing Street</a> this week to celebrate 100 years of <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/editorial/1923-2023-whsle7yp">Nepal-Britain relations</a>, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak committed to helping Nepal on the matter of the climate crisis. Sunak also pledged to enhance trade, investment and economic relations with Nepal. British envoy to Nepal William O’Connor and Prime Minister Chandra Shamsher signed the <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/nepal-britain-mark-centenary-of-1923-treaty">Nepal-Britain Treaty of Friendship on 21 December 1923</a> which formally recognised Nepal as a sovereign country. <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/the-queen-is-dead-long-live-the-king">Queen Elizabeth II</a>, <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/regular-columns/So-far-so-good/sons-of-the-famous,945">King Charles</a> and <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/Gurkhas-dying-for-others,2938">Prince Harry</a> have all visited Nepal multiple times but no British prime minister has ever come to Nepal.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20240521110544_a8d35fe97e4a42196220b703d7788d14d7fc92ce2a014221ba4ed72185ab067c.jpg" data-media-id="editor_6" data-image-id="20240521110544_a8d35fe97e4a42196220b703d7788d14d7fc92ce2a014221ba4ed72185ab067c" data-rendition-name="original" width="1024" height="683" loading="lazy" alt="Rishi Sunak commits to help Nepal NT"> <figcaption>British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak commits to helping Nepal with the climate crisis and economy.(Photo: Simon Walker / No 10 Downing Str)Crown copyright. Licensed under the Open Government Licence</figcaption> </figure>  But predating all of this is the recruitment of the Gurkhas in the British Army with a history of over 200 years, and Sunak also acknowledged the role of <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/the-time-has-come-for-a-gurkha-peace-corps">Nepali soldiers</a> in further strengthening bilateral relations between the two countries, as well as present day Nepali diaspora excelling in various fields in the UK. British Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Ann Marie Trevelyan who was in Nepal in December last year to mark <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/looking-back-at-the-1923-nepal-britain-treaty">the centenary</a> was also present at the ceremony. She said that Britain will continue to support and expand Nepal's development and economic efforts to help Nepal achieve middle income status. Nepali Ambassador to Britain Gyan Chandra Acharya said that the Treaty of Friendship was important to establish Nepal's presence in the international arena and in promoting international relations. He also expressed gratitude for the cooperation of the British government in the development of Nepal. Members of the Nepali diaspora in the UK, <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/gurkha-grandparents">ex-Gurkhas</a>, British parliamentarians and high-ranking officials were present at the program organised in collaboration with the Nepal Embassy in London and the Foreign and Commonwealth office.

Sunak pledges more support for Nepal

In the black and white photograph, General Wangdu smiles broadly in front of the dusty cactus garden in Kathmandu’s Annapurna Hotel. With an ill-fitting jacket and shaggy hair he looks benign enough, but this was the last leader of the Tibetan freedom fighters who led the resistance against the Chinese from their remote mountain hideouts in <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/comings-and-goings-in-mustang">Mustang</a>. Five months later, Wangdu was dead. Snapped in March 1974, I had only recently arrived in Nepal. How did I meet this legendary fighter? Possibly with his devoted camp follower, Lynne Klapecki, and probably in the Om Restaurant near Freak Street which was the preferred <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/hippie-trail-nostalgia-in-kathmandu">hippie hang-out</a>. Om Lobsang and his brother Yeshe were <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/page/earthquake-brings-back-memories-of-camps-for-tibetan-refugees">refugees from East Tibet </a>whose cafe offered a friendly welcome and<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/multimedia/momo-loco"> the best momos</a> - they became my in-laws after I married their eldest brother Tenzin, but that was a decade later.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2025052403054_4573b34282b0f5395c007243d6bef12c7ba76bfd520419e994cdcea048d795a1.jpg" data-media-id="editor_4" data-image-id="2025052403054_4573b34282b0f5395c007243d6bef12c7ba76bfd520419e994cdcea048d795a1" data-rendition-name="original" width="1000" height="1583" loading="lazy" alt="The last days of the Khampa NT"> <figcaption>Photo: LISA CHOEGYAL</figcaption> </figure>  Wangdu’s English was enthusiastically rudimentary, but even riding around town with him on the back of an aging <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/kathmandu-s-new-motorbike-museum">motorbike</a>, he was a commanding presence. Always flanked by armed outriders, impressive scars marked his forearms and a pistol hung from the cord around his neck. A charismatic guerrilla leader, Wangdu was celebrated by his followers for his tough commitment and respected for his measured pragmatism. He seemed so young to have shouldered such a responsibility of command, leading hundreds of hardened <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/50-years-after-the%20raid-into-Tibet,1012#google_vignette">Khampa combatants </a>through what had been a particularly <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/heavy-snowfall-over-nepal-himalaya">brutal winter in Mustang</a>, the last bastion to hold out against the Chinese invasion of their Tibetan homeland.&nbsp; The freedom fighters of Tibet, known as the Chushi-Gangdruk, had emerged to resist the <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/editorial/territorialism">Chinese takeover</a> of Tibet during the 1950s. Estimated to be 80,000-strong at the time of <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/what-or-who-after-the-dalai-lama">the Dalai Lama</a>’s final escape to India in 1959, the sheer number of Chinese deployed into Tibet eventually forced the Chushi-Gangdruk to retreat to Mustang, From this high Himalayan stronghold, they continued cross-border raids on the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) throughout the 1960s.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2025052403054_8a4a935ba25ae79dc3a63bb5c14626927020e5ec098093c45ccb9a5982e009fd.jpg" data-media-id="editor_10" data-image-id="2025052403054_8a4a935ba25ae79dc3a63bb5c14626927020e5ec098093c45ccb9a5982e009fd" data-rendition-name="original" width="1114" height="676" loading="lazy" alt="The last days of the Khampa NT"> <figcaption>Guerrillas known as the Chushi-Gangdruk emerged to resist the Chinese annexation of Tibet during the 1950s. Photo courtesy: MIKEL DUNHAM</figcaption> </figure>  Their Kathmandu base was a small discreet lodge in a back lane near Rani Pokhari. Sipping sweet tea from a blue mug with a chipped lid, I sat bemused in a corner of the Mustang Hotel room whilst Wangdu and his cohorts received a battered brown suitcase from their CIA connection, a tousle-haired American in a leather jacket. Heaved onto the dingy bedspread that covered the thin mattress, it was clicked open to reveal piles of neatly stacked dollar bills.&nbsp; I cannot think why Wangdu allowed me to witness this handover but I was clearly no threat, a newly arrived world traveller with no understanding of the stakes nor any Nepali or <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/multimedia/tibetan-music-in-nepals-sacred-valley">Tibetan language</a>. Despite armed guards in the corridor,Wangdu radiated confidence and bravado, and there was a practiced familiarity to the tense transaction. This deadly dance for many years had been funded by the Americans, tolerated by <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/the-kingdom-within-a-republic">Mustang’s residents</a>, and permitted by King Mahendra and the Nepali authorities who it suited to turn a blind eye.&nbsp; But Mahendra died in 1972, and times were changing. Richard Nixon’s ping-pong diplomacy thawed the cold war and signalled a fresh entente with China. Nepal’s yet-to-be-crowned <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/if-birendra-was-alive-nepal-could-still-be-a-monarchy">King Birendra </a>was under pressure to curb the irritating incursions against the PLA launched from the Nepali territory of Mustang. Keen to appease his northern neighbour, on several occasions the King summoned Wangdu for peace talks but, despite increasingly overwhelming odds, Wangdu refused to surrender.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2025052403054_a8efd5cfb92cd997bd7cb74296a936fef46e2f7428f9cd642b03f1ac4ea11ecb.jpg" data-media-id="editor_14" data-image-id="2025052403054_a8efd5cfb92cd997bd7cb74296a936fef46e2f7428f9cd642b03f1ac4ea11ecb" data-rendition-name="original" width="1055" height="885" loading="lazy" alt="The last days of the Khampa NT"> <figcaption>General Wangdu flanked by two Tibetan resistance fighters in Mustang in the 1970s. Photo courtesy: MIKEL DUNHAM</figcaption> </figure>   <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2025052403054_75969125a745847a2ef82b6fe8b9106c0b21a116d85b8efdf5d2ee89a347bb31.jpg" data-media-id="editor_15" data-image-id="2025052403054_75969125a745847a2ef82b6fe8b9106c0b21a116d85b8efdf5d2ee89a347bb31" data-rendition-name="original" width="1044" height="792" loading="lazy" alt="The last days of the Khampa NT"> <figcaption>King Birendra with General Wangdu (right in dark glasses) taken in 1974 possibly in Mustang after one of their few attempts at negotiation. Photo courtesy: RAJRNDRA KUNWAR</figcaption> </figure>  While I naively rode pillion around Kathmandu in the spring sunshine, Wangdu was in the midst of what turned out to be his final round of negotiations with the Nepal government. Refusing to cease hostilities with the Chinese, Wangdu must have suspected the cost of his decision, making his cheerful smile in the photograph all the more poignant and brave. It was only much later that I appreciated the significance of the moment. Wangdu had been sent to replace the first resistance leader in Mustang, Baba Gen Yeshe, a much derided corrupt character who stole money meant for his troops and exploited fleeing refugees by seizing their treasures. Baba Gen Yeshe never forgave Wangdu,and sought revenge in May 1974 by betraying him and his commanders to the Nepal authorities. Renewed Chinese incursions from the north, active PLA collusion with the Nepali forces under the new King, and treachery from within the Chushi-Gangdrukranks combined to seal their fate.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2025052403054_e0987a7c90d76431b0d7d5e6115ebfe3dbda7ab939e5941e079c18d722e884c0.jpg" data-media-id="editor_16" data-image-id="2025052403054_e0987a7c90d76431b0d7d5e6115ebfe3dbda7ab939e5941e079c18d722e884c0" data-rendition-name="original" width="1400" height="769" loading="lazy" alt="The last days of the Khampa NT"> <figcaption>British television journalists George Patterson and Adrian Cowell embedded themselves with Khampa guerrillas and accompanied them from Tsum Valley on a cross border raid on a Chinese Army convoy in 1964. Photo: ESSAYS ON NEPAL / SAM COWAN</figcaption> </figure>  Mikel Dunham, renowned author of Buddha’s Warriors, writes: ‘It is possible that Wangdu was waiting for some cue from the Dalai Lama’s government-in-exile in Dharamsala, India. It is equally possible – during that last, <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/multimedia/the-human-cost-of-nepal-s-yarsa-gold-rush?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR31-Cqw8oyIwMPzf_35e4Skr0ululJvLf3_vDkzHn-AYG2h8uPw2rqqErg_aem_tGVn5coY1-jA7fze_xqhew">desolate winter </a>– that he made the decision to go out in glory rather than admit defeat. Over the last fifteen years, Wangdu had experienced Tibet’s organized resistance being squeezed and shoved around by every conceivable outside force.&nbsp; First they had been pushed out of their own country by the PLA; then they had been refused sanction while on <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/borderlines/nepal-india-trans-boundary-bonds?fbclid=IwAR0PpJ5zUEbwdug3g_U3ar6FUugngRY0S8Tl2v_7wqzrsHmXWcXsKjvL4t4">Indian soil</a>; then they were abandoned by the Americans because, apparently, Nixon wanted to make friends with Wangdu’s mortal enemies, the communists; then they had been betrayed by the vampiric Baba Gen Yeshe – a Tibetan and, even worse, a fellow Khampa; and now, finally Wangdu’s army was being evicted by the Nepalis. One thing was certain: Wangdu was a warrior. To imagine Wangdu simply giving up and settling down in the pacific squalor of a <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/elderly-left-in-bhutan-refugee-camp">refugee camp </a>was unthinkable.’  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2025052403054_8fc1ffef4ae751628b90ae781b66e11e51e4fdde2787207c9042efbee345ce49.jpg" data-media-id="editor_20" data-image-id="2025052403054_8fc1ffef4ae751628b90ae781b66e11e51e4fdde2787207c9042efbee345ce49" data-rendition-name="original" width="500" height="746" loading="lazy" alt="The last days of the Khampa NT"> <figcaption>The much derided Baba Gen Yeshe, the first Tibetan resistance leader in Mustang, who betrayed Wangdu for personal gain. Photo courtesy: MIKEL DUNHAM</figcaption> </figure>   <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2025052403054_b1d833cdb00d3ac4416b844d8730475cd88c238caaaf8da69889a584eea229a3.jpg" data-media-id="editor_21" data-image-id="2025052403054_b1d833cdb00d3ac4416b844d8730475cd88c238caaaf8da69889a584eea229a3" data-rendition-name="original" width="500" height="656" loading="lazy" alt="The last days of the Khampa NT"> <figcaption>Aditya SJB Rana of the Royal Nepal Army whose team ambushed Wangdu and his cohorts at the top of Tinker Pass in Darchula, West Nepal. Photo courtesy: GAUTAM SJB RANA</figcaption> </figure>  By August 1974 the game was up. Wangdu and six of his exhausted party were killed on their horses by <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=7270">the Royal Nepal Army</a> on the brink of escape. The officer in charge, Aditya SJB Rana, cleverly predicted their route into India after they failed to silence a police radio in Yari. A carefully laid ambush trapped them near the summit of the Tinker Pass in Darchula,at 5,000 meters the highest military operation of its time. Wangdu’s body was helicoptered to Kathmandu, and a big show made of the royal Nepal victory.&nbsp; The Tibetan armed insurgency against China had reached its end.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250524030520_3ff9c6fc85a65bc9a2c3afe9736d9f5f9413de752e790a5d9dca0981ea94f9b4.jpg" data-media-id="editor_23" data-image-id="20250524030520_3ff9c6fc85a65bc9a2c3afe9736d9f5f9413de752e790a5d9dca0981ea94f9b4" data-rendition-name="original" width="1136" height="702" loading="lazy" alt="The last days of the Khampa NT"> </figure>

The Last Days of the Khampa

Starting 17 September Turkish Airlines will fly daily to Seville, one of Spain’s major tourist draws. This is Turkish’s sixth destination in Spain after Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia, Malaga, and Bilbao. Seville is in the Andalusia region on Spain’s south coast with a rich Moor history. There are approximately 30,000 Nepalis living in Spain.&nbsp;

Turkish to Seville

The newly-formed Himalayan Art Council is set to launch Nepal’s National Art Protection Platform that seeks to preserve <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/the-history-of-heritage">Nepal’s unique cultural heritage </a>using<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/artificial-censorship"> AI-powered tools</a>. The Council seeks to safeguard <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/nepali-art-going-places">Nepali art works</a> from neglect, theft and counterfeiting as well as preserve existing artwork and celebrate living masters by giving them a cultural space to continue the <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/sacred-survival">sacred art traditions</a>. "We are introducing a new digital platform designed to preserve, verify and elevate <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/nepals-new-generation-of-alternative-artists">Nepal’s art for generations to come,</a>” says a statement from the Council, adding that the digital platform will use AI told for authentication and blockchain to keep track of works of art. Artists can now be protected by <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/multimedia/ayo-ai?fbclid=IwAR1uwmTVq4gUB70ljfRezjzukD9ArWXPuMnUikopeQ8PoiZMjicToPSwhKE&amp;=1">AI tools</a> that detect forgeries, identify their work even when unsigned, and ensure they receive proper recognition and credit. The archives will be searchable with translated inscription and interactive guides. Says curator Meena Lama: “AI and blockchains are tools that give us the power to detect fakes and identify unsigned paintings and track every piece. With these tools we can restore trust, secure authorship and give artists the dignity they deserve.”  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250514170544_2ab58f6313c0458f75114a692b0016bd9efb3b59d5f8f07f0da72e1e37b82f53.jpg" data-media-id="editor_6" data-image-id="20250514170544_2ab58f6313c0458f75114a692b0016bd9efb3b59d5f8f07f0da72e1e37b82f53" data-rendition-name="original" width="1300" height="1000" loading="lazy" alt="Artwork at the Traditional Art Exhibition at Patan Museum."> <figcaption>Artwork at the Traditional Art Exhibition at Patan Museum.</figcaption> </figure>  The Council is also holding an exhibition of Nepali cultural masterpieces with 50 historical <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/Nepali-Times-Buzz/Buzz-the-art,671">thangka and paubha </a>by past masters and <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/review/between-the-sacred-and-everyday">contemporary works by current artists</a>. This curated collection is a living tribute to <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/when-yaks-go-so-does-culture">Himalayan culture</a> with economic depictions of deities, mandala and sacred narratives. The exhibition at <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/multimedia/a-portal-into-patan-s-past-and-present">Patan Museum</a> also provides an opportunity to meet painters and custodians of art and culture. Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/review/golden-deities">Golden deities</a>, Sewa Bhattarai ‘The exhibition is only the first step in a long journey to ensure that Nepali art is no just seen but fully understood, <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/Narratives-of-Faith-and-Memory-Remembering-the-Lost-Sculptures-of-Kathmandu-exhibition,987">protected and remembered</a>,’ the Council says. Artist Kailash K Shrestha of Artudio has spent decades promoting thankha and paubha traditions because of their beauty and devotional meaning. But he also says artists are underpaid, exploited and ignored. He adds, “AI and blockchain are not just buzzwords, they are powerful tools that can protect Nepal’s artists from fraud, verify authenticity and build a permanent record of provenance.” Traditional Art Exhibition Till 17 May Patan Museum

Digital protection for Nepal’s art

<a href="https://www.instagram.com/prabalgurung/" target="_blank">Prabal Gurung</a> left Nepal for New York in 1999 to escape years of bullying, sexism and homophobia, and to pursue his dream of becoming a fashion designer. He <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KqN0VaoAI5w" target="_blank">realised his dream</a>, but did not escape discrimination and racism in the new world. Propelled by passion for fashion, Gurung overcame everything America threw at him. He has attained <a href="https://www.vanityfair.com/style/story/prabal-gurung-recalls-his-first-met-gala-when-zoe-saldana-was-at-his-side?srsltid=AfmBOooy-H0oGgxMit864FnW_Pmw8mUnV8rYrh-co-f6OyYK6m2ip5hP" target="_blank">fame and recognition</a> for his haute couture dress designs while remaining true to his Nepali roots, and is even more resolute in <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dSmNauyzACk" target="_blank">fighting prejudice</a> in all its forms. Prabal Gurung’s newly-released memoir <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Audible-Walk-Like-Girl-Memoir/dp/B0DG11HCDQ?fbclid=IwY2xjawKZfpxleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHuZcIJO2OXyXcRm1oq1iG6wzeoF7VJFrQ7GXOFI0YxuZZ4id_CNvSZSZZIna_aem_pG_mOKG73RTnYvN8JaC4fA">Walk Like a Girl</a> is a saga of harrowing abuse in boarding schools in Nepal and India, only finding himself facing a different kind of bullying in the US. He prevails over it all to be where he is today: an award-winning American fashion designer with his own label. Walk Like a Girl was launched last week in New York at a time when everything Gurung fought for — tolerance, inclusion and diversity — are in retreat in his adopted country because of a president who has espoused a culture of bullying. The book is a searing, raw exposé of how cruel and abusive people can be even at a young age in school. On the other hand, it also shows that there are generous, compassionate and open-minded souls out there. In his book, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K4le_uWX7YE">Prabal Gurung</a> calls out those who tormented and tried to hold him back (some of their names have been altered). The moral of his story is: resist, never stop believing in yourself, do not let others define you, never lose sight of your dream, and help those who have been kept out. “Walk like a girl” was a slur used by bullies back in school in Nepal and India for Gurung’s effeminate ways. He fought back then, and he is still resisting by turning those words into something to be proud of.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250519170544_4ffc9c3f565dd2cfa754d10b224816897b82bb31ebaee91b6d79d469fc96f14e.jpg" data-media-id="editor_6" data-image-id="20250519170544_4ffc9c3f565dd2cfa754d10b224816897b82bb31ebaee91b6d79d469fc96f14e" data-rendition-name="original" width="1000" height="1253" loading="lazy" alt="Prabal Gurung NT"> <figcaption>Prabal Gurung at home in Kathmandu in the 1990s.</figcaption> </figure>  “Living through it all was one thing, but writing about it is one of the hardest things I have done in my life,” admitted Gurung during the launch. “I broke down constantly during the six-year writing process.” He continues: “I did not want this to be a victim’s book. I did not want to burden my readers with my emotions. I wanted my struggle to be an inspiration for others facing what I faced. I am grateful to those who bullied me in school, they made me a stronger person ready to face the world.” Indeed, this book is a departure from his earlier one titled simply, Prabal Gurung (Abrams, 2019), which was a lush pictorial autobiography of his career in fashion. Walk Like a Girl is not a typical fashion book, it is an intimate tale of <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=16997">Gurung’s travails and triumphs</a>, and how he willed himself to succeed. Prabal pays a lavish tribute to his mother Durga Rana. We find out she is a descendant of the first wife of the eldest son of Jang Bahadur Rana who was banished to Palpa in the late 19th century. Prabal’s father served in the Singapore Police and that is where he was born before the family returned to Nepal when he was four. Gurung relates with brutal honesty about the violence his mother endured from his father. Durga raises three children as a single mother in Nepal, and Prabal credits her for his fierce determination to resist patriarchy and injustice, which in time manifests itself in his hyper-feminine and subversive dress designs. Writing the book has been a cathartic experience for Gurung, who says he is now relieved of the burdens of his past. It no longer haunts him, and he does not have to prove anything to anyone anymore. Walk Like a Girl has life lessons not just for the <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/DJmOcSgxdWz/" target="_blank">fashion industry</a>, but for every other profession. How can my job serve a greater cause? Gurung tells us his work is <a href="https://asiasociety.org/blog/asia/why-designer-prabal-gurung-doesnt-want-just-stick-fashion" target="_blank">bigger than just making clothes</a>, it is about making the world a better place because it could do with a lot of improvement.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250519170544_d75296ad8bfdc00d88935f40d23543c6fea3d4d6a10e61a99d6cfc6127f2ee5b.png" data-media-id="editor_10" data-image-id="20250519170544_d75296ad8bfdc00d88935f40d23543c6fea3d4d6a10e61a99d6cfc6127f2ee5b" data-rendition-name="original" width="1516" height="1000" loading="lazy" alt="Prabal Gurung"> </figure>  This story of chasing the American dream may sound familiar to many immigrants: knocking on doors for jobs, rejections, trying to survive from day to day on expensive rent, and dealing with subtle racism in white America. Gurung finds racism is rife, and he is often mockingly called ‘gaysian’. He writes: ‘There was a strong hypocrisy — this idea of independence felt like a marketting ruse … and for all the talk of feminism in America, these high society women were trapped by the patriarchy just like in Nepal and India.’ After a trek to the Khumbu region in 2013, Gurung is inspired to use the colours, palette and textures of Nepal for his collection exhibited on Manhattan’s 8th Avenue. A major buyer tells him bluntly: “Stick to making pretty dresses … if I need to see a collection like this, I could buy a copy of National Geographic.” The New York Times was equally dismissive: ‘The designer tries to draw connections between blistered techo-fabric used to construct it and the topography of his homeland, Nepal. But, at the moment, he has lost his map.’ One potential investor tells Gurung he cannot design for Americana because “you do not look American”. Gurung wants to use expletives, but restrains himself. After a fundraiser in New York for the Nepal earthquake in 2015, some belittled his effort, saying: “Here comes the saviour."&nbsp; Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/review/prabal-gurung-by-prabal-gurung">Prabal Gurung by Prabal Gurung</a>, Kunda Dixit The Gurkha DNA must be dominant in Prabal Gurung’s genes because he does not take such mistreatment lying down. When asked by a fashion publicist why he was designing clothes for fat people, he snaps back: “Because of people like you.” He joins the Black Lives Matter and #MeToo movements, launches the Shikshya Foundation charity in Nepal, and has powerful allies among celebrities who wear clothes he designed: Michelle Obama, Oprah Winfrey, Sara Jessica Parker, Kamala Harris, Deepika Padukone … it is a long list.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250519150556_48a5f4211991a23fa85b64bbd5377575ca7081d97309d7542035591dda5180fe.png" data-media-id="editor_12" data-image-id="20250519150556_48a5f4211991a23fa85b64bbd5377575ca7081d97309d7542035591dda5180fe" data-rendition-name="original" width="1114" height="1534" loading="lazy" alt="Being Prabal Gurung by design"> <figcaption>Nigerian novelist Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie wearing Atelier Prabal Gurung’s design for Met Gala 2025 in which the theme was ‘Superfine: Tailoring Black Style’. </figcaption> </figure>  “I don’t dress women to look beautiful, they already are,” Gurung says. “I try to bring out their innate strength and grace.” <a href="https://www.instagram.com/stories/highlights/17908766880140171/" target="_blank">Admirers</a> tell Gurung he makes it all look so easy, but he used to put up a strong facade to not show his own vulnerabilities in public. “I was closed because of my childhood experiences,” he says. “I was always on guard to defend myself because I never knew where the next punch would come from.” But in <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PPVepzPA210" target="_blank">Walk Like a Girl,</a> Gurung comes to terms with his vulnerability, and bares his soul. It has not been easy, it took sustained will power and support from his mother, sister Kumudini and a circle of close friends. “I made unbelonging my power,” he says. “Nepal is where I still have my heart and soul. Nepal grounds you. It is where people go to find themselves. But I escaped.” Recently appointed vice-chair of the <a href="https://cfda.com/about-cfda" target="_blank">Council of American Fashion Designers</a>, Gurung says: “I can’t believe I am here, it feels like it is happening to someone else. Writing this book, the healing has finally begun.” <h2>‘Everything is better in color’</h2> The Met Gala was two weeks later, and my table was an example of everything I’d been fighting for all these years as my guests represented everything I believed in: dynamic, powerful, influential women who were unapologetically original and unabashedly graceful. I was grateful to Anna for inviting me to host and dress a table that reflected my ethos—and for her guidance in doing so. I was also aware of the privilege as one of the first-­ever Asian fashion designers—not just from Nepal, but from the entire continent— to get the opportunity to do so. That fact was not lost on me. I reached out beyond the expected Hollywood celebrities and well-­known socialites to curate a table of exceptional women who inspired me. I invited Deepika Padukone and Alia Bhatt for their first-­ever Met Galas, as well as Michelle Yeoh, Mindy Kaling, Camila Cabello, Ashley Park, Denée Benton, KiKi Layne, Quannah Chasinghorse, and Grace Elizabeth. Together we checked many boxes: Asian, Black, Latinx, and Indigenous, each woman undeniably chic and powerful, a dazzling array of skin tones and experiences that proved my decades‑in‑the-­making hypothesis: everything is better in color. Excerpt from Walk Like a Girl Viking © 2025 by Prabal Gurung  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250519170520_6b91d560e9f072c37d16876901058c073a51ffa05e7ad1b9461d19e1c9c28215.jpg" data-media-id="editor_16" data-image-id="20250519170520_6b91d560e9f072c37d16876901058c073a51ffa05e7ad1b9461d19e1c9c28215" data-rendition-name="original" width="1136" height="702" loading="lazy" alt="Prabal Gurung book details NT"> </figure>   <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250519170520_345240c21be400e2ce2ec629b52bd82bb53890e5bd86fe95b48340d84b5f1748.jpg" data-media-id="editor_17" data-image-id="20250519170520_345240c21be400e2ce2ec629b52bd82bb53890e5bd86fe95b48340d84b5f1748" data-rendition-name="original" width="1136" height="702" loading="lazy" alt="Prabal Gurung book details NT"> </figure>  &nbsp;