Tigers roam Nepal's dense Tarai forests through which mighty rivers carve floodplains through the landscape, sustaining both wildlife and human communities. This intricate relationship between people, tigers, trees, and rivers forms the backbone of Nepal’s natural heritage. However, this delicate balance faces increasing pressures from human activities and <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/climate-change-is-a-disaster-in-the-nepal-himalaya">climate change.</a> Understanding and preserving these connections are essential for the survival of wildlife and the well-being of human communities. The Bengal tiger, a symbol of strength and beauty, is a keystone species in Nepal’s ecosystems. The big cats play a critical role in maintaining the health of forests by regulating prey populations, which in turn influences vegetation dynamics and biodiversity. Their presence is an indicator of a healthy, functioning ecosystem. Nepal's tiger population nearly tripled over the past decade to about 355 tigers, a testament to effective policies, law enforcement, habitat expansion, and most importantly community involvement in partnership with frontline staff. However, this success brings new challenges, including the need for well managed habitats, and more innovative and robust measures to mitigate human-tiger conflict.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20240729060728_8ad9a5b3111a543d1076de97104bd84613309e9aeeb08e3ce3114f26f465e754.jpg" data-media-id="editor_1" data-image-id="20240729060728_8ad9a5b3111a543d1076de97104bd84613309e9aeeb08e3ce3114f26f465e754" data-rendition-name="original" width="1915" height="1443" loading="lazy" alt="Tigers in Nepal NT 2"> </figure>  Forests are the lifeblood of Nepal’s landscapes, providing essential ecosystem services such as storing carbon, making the soil moist productive, and regulating both quantity and the flow of water. They are also the primary habitat for tigers, offering shelter and much needed wild species of deer and other animals as food sources. The dense forests of the Terai Arc Landscape (TAL) are critical refuges for these big cats embedded in the human-dominated landscape of low land Nepal.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20240729060732_cfa503be582b476808b780ffab1aeeae7aaf297fe3c9e144f4eba6865489c32f.jpg" data-media-id="editor_2" data-image-id="20240729060732_cfa503be582b476808b780ffab1aeeae7aaf297fe3c9e144f4eba6865489c32f" data-rendition-name="original" width="1500" height="1001" loading="lazy" alt="Tigers in Nepal NT 6"> <figcaption>Photo: AKASH SHRESTHA / WWF NEPAL</figcaption> </figure>  Deforestation, agricultural expansion, encroachment, illegal logging, and unplanned linear infrastructure development, pose a &nbsp;threat to these habitats. Forest degradation not only reduces the available territory for tigers but also disrupts the complex web of life that depends on these ecosystems. Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/comment/to-save-the-tarai-save-the-siwalik">To save the Tarai, save the Siwalik</a>, Kamal Manden The loss of trees exacerbates soil erosion, increases the risk of landslides, and diminishes the forest's capacity to store carbon, contributing to the climate crisis. Nepal's rivers, originating from<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/the-climate-crisis-is-a-water-crisis-in-the-himalaya"> the glaciers of the Himalaya</a>, are also critical for both wildlife and human populations providing water for drinking, irrigation, and clean energy, supporting agriculture and livelihoods. For wildlife, rivers and their riparian zones are crucial habitats, offering water, food, and migration corridors. Perennial rivers like the Narayani, Rapti, and Karnali flow through key tiger habitats, linking forested areas and providing essential resources. The health and status of these rivers will determine the agricultural productivity in the regions where they flow. The health of these rivers also directly impacts the plants and animals that depend on them for habitat and food.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20240729060724_08208847b967cc45b7a6d9d83c6ae1855a06d311dcecf3c2e8db74d318a5589d.jpg" data-media-id="editor_5" data-image-id="20240729060724_08208847b967cc45b7a6d9d83c6ae1855a06d311dcecf3c2e8db74d318a5589d" data-rendition-name="original" width="1000" height="1500" loading="lazy" alt="Tigers in Nepal NT 3"> <figcaption>Daraudi River in Gorkha. Photo: NABIN BARAL / WWF NEPAL</figcaption> </figure>  Pollution from industrial and agricultural runoff, along with unsustainable water and sand-gravel extraction, threatens these waterways, reducing their ability to support diverse ecosystems. For instance, healthy rivers will not only serve as water source for the terrestrial animals like tigers, rhinos, and elephants, but it will also serve as a quality habitat for aquatic species like gharials and otters. Thus, if<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/multimedia/rivers-be-dammed"> rivers lose their ecological function</a> it will hamper ecological, social, and economic process and most importantly the tourism sector. &nbsp; The relationships between tigers, trees, and rivers are deeply intertwined. Tigers rely on forests for habitat and prey, while healthy forests depend on the presence of top predators like tigers to maintain ecological balance. Rivers, in turn, sustain both forests and wildlife by providing necessary water resources. Disruption in any one of these elements can have <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/between-existence-and-extinction-in-nepal">cascading effects on the entire system</a>. For instance, deforestation can lead to decreased water quality and increased sedimentation in rivers, affecting aquatic life and reducing water availability for both humans and wildlife. Similarly, the decline in tiger populations can lead to overpopulation of herbivores, resulting in overgrazing and forest degradation.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20240729060732_0311f49c49fed782a7932530f4eae115a8a5a2f7d42e195d5d849a6ff0a87d26.jpg" data-media-id="editor_8" data-image-id="20240729060732_0311f49c49fed782a7932530f4eae115a8a5a2f7d42e195d5d849a6ff0a87d26" data-rendition-name="original" width="1200" height="924" loading="lazy" alt="Tigers in Nepal NT 5"> <figcaption>Photo: DOFSC / WWF NEPAL</figcaption> </figure>  Additionally, human-tiger conflict is an important challenge and is connected to water scarcity. As water becomes increasingly scarce due to climate change, over-extraction, and pollution, wild ungulates that tigers rely on as prey are forced to compete for water with humans and livestock. This competition can potentially lead to conflicts, as tigers prey species may venture closer to human settlements in search of water, and as tigers are distributed where their prey species are found, then fatal encounters with humans are highly likely to occur. Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/tigers-move-up-the-himalaya">Tigers move up the Himalaya</a> The destruction and fragmentation of habitats to access water resources further exacerbate the situation, intensifying the struggle for survival for many species and creating a cycle of conflict that affects biodiversity, human livelihoods, and the sustainability of natural resources. Nepal now needs to reconcile our <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/nepal-tigers-now-number-235-1iulcaq1">success in tiger conservation</a> with human safety and economic gains while maintaining a healthy ecosystem. By recognizing the interconnectedness of nature and adopting integrated conservation strategies, Nepal can continue to safeguard its natural heritage for future generations.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20240729060736_7c76561f240027b78e22ba21b2f2e28fc10a59090b141ad95efaa16e24bd904d.png" data-media-id="editor_11" data-image-id="20240729060736_7c76561f240027b78e22ba21b2f2e28fc10a59090b141ad95efaa16e24bd904d" data-rendition-name="original" width="1200" height="924" loading="lazy" alt="Tigers in Nepal NT 4"> <figcaption>Photo: DOFSC / WWF NEPAL</figcaption> </figure>  The ongoing sixteenth 5-year periodic plan should make bold efforts to safeguard biodiversity and meet development goals. Policy instruments to ensure sustainable financing for conservation of charismatic species like tigers should also be built into the national plan. The success of these efforts will not only benefit wildlife but also enhance the well-being and resilience of human communities, demonstrating that the fates of nature and humanity are inextricably linked. &nbsp;Shashank Poudel is a wildlife Biologist at WWF Nepal.

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People, tigers, trees and rivers

<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2023020814028/63e39f539c7e80680e0d6fe6jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1024" height="768"/><figcaption>All photos: HEMANT OJHA</figcaption></figure>Nepal's <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/who-now-owns-nepals-forests/">community forestry success story</a> has been praised internationally. Other developing countries have tried to emulate it, and in November even The New York Times noticed this success, running <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/11/world/asia/nepal-reforestration-climate.html">a story titled ‘How Nepal Grew Back Its Forests’</a>.The Times reported: ‘Large swaths of national forest land were handed to local communities, and millions of volunteers … were recruited to protect and renew their local forests, an effort that has earned praise from environmentalists around the world.' it went to cite emerging issues including increased wildlife and rural migration.Read also: <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/editorial/climate-climax,3651" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Climate climax</a>, EditorialHowever, what The New York Times missed out on was how community forestry is now facing a multi-faceted and systemic crisis from dysfunctional local groups to regulatory recentralisation that I observed during my recent fieldwork in Kavre, Sindhupalchok and Lamjung districts. Kavre and Sindhupalchok were where Nepal's community forestry concept was first piloted in the 1980s, with support from an Australian aid program.“No one attends the meetings for the community forest anymore. The forest has become a jungle of weeds and unwanted shrubs, increasing the risk of fire,” a community forestry leader in Kavre told me. “Twenty years ago, people used to pay for small tree branches and even leaves, but today, people are not interested in receiving any forest products even when I offer free delivery.”Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/who-now-owns-nepals-forests/">Who now owns Nepal's forests?</a> Sonia AwaleThis 80-year-old Kavre resident has experienced a systemic institutional decline in his community forest, so much so that he is the only member of the village committee running and keeping the group afloat.In another community forest in Kavre, mature trees had fallen and were lying on the forest floor, left there for months or perhaps even years.<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2023020814028/63e39f579c7e80680e0d6fe7jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="768" height="1024">“These trees have good commercial value in the market, but the forest user group is not interested in investing time and effort to clear complex regulatory requirements for sale,” explained Sarada Tiwari of ForestAction Nepal. “And they don’t need fuelwood as they buy LPG from local shops.”Indeed, in almost every site I visited, I found that community forests had become dense jungles, increasing the fire hazard. Restrictive regulations prevent communities from harvesting trees, leading to a decline in the interest of local user groups in managing forests. As a result, good market value trees are left dying.After 40 years of glorious history, community forestry in Nepal is facing a new generation of problems which threaten to undermine past gains.Perhaps the primary source of this crisis is the significant shift in people’s dependence on forests. With increased road networks and the flow of remittance from family members working abroad, people have shifted from using fuel wood to fossil fuels.  With the decline in farming, the use of other forest products has also significantly dropped. But this new forest-people relationship is yet to be reflected in plans and policies of community forestry.Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/protecting-nepals-parks-by-saving-buffer-zones/">Protecting Nepal’s parks by saving buffer zones</a>, Teri D AllendorfPolicymakers in Kathmandu believe that community forestry is mainly a source of subsistence livelihoods, a proposition that was true two decades ago. That is why they continue to impose restrictions on harvesting and marketing of forest products.A forest official told me: “We are careful not to encourage commercial harvesting of timber from community forest areas”.This is what happens in practice, despite formal laws being open to marketing forestry products side-by-side with what is seen as progressive community forestry policies at the federal level. <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=19042#.Y7QEuexBzDJ">Nepal’s Forest Law 1993</a> was one of the world’s strongest forest legislations to devolve power to local communities willing to take control of an area of forest in their locality. The same spirit continues through the Forest Act 2019.Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/villagers-step-up-to-protect-nepals-tigers/">Villagers step up to protect Nepal’s tigers</a>, Teri D AllendorfHowever, in actual practice, regulatory enforcement hardly follows the policies and legal provisions in letter and spirit. A senior community forestry activist once said: “In Nepal, forest laws are undermined by rules; rules by working procedures, working procedures by written notices, and written notices by oral instructions. How can you then comply with all of them?”What’s worrying is that even community forestry activists seem to have an orthodox attitude that denies more active and sustainable use of community forests.<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2023020814028/63e39f599c7e80680e0d6fe8jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1024" height="768">“We are worried that some projects aim to promote marketing of forest products which can jeopardise community forestry,” said one community forestry activist working at the national level. He seemed to have settled on the idealistic narrative of community forestry, and believed it was not necessary to think of ways in which communities could benefit from the growing market values of forest products.Even when trees are harvested as per the sustainable use plans and with necessary approvals, the wider public and the media portray it as destruction of protected woodlands. This has prompted forest officials to take a risk-averse approach, further reinforcing regulatory restrictions in marketing surplus products.To be sure, felling trees may sound synonymous with the act of deforestation. But our research has reconfirmed some of the existing scientific knowledge and community wisdom that it is possible to undertake sustainable forest harvesting without jeopardising the forest ecology. Indeed, active use of forest can also protect the forests from fire hazards and foster good ecosystem health.Read also: <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/community-forest-comes-in-handy-earthquake-reconstruction,2927">Seeing both forest and trees</a>, Om Astha RaiProven techniques exist to facilitate forest regeneration after harvesting mature trees. However, operational regulations and the mindset of policymakers and community leaders that forests are for subsistence farmers, prevent innovation for more active and equitable use.Nepal’s community forests are an <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/community-forest-comes-in-handy-earthquake-reconstruction,2927">important natural capital for locals</a>. Forests make up nearly 45% of Nepal’s land area and there are over 500 commercially tradable products, with 150 species already in trade. Across the country, over 22,000 forest user groups manage 34% of the total forest area, but only a small fraction of community forests are under active management.Yet Nepal is spending billions to import timber because domestic forests are under-utilised. Clearly, local communities as well as the national economy cannot afford this crisis in community forestry.<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2023020814028/63e39f5d9c7e80680e0d6fe9jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1024" height="768">There is no one solution to tackle this impending crisis. The absence of marketing is not the only problem. What is required is a holistic socio-ecological solution that empowers communities to take action, with incentives accruing to them as per the ecologically sustainable levels of natural capital use.In a research project funded by the Australian Centre for Agricultural Research, we are analysing the political and economic roots of this crisis to inform an exploration of actionable ways to revitalise community forestry institutions at the local level. Our focus is on Kavre and Sindhupalchok where we are also tracing historical evolution of community forestry from the days of Australian project in the 80s.Read also: <a style="font-family: Georgia, sans-serif; font-size: 15.36px; font-weight: bold; letter-spacing: normal; background-color: #ffffff; outline: 0px;" href="http://nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=12130#.VuEeTX197Dc" target="blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">The greening of Nepal</a>, Marty LoganBut a problem of this scale is not solvable by a research initiative alone. It is crucial to foster critical dialogue among policymakers, communities and research groups. Every aspect of community forestry should be brought in the table for new policy discussion – from resource rights to local organisational models, from financial governance to social equity, and from business models to market linkages. How local governments and community groups can work together should be a key dialogue agenda.But dialogue without practice-based insights and research-based evidence is pointless. Moreover, change cannot happen without key policy actors appreciating the changing context of community forestry.Hemant Ojha is associate professor at the University of Canberra, and also an adjunct associate professor at Australian National University, Australia.Read more: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/safeguarding-the-soul-of-sal/">Safeguarding the soul of sal</a>, Lila Nath Sharma

Reviving Nepal's community forestry success story

<figure><img width="2846" height="1594" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221114111124/6372181a9c7e80680e0baa25jpeg.jpg" alt=""/><figcaption>The Nijgad Airport construction site. Pic: Kiran Nepal</figcaption></figure>As the date for a final Supreme Court ruling on the proposed new international airport in Nijgad approaches, uncertainty once more shrouds the $3.5 billion project. Supporters call the airport 60km south of Kathmandu as a <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/15-points-for-and-against-nijgad-airport/">necessary infrastructure investment</a> for the country’s economic growth, while opponents say it is an <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/megalomania-kleptomania/">expensive and an ecologically disastrous white elephant</a>. On 26 May, the Supreme Court is slated to give a final verdict on a public interest litigation citing irreversible environmental damage, since it will mean felling 40sq km of <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/tree-mendous/">primary tropical forest</a>.  A 2010 feasibility study by Korean consultants Landmark Worldwide proposed a 3-phase construction with a single 4,000m runway for 15 million passengers per year at a cost of $650 million in the first phase to be completed in 4 years. By the third phase, there would be four runways for 67 million passengers a year at a cost of $6.7 billion. It will take another ten years for the final completion.Successive governments, including those led by parties in the current coalition as well as the opposition, have all enthusiastically backed Nijgad, saying it is <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/does-nepal-need-a-4th-international-airport/">important for Nepal’s future</a>.Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/does-nepal-need-a-4th-international-airport/">Does Nepal need a 4th international airport?</a> Om Astha Rai“Kathmandu airport was <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/Air-jam,4196">built for 9.2 million passengers</a> a year, and it has already exceeded that,” says Pradeep Adhikari, Director General of the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN). “Annual international passenger growth is 9-12% and domestic flights have grown by 33% in the past year. Tourism was growing at 10% a year pre-pandemic, and will revive,” he added.With Kathmandu projected to handle 25 million passengers per year by 2040, Pokhara and <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/bhairawas-new-airport-already-too-small/">Bhairawa just do not have the capacity</a> to reduce that pressure.“We have reached the limit of air space capacity, terminal capacity and runway capacity,” Adhikari explains.However, it is not just environmentalists who question the rationale for Nijgad. They say the airport is designed for an obsolete <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/megalomania-kleptomania/">‘hub-and-spoke’ model</a>, whereas global aviation has moved to point-to-point destinations with new generation of aircraft that can circumnavigate the globe with just one stop.They also say that with the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/pandemic-impact-on-aviation-may-kill-nijgad/">impact of the pandemic</a> and spreading awareness about the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/tourism-aviation-and-carbon/">climate crisis</a>, there is already a slowdown in civil aviation growth in parts of the world, and that the age of mega-airports is over. Besides, can Nepal afford the debt financing for such a mammoth undertaking? <figure><img width="1329" height="885" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221114111124/6372181e9c7e80680e0baa26jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>The writ petition at the Supreme Court faults a 2018 <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/nepals-environment-impact-non-assessments/">Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA)</a> for downplaying the impact on biodiversity and <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/nepal-must-save-nijgad-forest-to-receive-climate-funds/">carbon sequestration potential</a> of the Nijgad jungle – the last remnant of the once extensive Char Kose Jhari that stretched across the central Tarai.Nepali Times received a copy of the EIA report, and found that it actually <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/pandemic-impact-on-aviation-may-kill-nijgad/">copy-pasted from a hydropower project</a> in the mountains. It did not even delete technical references to ‘headwork’ and ‘powerhouse’. It cites Nijgad as being the habitat of the ghoral, an antelope-like mammal found only in the Himalaya.One of the other concerns is noise pollution from heavy jets on the nearby Parsa National Park, but the EIA misses the point. Saying instead that noise will be mitigated by using ‘less dynamite’. Again, this seems to be from an EIA of a hydropower project. The EIA was prepared by the firm GEOCE Consultants, whose area of expertise is hydropower. The EIA also overestimates passenger handling capacity of 60 million per year, lacks environmental and ecological assessment of the proposed ‘aeropolis’, quarry sites, and infrastructure in the construction and operation phases.In its final phase, the airport  would ultimately require 8,046 hectares of which nearly 95% is heavily forested at present. This has led critics to call Nijgad a “<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/15-points-for-and-against-nijgad-airport/">logging concession</a>” rather than an international airport project.Destruction of the Nijgad forest could impact on <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/Recharging-the-mountains,3465">ground water recharge</a> and river flow, affecting irrigation and agriculture production downstream in the fertile Tarai plains.It would also remove the <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/habitat-destrcution-of-tiger-in-Tarai,3423">last remaining wildlife corridor</a> for migration between the Tarai jungles and the Siwalik and Mahabharat ranges to the north.Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/nepal-must-save-nijgad-forest-to-receive-climate-funds/">Nepal must save Nijgad Forest to receive climate funds</a>, Kashish Das ShresthaSince the project area is a part of the Parsa National Park buffer area and lies in the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/nepal-can-up-forest-cover-to-45-by-2030/">Terai Arc Landscape</a> (TAL), environmentalists say that the EIA should have analysed the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/pandemic-impact-on-aviation-may-kill-nijgad/">impact of the project on biodiversity and wildlife</a> much more carefully. A 1994 report by the <a href="https://www.iucn.org/">International Union for the Conservation of Nature</a> (IUCN) showed the Nijgad forest to be ecologically fragile, <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/economy-ecology-of-nijgad-airport/">rich in biodiversity and wildlife</a> movement routes.  The forest has Khair, Sissoo, Sal and Satisal trees, some of which  cannot be logged and exported by law according to the revised forest rules of 2001.Hardwood tropical forests with their canopy cover and undergrowth are much <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/nepal-must-save-nijgad-forest-to-receive-climate-funds/">more effective at carbon sequesteration</a>, and experts have calculated that felling the Nijgad jungle would prevent 22,500 tonnes of carbon from being absorbed from the atmosphere annually.Parts of the Nijgad jungle are community forests, or locally protected, and have small seasonal streams and natural drainage systems forming a ‘paini’ network that villagers traditionally use for wells, irrigation and drinking.The EIA does not have a valuation of ‘ecosystem services’ and livelihood benefits for the 37,000 households that depend on the forest for firewood, fodder and water. If the forest is replaced by an airport, it could put further pressure on the nearby national park and other protected areas.The EIA mentions that the government will compensate local communities for loss of livelihood, and initiate a major <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/mini-forests-to-make-kathmandu-more-liveable/">reforestation drive</a> to replace the trees. But it does not mention where and how many trees will be planted. Nepal’s record for compensation and replanting in other infrastructure projects is poor. <figure><img width="1361" height="784" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221114111124/637218219c7e80680e0baa27jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>CAAN’s Adhikari argues that no development project anywhere in the world comes with zero environmental cost.“The idea is to mitigate the impact and strictly follow  guidelines for replanting trees that are lost,” he says.  But such massive reforestation is an ambitious goal, and difficult with Sal saplings that nurseries find hard to grow. It takes decades to build species diversity and fully functioning forest ecosystems, and they still cannot replace native forests. Environmentalists say the EIA also does not look at <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/15-points-for-and-against-nijgad-airport/">alternative sites</a> for the airport that would be less damaging.Nepal has increased forest cover in the past years, but sub-tropical and tropical forests are declining even as the country’s carbon footprint grows. At COP26 in Glasgow last year, Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba set a target for Nepal to <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/nepal-can-up-forest-cover-to-45-by-2030/">increase its forest area to 45% by 2030</a>, and opponents of the project say Nijgad would be a step backward.The Nijgad EIA was submitted in March 2018, and hurriedly approved within two months by the Ministry of Forests and Environment. Critics say it is wrong for both the presenter of the EIA and the approver being government agencies. In fact, the last sentence of the EIA even says <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/zurich-airport-international-opts-out-of-nepal-project/">Prime Minister K P Oli  backed the project</a> and wanted it to be started ‘ASAP’.“We have to look at 20 years from now,” says Adhikari of CAAN. “There is going to be big tourism growth, Nepalis will be traveling more, and we will have outgrown Kathmandu, Pokhara and Bhairawa. Nepal needs a primary international airport in the coming decades.” Even before the EIA approval, the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation had already contracted the Nepal Army to start clearing trees at the Nijgad site. At present 60% of land acquisition has been completed, tree felling has begun, and work has started on civil works and river training.Politically motivated environmental assessments are common in developing countries like Nepal, and opponents say the Nijgad EIA is one such.  Read more: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/megalomania-kleptomania/">Megalomania + Kleptomania</a>, Editorial

Aria Shree Parasai

Building Nijgad, come what may

<figure><img width="1400" height="1050" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022111016110/636d12239c7e80680e0a98bejpeg.jpg" alt=""/><figcaption>Chitlang, Makwanpur. Photo: KUNDA DIXIT</figcaption></figure>Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba announced at COP26 last week that Nepal would increase forest cover to 45% of its area by 2030 when he along with the leaders of 124 countries signed the Glasgow Leaders’ Declaration on Forests and Land Use pledging to halt and reverse forest loss and land degradation.Presently just over 37% of Nepal's area is covered in forest, and the country's successful track record in <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/will-nepal-ever-be-paid-for-saving-trees/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">reversing deforestation and championing community-based forestry</a> makes this an area where Nepal can leverage its past experience to achieve the new target in the next nine years.Killian Dumont and Rastraraj Bhandari spoke with Giri Raj Panta, a Forest Officer at the Sub-division Forest Office in Bardaghat, Nawalparasi West, about the opportunities, needs and challenges of forest conservation and water management in Nepal in light of the new targets.Nepali Times: How did your career in community forestry begin?  <figure><img width="300" height="300" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022111016110/636d12269c7e80680e0a98bfjpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption></figcaption></figure>Giri Raj Panta: I grew up on a farm surrounded by trees and nature, and as I got older I was exposed to the movement for community forestry in Nepal. This inspired me to get into natural resource management as a career.<a style="background-color: #ffffff; font-size: 15px; letter-spacing: 0.01em;" href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/who-now-owns-nepals-forests/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Community forestry</a> was just beginning when I was a young civil servant. I was initially stationed in Gulmi district, and my job was to just plant trees. Soon, I was sent to lead the forest department in the adjoining district of Baglung after their forest ranger was ousted for being corrupt.The working environment there was very hostile, and to address this issue, I worked extensively with the local stakeholders, developed user groups to listen to the needs of the villagers, and started distributing seedlings for free. This was a need-based, people-centric development model that ran counter to the more traditional forest-centric development in Nepal. But it was the right path forward for community forestry.Over the course of my career, I have helped <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/catching-children-young-in-green-schools/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">plant thousands of tree saplings</a>, and I’m proud to see that these seedlings have now grown into lush forests across the country. That’s what I love about forests and this work. It is fascinating how quickly the trees you planted with your own hands grow into vast forests which will live for hundreds of years.What was the key to Nepal’s success in community forestry?When I first started out, <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/from-the-nepali-press/taking-away-forests-from-communities/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">community forestry</a> had a lot of support from international development partners and included a participatory and bottom-up approach by the local people crucial for those relying on forests for their livelihood.At that time, some deforestation was inevitable because many people relied on trees for fuel and income. But times have changed, and alternative fuel sources are available at cheaper prices now. Society relies more on electricity than firewood, and the government has also come up with stronger policies to regulate timber.Collaborative forest management approaches like forest watchers, fencing, rotational grazing and awareness campaigns are efficient, while <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/tree-mendous/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">migration from rural to urban areas has eased pressure on Nepal’s forests</a>. The pledge by Prime Minister Deuba at COP26 is very promising, and we need to adopt an integrated approach for sustainable forest management. <figure><img width="426" height="320" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022111016110/636d12289c7e80680e0a98c0jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption>Tree samplings in Bardghat, Nepa.</figcaption></figure>What are some of the second generation problems community forestry is facing in Nepal now?Deforestation is declining and there is now a clear vision for what we must do to protect our forests. But there are still improvements to be made. The bureaucratic process, for example, is difficult to understand, slow and complicated.In the past, the Division Forest Office controlled monitoring and accountability, but now it is in the hands of the courts which involves more actors and allows for corruption. Moreover, the courts sometimes interpret forest laws differently, and the confusion on whether forestry or criminal law should take precedence opens a major loophole for those who wish to exploit our natural resources unsustainably.Similarly, policies are not well-designed to manage privately owned forests. Not all clauses in the regulations are equally implemented in all regions. And there is no assurance that policies are implemented in the way they were designed. Too many rules and regulations can be confusing and contradictory.What can we do to resolve these issues and meet the 2030 target?We can start by creating a clear roadmap that lays out the roles and responsibilities of all stakeholders. We need to streamline the legal process for holding <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=17226#.YYohQ2BByUk" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">illegal fellers and timber poachers</a> accountable. The current process is cumbersome, costly and unreliable.As for privately owned forest, what we need for the owners is incentive, not just command and control. I hope that the target to achieve the 45% forest cover also includes privately owned forests in Nepal.In addition, it is also important to operationalise and liquidate forestry credit, and explore innovative performance-based financial products. This way, we can establish financial incentives to protect the forests and meet the target set at Glasgow.In March 2021, the Government of Nepal and the World Bank signed the Emission Reductions Payment Agreement for the Emission Reductions Program in the Tarai Arc Landscape which is a good example in this context. <figure><img width="480" height="361" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022111016110/636d12299c7e80680e0a98c1jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption>Forestry Training Program conducted in Nawalparasi district. </figcaption></figure>Forestry is linked to water security in Nepal. What kind of approach do we need to reduce the impact of climate crisis?Forestry, watershed management, and <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/between-existence-and-extinction-in-nepal/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">biodiversity conservation</a> are all interlinked in a delicate ecosystem. Deforestation leads to soil erosion, which leads to increased dangers of landslides and floods. Ponds and rivers are the lifeblood of forests, and the roots of trees -- including soil-binder species such as shrubs, ground flora -- prevent the rivers from carrying away the soil.When trees die out, there is a decline in water sources. This is because forests help recharge springs, which in turn provide drinking water for wildlife and humans. The effects are visible even in weather patterns and seasonal droughts.Though there is a growing understanding of the need for an integrated approach to forest management and <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/women-and-water/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">water security in Nepal</a>, the process remains ad-hoc. We need a more institutionalised approach to bringing these two crucial conservation goals together, as one cannot be achieved without the other. The forestry target pledged at COP26 is an opportunity look at these two issues carefully and take joint action.

Nepal can up forest cover to 45% by 2030

One smoggy winter morning in February 2019, Ekta regretted coming to her sculpture class. It was the first day of her period, and the 19-year-old wished she was home, curled up in bed with a hot water bag to soothe her cramps.
Her class was at Kalapremi Ceramic Studio, a dark room on the ground floor of a house in Maharajganj, and Ekta’s teacher was the artist Gopal Das Shrestha ‘Kalapremi’, a noted sculptor.
Two other students were already there, using all their muscle strength to knead the sculpting clay. Ekta, now 24, recalls how Kalapremi asked her if she was feeling all right. She avoided him, as she did not want everyone to know she was menstruating.
Kalapremi repeatedly asked Ekta what was wrong. She finally muttered that she was having her period, after which he grabbed her hand and led her to a partitioned corner of the studio and sat her on a chair. Before she could stop him, he slid his hand under her dress, and started massaging her abdomen.
“I was horrified,” Ekta recalls. “I told him to stop, but he didn’t listen, asking me not to be shy, saying he knew how to relieve my pain. He stopped only after I protested furiously.”&nbsp;
The art tutor then said, “You’re like my daughter. I’m doing it out of love to make you feel better, but you’re so stubborn.”&nbsp;
“Instead of saying sorry he acted like I was the one having crazy thoughts,” remembers Ekta, adding that from April 2016 to August 2020 beginning the time she was 16, the artist sexually abused and harassed her on several occasions. &nbsp;
Now, Ekta and the artist’s other former students are finally sharing their experiences and some are pressing legal charges against him, hoping that others do not have to endure what they did.&nbsp;
Award-winning artist and teacher Gopal Das Shrestha ‘Kalapremi’ (the name means ‘Art Lover’) is known for his ceramic art, sculpture, and contemporary pottery. He was <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/review/the-house-of-kalapremi">profiled in Nepali Times after a collaborative exhibition</a>, ‘Where the Wild Things Are’ at the Siddhartha Art Gallery three years ago.&nbsp;
His pieces, titled Gaalis, featured sculpted female figures with the heads of dogs, sheep, and donkeys (pictured) to depict derogatory terms for women. Some critics said the collection was a satire on feminists.
Kalapremi started his artistic and teaching career in 1983 and over the years taught at Bhanubhakta School, Kathmandu University School of Arts, Lalitkala Campus and at his private Kalapremi Ceramic Studio. He has also lectured at Jeonju University in South Korea and recently at Tabor Academy in the United States.
Seven of Kalapremi’s former students were interviewed for this story. Five female students said he touched them inappropriately in his studio or at Kathmandu University. Two male students said they witnessed him abuse and harass the women. In all cases, the students struggled to recognise the abuse when it occurred, and the lack of reporting systems left them to cope on their own for years.&nbsp;
Earlier this year, students shared a social media post hinting at Kalapremi’s history of abusive behaviour following which more students of the artist reached out sharing similar experiences. Some students spoke of abuse that happened as long as 20 years ago.
Kalapremi, 60, has denied the allegations. He told Nepali Times: “Some years ago, there was a movement encouraging people to hug and kiss. I used to do it purely out of friendship and love. But after seeing posts on social media last year calling out my behaviour, I realised my actions may have hurt some people. I understand now that I should have been more mindful.”
He added: “I am also an auxiliary health worker, so I know the exact points to massage to relieve menstrual pain. It’s not just menstruation, I take anyone who is ill to the hospital.”
Sexual abuse is much more rampant than reported given how difficult it is to prove it in court. The law defines sexual abuse as occuring when someone touches another’s private parts, coerces them into touching theirs, uses vulgar language, shows degrading images, or behaves indecently towards them without consent.&nbsp;
Ekta and her fellow students are consulting lawyer Suneeta Regmi Pokhrel, who says they know that even if the court decides in their favour, it is difficult to survive after speaking up, and influential men defend themselves saying they are being framed.&nbsp;
“They are in a lot of pain and weep when recalling how he abused them,” Regmi Pokhrel told us. “They are angry and have filed a case against him, but they are also terrified. They know he is a powerful man and they have seen how our society treats women who speak up against abusers. Unless people speak up, perpetrators will be emboldened.”
Art and academia in Nepal simply reflect the power imbalances in society where people with intersecting identities experience worse forms of abuse. Theatre actors Raj Kumar Pudasaini, Rajan Khatiwada, and Sunil Pokhrel were called out during the #MeToo movement in the Nepali theatre scene in 2019. Even after the allegations Pokhrel went on to receive national awards, while others continued to work without repercussions.
“If you speak up against abusers, you gradually get sidelined from projects,” explained a theatre artist who wished anonymity fearing professional setbacks. “The theatre scene in Nepal is quite small, you just have to make peace with the perpetrators and work with them if you want to sustain yourself.”&nbsp;
In academia there is a history of faculty members sexually harassing students and getting away with it. After Tribhuvan University (TU) lecturer Krishna Bhattachan was accused of harassing women students, the university said it would follow Nepal’s sexual harassment law and set up a reporting mechanism. But nothing happened to the professor, who had already retired. Instead, he counter-accused the students of 'attacking the indigenous people’s movement with baseless allegations' as <a href="https://kathmandupost.com/letters/2019/01/29/bhattachan-responds">he told the Kathmandu Post in 2019</a>. He continues to be featured as a prominent speaker including at TU.
Other faculty members previously accused of sexual harassment include Jagadish Murti Koirala from TU, Bishnu Prasad Acharya from Ratna Rajya Campus, and Bodha Raj Tripathee from Lalitpur Madhyamik Vidhyalaya. A woman staff member from TU also filed a sexual abuse complaint against Dambar Chemjong from TU.
Prominent figures like <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/the-rise-and-fall-of-nims-purja">mountaineer Nims Purja</a> have been <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/31/sports/mountaineering-sexual-harassment-abuse-nims-purja.html">accused of sexual assault</a>, and cricketer Sandeep Lamichhane, actor <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/celebrity-rape-case-spotlights-nepal-laws">Paul Shah</a>, and former speaker of Parliament <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/mahara-arrested">Krishna Bahadur Mahara</a> have been accused of rape, but society-at-large has let off the alleged perpetrators amdist a larger debate about justice for survivors and punishment of perpetrators.&nbsp;
‘Gaushala-26’ is the court name given to the 18-year-old who accused Sandeep Lamichhane, former captain of Nepal’s national cricket team and skipper of Biratnagar Kings in the <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/here-comes-the-nepal-premier-league">ongoing Nepal Premier League</a>, of rape. She left the country citing society questioning her character affecting her mental health while Lamichhane got an outpouring of support. In May, the Patan High Court overturned a prior verdict that found Lamichhane guilty of rape and had sentenced him to eight years in prison. During the 23-month legal battle to pursue justice, Gaushala-26 faced threats of gang rape and acid attacks.&nbsp;
Exhausted by the struggle, Gaushala-26 sought to “move to a new world” where she could live free without hiding her identity.
Actress Samragyee Rajya Laxmi Shah in an Instagram video now deleted detailed the harassment she faced from a filmmaker during a movie shoot. She did not name any name but veteran actor Bhuwan KC filed a defamation case against Rana, but the court ruled that the charge lacked sufficient evidence.&nbsp;
Former Kathmandu mayor <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/theytoo">Keshav Sthapit also mocked the #MeToo movement</a>, calling accusations against him by journalists Rashmila Prajapati and Ujjwala Maharjan “a rape of men’s rights”.
Serial Abuse
Back at the Kalapremi Ceramics studio, another former student, 24-year-old Rajiv, says he felt the need to speak out after seeing his female classmates being abused.&nbsp;
“He frequently kissed them on their cheeks,” he told Nepali Times. “Whenever they walked into the studio he flailed his arms like a child asking for a hug. They awkwardly hugged him from the side, but he pulled them closer, held their chin, and kissed their cheeks.”&nbsp;
Rajiv says he also saw Kalapremi pull the women’s bra straps, touch their breasts, and slap their buttocks. The young students would freeze, not knowing how to react, and if they protested, he would say it was “normal in art”. Rajiv, 19 at the time like his classmates, remembers thinking perhaps the well-respected artist was right after all.
Another student, Luna, who took lessons at Kalapremi’s studio from 2020 to 2022 did try to confront the tutor after he made an obscene proposal to her. She recalls: “One day when the other students had left the studio and it was just the two of us, he told me that God had given him special artistic talent and he could transfer those powers to me. But to do that both of us will have to be naked, inside a dark room, and have sex.”
Luna, who was 18 then, was livid and told him she did not want any of his powers, but she says he laughed at her as if he was joking. She did not tell her family about the incident because she thought no one would believe her.&nbsp;
“They were all in awe of this famous artist and felt I should be grateful that to be learning sculpting from him,” she says. “I was scared to be alone with him in case he talked about sex again. My coping mechanism was to be rude so he wouldn’t try to come close to me.”
Seeing how some classmates were standing up to Kalapremi, Ekta too tried to push back against his advances, but she said he found ways to coerce her. Since Ekta, Rajiv, and Luna could not afford Kalapremi’s Rs30,000 monthly fee for lessons, he had offered them all a stipend to assist him in the studio.
“He had spondylosis and took me to his therapy sessions to learn massage techniques, then he often made me and other students massage him,” says Ekta. Whenever she refused, he would feign pain to make her feel sorry for him. “He would insist that I put my hands under his shirt so that I could massage him better,” she adds.
The art tutor often tried to “seduce sympathy” from Ekta by sharing how he had never been loved as a child and was “sexually frustrated” as an adult.&nbsp;
“At 7PM, he would pour himself Signature whiskey and immediately go off again about how he was sex-starved. I didn’t know how to respond. It took me time to realise alcohol was just an excuse to talk about sex,” Ekta says.
If convicted, Kalapremi could face financial penalty and/or a prison sentence of up to three years according to Section 224 of National Penal (Code) Act 2017.&nbsp;
Data suggests that victims of child sexual abuse on average take nearly 24 years to tell someone about their trauma, and some may never disclose it at all.&nbsp;
“In our culture, children are rarely taught about boundaries. They often react, show anger when adults pinch their cheeks. But adults insist they did it out of love, and force the children to accept it,” says Sita Lama, a psychotherapist at Manka Kura. “And even when someone touches them inappropriately they struggle to identify and verbalise it.”
When perpetrators claim to be “acting out of love”, Lama says survivors are likely to perceive it as something safe, rather than recognising it as abuse.&nbsp;
“It may take years for them to realise they were abused,” she explains. "And even when they become aware, the power imbalance with the abuser and the associated shame often prevents survivors from speaking up."
Other former students from the School of Art at Kathmandu University have also come forward years later, saying Kalapremi sexually abused them. As young adults, they felt his behaviour was off but were uncertain if it was inappropriate, illegal, or they did not know how to respond. After having understood that it was indeed abuse, they say they are speaking out now to protect others.&nbsp;
Amina Singh, a visiting faculty member at Kathmandu University, says there is no clause against sexual abuse in contracts of teachers, and there is no formal grievance handling mechanism for the students.&nbsp;
“So the only way students can to deal with sexual abuse is approach someone they trust,” she says.
Eight other former art students of Lalit Kala Campus and Srijana College of Fine Arts of Tribhuvan University and other private art studios in Kathmandu say they were also sexually abused by their art teachers. Three faculty members interviewed from these institutions said they saw the abuse, but felt it was futile to report it given how powerful the teachers were.
In the absence of a formal system, some longtime women artists warned each other about “problematic” artists. They shared &nbsp;a “heads-up” to be more cautious when collaborating with them, and avoided responding to their calls and texts after work hours.
To ensure art institutions are safe for all, galleries, museums, artist studios, and smaller art spaces need to develop policies on sexual harassment. This would include a code of conduct or studio policies that hold the leadership accountable and outline the principles of professional ethics.&nbsp;
Students and employees should inquire about accountability mechanisms for raising concerns, both formally and informally, advocates say.
Three years after Ekta left the ceramics studio, she learnt that Kalapremi had harassed many other women. Still trying to get a footing in the art industry, she attended a workshop in Kathmandu where women artists discussed ways to stay safe in the art sector.&nbsp;
Since it was a close-knit group Ekta opened up about how she felt violated and realised she was not alone, he had been abusing underprivileged students for years, and this was common knowledge among artists in Nepal.
Ekta says that even after she quit, Kalapremi continued sending her text messages like ‘I am thinking of you’, ‘Why have you stopped speaking with me’, or ‘I am waiting for your call’.&nbsp;
But what really forced her to act was when Ekta found out that he was sending similar texts to her younger sister.&nbsp;
“I’ve had enough,” she told us. “He abused me all these years but I won’t let him abuse my sister.” &nbsp;
Ekta, Rajiv and Luna are not the real names of the students.&nbsp;

‘Art Lover’ accused of sexual abuse

It was 8:15 in the evening of 25 March 1968 when everyone in the village of Batulechaur near Pokhara heard a deafening sound like thunder as a bright flashing object hurtled down to land in a field.&nbsp; That field belonged to Kul Timilsina, and the next morning he retrieved a sheet of metal about 2m by 1m and carried it home with the help of a few others, thinking it would be useful for his buffalo shed.&nbsp; Before he died at age 83 three years ago, Timilsina had told photo archivist Sunil Ulak that the black metal sheet was not rectangular and had rounded corners. There are a few witnesses still alive who have a clear recollection of the object that fell from the sky that night.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2024120707128_75cc85aac56b9cc4a77366471f058d7b3eb6868776811b0923845c2d0a61f014.jpg" data-media-id="editor_0" data-image-id="2024120707128_75cc85aac56b9cc4a77366471f058d7b3eb6868776811b0923845c2d0a61f014" data-rendition-name="original" width="1170" height="601" loading="lazy" alt="UFO over Pokhara"> <figcaption>The field in Batulechaur belonging to Kul Timilsina where fragments of a flying object fell from the sky in 1968.</figcaption> </figure>  One of them is Timilsina’s wife Gyanu, who was 22 at the time. She had been at home, and remembers hearing the big bang and the sky becoming very bright. “We saw the thing in the field in the morning,” she told us. “It looked like a lid, a covering of some sort. The way it was stuck in the ground, it must have fallen from the sky. We thought we could use it to dry clothes on, and took it home.”&nbsp; Another witness is Kul Narayan Paudel. “I was only eight then. We ran to the field to see what had fallen. It was a four-sided metal sheet. The elders took it away, and I don't know what happened to it.” &nbsp; Ram Bahadur Baniya, a teacher at the local school, says he had heard the sheet had been brought to the school, and later handed over to the Zonal Commissioner at the time, Nanda Prasad Malla. “But that is all hearsay,” he says.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2024120707128_0bf207a12063fb8155b3c8d9a00a94887b126380c9e0627527c84cf5e1101f54.jpg" data-media-id="editor_1" data-image-id="2024120707128_0bf207a12063fb8155b3c8d9a00a94887b126380c9e0627527c84cf5e1101f54" data-rendition-name="original" width="1170" height="610" loading="lazy" alt="UFO over Pokhara"> <figcaption>Gyanu Timilsina, wife of Kul Timilsina.</figcaption> </figure>  There are two versions of what happened to Kul Timilsina’s metal sheet. One is that an American Peace Corp Volunteer teaching at the nearby Bindyabasini School took it, and another is that it was handed over to the government. Recently declassified Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and US State Department documents from the time say that the US Embassy in Kathmandu tracked down the object two years later and had it shipped back to the US. A telegram from the Department of State and Department of Defense tagged as ‘MOON DUST / Space Fragments’ dated 1 March 1972 stated: ‘1. Restored space fragment will be on board Embassy support flight 115 arriving Kathmandu on or about March 10. Fragment is packed in shipping crate (cargo no. 72-33365) marked in care of DAO.&nbsp; 2. State and Defense representatives examined fragments prior to shipment finding restoration acceptable.’  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20241207071212_929d903ee06d41baa4f6040e981cd7c7d7bd75cc9c37c9b617d307fc8538d2df.png" data-media-id="editor_2" data-image-id="20241207071212_929d903ee06d41baa4f6040e981cd7c7d7bd75cc9c37c9b617d307fc8538d2df" data-rendition-name="original" width="856" height="568" loading="lazy" alt="UFO over Pokhara"> <figcaption>Declassified CIA documents about the investigation into the object sighted in Pokhara. </figcaption> </figure>  The documents show that the US government, military and intelligence agencies investigated this incident thoroughly when it occurred, and have continued to revisit it ever since, as recently as five years ago. What is even more intriguing is that the object that fell in Pokhara was not the only unidentified space object that fell to earth that year. There were similar sightings of objects falling from the sky in Ladakh, Sikkim and Bhutan between 19 February and 25 March 1968.&nbsp; These mysteries were the subject of a CIA investigation in 1968 titled ‘<a href="https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/docs/CIA-RDP81R00560R000100070007-8.pdf">Sighting of Unidentified Flying Objects in Ladakh, Nepal, Sikkim and Bhutan</a>’, and the report is part of the recent online declassification of 800,000 top-secret documents from the period.&nbsp; &nbsp;Although unidentified flying objects (UFOs) have a connotation now of being alien craft, it could be pieces of satellite, missile, rocket or even aircraft. The CIA report documents six sightings in 1968 and quotes local sources as describing all of them having similar characteristics: bright blue or red streaks in the sky accompanied by loud sounds like lightning and thunder and objects falling to the ground. Aside from the metallic object that was found in Batlechaur, there were other items also found nearby in Tallakot, Tureypasal, Armalakot and Maidan. Whatever the object was, it seems to have disintegrated even before it hit the ground.&nbsp; The CIA report records the first sighting on 19 February 1968 in various parts of Sikkim and Olangchung Gola and Ghunsa in eastern Nepal. The light was said to be ‘long and thin’ and giving out ‘green and red light’. &nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20241207071212_c3c825027d966a2aedc846970390eebe063957503c7eacc8e01e0517843f9bbb.png" data-media-id="editor_4" data-image-id="20241207071212_c3c825027d966a2aedc846970390eebe063957503c7eacc8e01e0517843f9bbb" data-rendition-name="original" width="892" height="596" loading="lazy" alt="UFO over Pokhara "> </figure>  Two days later on 21 February, a soundless blue object was seen traveling fast across the sky above Thimphu in Bhutan. Then on 4 March there were multiple daytime sightings or white streaks in the sky at Chang La Pass, Fukche and Koyul in Ladakh. There were more sightings in Ladakh on the very day fragments fell near Pokhara on 25 March 1968.&nbsp; After the sightings in Pokhara, rumours started flying in Kathmandu that these were aliens trying to land on Earth, it could be Russian or Chinese spy planes or satellites, and some even say it as a sign from heaven that the end of the world was near. This was at the height of the Cold War. The Russians and Americans were testing their thermonuclear devices as well as intercontinental ballistic missile delivery systems. The Washington-Beijing rapprochement had not yet happened, and China was making quick progress testing atomic bombs. Within two years after its first atomic test, in 1966 China exploded its first hydrogen bomb at the Lop Nur site in Xinjiang, 3,000km to the north from Nepal. After neary six decades, what is still intriguing is that all the sightings within a few months of each other in 1968 were along the Himalayan arc bordering Tibet: from Bhutan, Sikkim Nepal, to Ladakh. The US military intelligence seems to have concluded that this was not a coincidence and there were frequent research trips to the site in Pokhara by American officials in the months after the incident. With the help of the Royal Nepal Army, the region north of Pokhara was thoroughly searched.&nbsp; A confidential memo dated 25 June 1968 by Jerry C Trippy to a ‘Mr Farley’ mentions that the US Air Force’s Foreign Technology Division had decided that the debris could be important because it may be related to a Chinese missile test or a Soviet ‘Vehicle Venik’ rocket.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20241207071216_feb5425692dc36b20187de4e4fcc2ce9fd12b6d9e1b8724398e50bcdbf9032fe.jpg" data-media-id="editor_5" data-image-id="20241207071216_feb5425692dc36b20187de4e4fcc2ce9fd12b6d9e1b8724398e50bcdbf9032fe" data-rendition-name="original" width="1500" height="1000" loading="lazy" alt="UFO over Pokhara"> </figure>  On 28 August 1968 the US Embassy in Kathmandu sent a letter to Washington DC saying that the object could be of Soviet origin, possibly from when the rocket carrying the ‘Kosmos 208’ satellite re-entered the atmosphere. But why were the fragments falling to earth several weeks apart, and in the same region? No one knows where the metal sheet that Kul Timilsina recovered is now. It was definitely packed in a crate and taken to the US, and although it is rumoured that it was returned that is not very likely. Archivist Sunil Ulak heard from the Timilsina family that CIA officials had returned to the site five years ago. &nbsp; Interest in UFOs peaked in the US in the 1950s, with the Cold War space race and tests of atomic weapons and delivery rockets. CIA and scientists were being sent to investigate sightings, both publicly and privately. Could the Pokhara fragments as well as the sightings in Ladakh and Bhutan actually be alien craft falling to earth? The renewal in interest in space travel in large part due to Elon Musk’s SpaceX, UFOs and sightings are again subjects of public interest.&nbsp; Even 57 years later, even if there was definitive proof about whether the Batlechaur fragment was from a Chinese missile or a soviet rocket, it has not been made public in documents declassified so far. We may never know.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20241207071216_b6938795f40731e7657fd6dcbb3cf460a326186a15eb11d4f832f602201ff598.jpg" data-media-id="editor_6" data-image-id="20241207071216_b6938795f40731e7657fd6dcbb3cf460a326186a15eb11d4f832f602201ff598" data-rendition-name="original" width="642" height="320" loading="lazy" alt="UFO over Pokhara"> </figure>  Sunil Ulak speculates if the debris actually came from an American aircraft, perhaps on an intel mission upon China. “Which could explain why they were so thorough in collecting the fragments in Pokhara,” he says. But that still does not explain the multiple sightings weeks apart in 1968.&nbsp; Indeed, US military aircraft were at that time flying frequent night-time missions from air force bases in India to supply weapons to Khampa guerrilla camps in Nepal located north of Pokhara in Mustang. It could very well be that the Chinese shot down one such aircraft. The other sightings could have been contrails of US spy planes, or Chinese anti-aircraft missiles.&nbsp; There were quite a few developments regarding UFOs in 2024. In a US congressional hearing in July, former intelligence officer David Grusch claimed that the government had long been involved in a program to investigate and retrieve non-human craft crashes, and then try to reverse engineer them. However Grusch did not show any evidence.&nbsp; The UAP Disclosure Act of 2024 was signed into law by Joe Biden in December 2023. It plans to oversee the public disclosure of UFO information. However, there is a clause in it that prevents disclosure if it would cause threats to military defense, intelligence operations or foreign relations.&nbsp; It is unlikely that the declassified documents about sightings in the Himalayan will cause any real surprise about definite evidence of alien life even if it was found. It seems humanity will continue, at least for now, to wonder about curious lights in the sky and whether there is anybody out there.&nbsp;

UFO over Pokhara

When Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) president Rabi Lamichhane was arrested in October on charges of defrauding depositors of cooperatives, the party’s vice president Swarnim Wagle gifted him Fareed Zakaria’s book, Age of Revolutions.
Since then, Lamichhane has been shunted around from Kathmandu to Pokhara to Chitwan and back to Pokhara to attend police investigations and court proceedings. He was being flown to Birganj via Kathmandu on Buddha Air on Monday. There is another pending case in Janakpur.
Human rights groups and civil society have criticised the government for hounding Lamichhane with inhumane treatment that borders on physical torture. The two parties in the coalition, Nepali Congress (NC) and the UML, see Lamichhane’s RSP as a potentially formidable challenge to their power.
Even if the fraud charges against Lamichhane are true, the Nepali public is increasingly looking at the government’s actions through the police and courts as political vendetta.
Despite all the travelling, sometimes by plane and often by road at night, Lamichhane appears to be in high spirits, waving to supporters who often gather if they know he is going to be driven around. A social media video shows him giving high fives to fellow passengers on a recent flight to Pokhara.&nbsp;
In the past weeks, streets in Pokhara have erupted with parallel protests by Lamichhane’s supporters as well as depositors of cooperatives who lost their savings to the scam.&nbsp;
Although family visits are allowed, prison officials in Pokhara told Nepali Times that not many people visit Lamichhane these days. He added, “When he does get visitors, he asks them to bring him books.”
Lamichhane is currently Nepal’s most high-profile public figure in custody, and highlights the stark difference between how influential prisoners are treated compared to ordinary inmates.
There are six prison cells at Kaski District Police Office’s two-story detention centre, three on each floor. And while authorities pack prisoners into already overcrowded cells, Lamichhane has an entire room on the second floor to himself.&nbsp;
He has also been allowed to call his family every few days. Other prisoners are not permitted phone calls except for emergencies.
Meanwhile, Lamichhane’s former business partner Chhabilal Joshi, an ex-Deputy Inspector General of Police with whom he established his Gorkha Media Network, is in custody under the same charges in the prison cell next to him.
Lamichhane is accused of siphoning off depositors' money to the tv network in which he was part-owner and anchor. &nbsp;
Both Lamichhane and Joshi are able to buy food from the police canteen instead of being served the regular meal like other prisoners. Joshi has also given his statement to authorities in Rupandehi and Kathmandu for his alleged role in the scam. Lamichhane is yet to be presented in Kathmandu for questioning.
While he was in custody at the Kathmandu District Police Complex, Joshi expressed his desire to sleep in a police officer’s office, reportedly assuring authorities that he would not run away and he was entitled to certain facilities as a former officer of the law.
“He seemed to be under the impression that he is still a police officer,” says a source at the Kathmandu District Police. “We made it clear to him that as someone accused of a crime, he was not entitled to special treatment.”
Former ministers Balkrishna Khand and Top Bahadur Rayamajhi, and ex-home secretary Tek Narayan Pandey, who were arrested in connection with the fake refugee scam last year, were similarly housed in the offices of law enforcement officials instead of prison cells. Khand has since been released after six months in jail.
While there is no legal provision to keep high-ranking officials in separate detention centres when they are arrested, authorities granting them special facilities is not uncommon. Law enforcement officials say VIP detainees expect preferential treatment while in police custody.
Among those is former Kosi Province minister Lila Ballav Adhikari, who was arrested from Biratnagar on 10 November over his alleged involvement in human trafficking and brought to Kathmandu. Adhikari had flown to Japan without government approval with three individuals on 29 October to attend a cultural conference, but had been sent back to Nepal from Narita.&nbsp;
His three companions were arrested at Kathmandu airport upon their arrival, but Adhikari was able to exit unscathed from the VIP lounge. Adhikari had resigned as the Kosi Province Minister for Internal Affairs and Law when it became public that his companions had been taken into custody, and was himself arrested shortly after. He has since been cleared by the courts.
Throughout his detention, Adhikari was kept separately from other inmates. Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Basant Rajouri, head of the Bhadrakali complex, says that while there is no separate detention area for VIPs, some detainees are kept separately depending on the nature of their crime.
However, sources say that arrangements were made for retired judges and others to visit Adhikari frequently worked at the office of a Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) during his time in custody.&nbsp;
“He used to constantly pester the authorities to let him sit outside in the sun, and to be able to use the police officer’s shower area,” added an officer.
Adhikari was released on 25 November after the government prosecutor’s office decided not to charge him in a move that was seen to expose the government’s double standards.
Over at Kathmandu’s Dilli Bazar Prison, former Kist Bank CEO Kamal Gyawali emerges from his prison cell into the courtyard of the prison’s ‘Ka (क)’ block every morning with a thick book in his hands, ready to give his daily sermon.
With his long beard, Gyawali, who is serving a prison sentence for banking fraud, looks the part of a religious guru as he implores his rapt listeners to “walk the right path, abandon bad thoughts and turn to scripture and spirituality”.&nbsp;
Afterward, the attendees gather to discuss politics and current affairs. Inmates at his daily sermons at the prison include other high-profile detainees, including former MP Ichchha Raj Tamang, who is in jail for money laundering and cooperatives fraud, former joint secretary Chudamani Sharma, who was convicted of corruption, as well as NC leader Chandra Bahadur Lama and Krishna Bahadur Upreti of the UML both of whom are on trial for embezzling billions of rupees.
Victims of the cooperatives scam that former lawmaker Tamang was involved in have made trips to the prison and requested visits, but he has refused to meet with any of them.
“Tamang often complains that the state has prevented him from returning the money to the victims by locking him up,” says a police officer at the Dili Bazar jail.
“All you hear every day from the VIP prisoners is that they have been framed,” adds the officer. “No one admits that they were involved in misdeeds.”
But while most high-profile prisoners complain about prison conditions, one exception is former provincial lawmaker Deepak Manange, who is serving a sentence at Dilli Bazar Jail for attempted murder.
“He is the happiest prisoner here,” says a warden. “Unlike the others, he doesn’t claim to have been framed, in fact he doesn’t seem to care that he is in prison.”
Manange is detained in the ‘Kha (ख)’ block of the prison complex, which he renovated at his own expense. The block previously housed female prisoners, but Manange used his influence to transfer them elsewhere. He faces no shortage of visitors, who range from political leaders to people from the underworld.
Along with Manange, other well-known prisoners in this block include Nepal Telecom Managing Director Sunil Poudel, and former executive director of the Surakshan Printing Centre Bikal Poudel, who are serving time for corruption.
Former prisoners at Dilli Bazar prison include ex-ministers Khum Bahadur Khadka and Shyam Sundar Gupta, NC leader Ganesh Lama, Maoist MP Balkrishna Dhungel, Nagarik Unmukti Party leader Resham Chaudhary, as well as former IGs Ramesh Chand Thakuri, Om Bikram Rana, and Hem Bahadur Gurung.
Section 54 of Nepal’s Prison Act assigns each prison’s internal administration the
responsibility of governing its prisoners, which means the more favourable the jail management is, the more comfortable it is for prisoners.
Dilli Bazar prison has been the prison of choice for many high-ranking prisoners, especially those convicted of white collar crimes, due to its more accommodating administrators. The prison, which has the capacity to house 700 inmates, is also less crowded than other jails.
Anuj Bhattarai, spokesperson of the Department of Prison Management, says that there is no legal classification in Nepal for felons to be assigned prisons based on the nature of their crimes.
“That Dilli Bazar Jail has a higher number of prisoners convicted of crimes like corruption is most likely a coincidence,” says Bhattarai. “There is no provision for influential people to be able to choose where they will be incarcerated.”&nbsp;
Translated by Shristi Karki from the Nepali original published in himalkhabar.com

What Nepal’s VIP prisoners do in jail

As soon as she milks her cow, 52-year-old Punam B K is off, pedaling her bicycle furiously along the highway with a blue milk can in the front basket.&nbsp; By the time she arrives at the Jaya Shiva Ganesh Dairy Producers Cooperative in Gopalganj village, others are already there, their bicycles parked on the roadside. The farmers are all holding on to their blue milk cans, and are chatting away.&nbsp; “We keep what is needed for the family, and sell whatever remains here at the cooperative,” says B K, as the volume, fat and non-fat solid content of her milk is measured. It is then poured into a bigger vat to be mixed with milk from other farmers. B K collects her receipt with the value of her milk, and prepares to head home. The farmers are reimbursed on a quarterly basis.&nbsp; Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/multimedia/a-family-that-works-together-stays-together">A family that works together stays together</a>, Sahina Shrestha “Everyone around here has at least a cow or buffalo to provide milk for the family, the cowdung is used for fertiliser, and we can bring whatever is left over to the cooperative,” says B K who, like the others, brings her milk by bicycle twice a day, once in the morning and again in the evening.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20241210081232_0df32c0f6a572aef83eca02dc7a86f75ea5dbc88dc6c2390d42a44ab3cc93395.jpg" data-media-id="editor_1" data-image-id="20241210081232_0df32c0f6a572aef83eca02dc7a86f75ea5dbc88dc6c2390d42a44ab3cc93395" data-rendition-name="original" width="1700" height="1275" loading="lazy" alt="dairy farmers in Chitwan"> </figure>  All this may seem like nothing special, just an ordinary farmer selling her milk. But it has to be seen in the context of dairy farmers overcoming subsistence and increasing household income. Nearly 200,000 dairy farmers from over 1,200 cooperatives have not been paid by the government-run DDC for their milk for a year or more.&nbsp; The DDC has fixed a quota for buying milk from cooperatives that limits production even during the peak winter months. Farmers in Chitwan are so fed up, they have staged demonstrations in Kathmandu and even poured milk on the East-West Highway in protest.&nbsp; Punam B K’s milk ends up in Bhawani Dairy, a milk processing plant in Chitwan that buys milk from various cooperatives in the district. It was established six years ago by three entrepreneur cousins Devrath Baral, Drishya Baral and Subash Paudel and is now being supported by the Commercial Agriculture for Smallholders and Agribusiness (CASA) project.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20241210081232_4e3c65390b9c5345f807b10cbb8c36b006ef6d3cb972e07b5067f4b2db2be32e.jpg" data-media-id="editor_2" data-image-id="20241210081232_4e3c65390b9c5345f807b10cbb8c36b006ef6d3cb972e07b5067f4b2db2be32e" data-rendition-name="original" width="1500" height="1102" loading="lazy" alt="dairy farmers in Chitwan"> </figure>  This UK-funded project implemented by Swisscontact in Nepal has been supporting agro-businesses in 23 countries in Asia and Africa. They focus on improving the capacity of private dairy and vegetable farmers to find markets and build a sustainable supply chain for their produce. It helps dairies like the one in Chitwan with branding and marketing, as well to track business through a Dairy Management System (DMS) digital database.&nbsp; Bhawani Dairy also got support to conduct orientation for cooperative farmers to learn about new ways to boost productivity with breeding, cowshed management and hygiene maintenance. Many commercial farmers in Chitwan, some with up to 60 cows and buffaloes, have benefited.&nbsp; B K says she only has six cows, so not everything she hears at the orientation about increasing cowshed area is applicable. “We are just happy our milk is not wasted, and we can earn some cash from the surplus,” she says.&nbsp; Bhawani Dairy’s clientele is based entirely in Chitwan and in towns along the East-West Highway. But building on its success here, the company is looking to expand nationwide and target the Kathmandu market. Being a perishable product, the <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/so-far-so-good/nepal-s-milk-heartland-rebounds">diary business is challenging</a>. Businesses also need investment and technical support to diversify into value-added milk products like cheese, yoghurt, ice cream or powdered milk.&nbsp; “For now, the best thing we as a dairy business can do for farmers is to buy their milk at a decent price and pay them in time,” says Drishya Baral of Bhawani Dairy.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20241210081232_6c06efb5674dbcd8679015af543bfda87030755383a13c9269e272af28e85953.jpg" data-media-id="editor_4" data-image-id="20241210081232_6c06efb5674dbcd8679015af543bfda87030755383a13c9269e272af28e85953" data-rendition-name="original" width="1700" height="1275" loading="lazy" alt="dairy farmers in Chitwan"> </figure>  Another agro-industry supported by CASA since 2018 is Himalayan Supervores, a venture that sources farm produce to supply vegetables and other foods to restaurants and hotels in the city, and even export Halal-certified produce to Gulf countries.&nbsp; CASA helped with cold chain management system to keep vegetable produce fresh so that the products earn trust about quality in the national and international market. Himalayan Supervores is already exporting to UAE and Qatar, and is targeting other Gulf countries next. “The guidance provided by the international expert was invaluable, we could not have bought that knowledge even with money,” says Nelson Shrestha of Himalayan Supervores. “It was not about fancy hardware, but how to minimise wastage, increase productivity, save time and money.”&nbsp; Though Himalayan Supervores collects vegetables from vegetable cooperatives, it indirectly works with a network of thousands of cooperative farmers. Its catchment area therefore is enormous, and it has enhanced their knowledge about organic farming methods, bio-pesticides, and the right way to handle and package vegetables. CASA’s most recent tie-up is with Pokhara-based Poshilo Foods, which specialises in increasing the shelf-life of local nutritional food items. During the Covid lockdown <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p3bparajuli/">Prithwi Kallyan Parajuli</a> saw an opportunity to supply nutritional foods that stayed longer, and set up Poshilo.&nbsp; It took traditional satu flour made from dry-roasted pulse, added more nutrients, and packaged it. Four flavours of satu with nutrient values differentiated for various age groups now line the shelves of supermarket chains like KK Mart, Saleways. Poshilo is now exploring the export market in India.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20241210081232_a8dbea8c8d45ac4eff6c37fb47da7ff461989c662ba86d207a008381101acdcf.jpg" data-media-id="editor_6" data-image-id="20241210081232_a8dbea8c8d45ac4eff6c37fb47da7ff461989c662ba86d207a008381101acdcf" data-rendition-name="original" width="1700" height="1275" loading="lazy" alt="dairy farmers in Chitwan"> </figure>  In the five years of helping Nepali agribusinesses, CASA has already teamed up with 35 established companies. Parajuli heaps fulsome praise on the catalytic support and guidance he got early on, not just for product design, but to explore market viability, branding and marketing.&nbsp; He has participated in government-led programs before, but says those are one-off and focus only on technical solutions and do not pay much attention to the important back-end work with management and sales.&nbsp; Says Devrath Baral of Bhawani Dairy in Chitwan: “We would probably have eventually got to where we are now, but it would have taken years longer without CASA. And now we can share our experience with other agribusinesses in Nepal.”

forest-conservation