In addition to bringing devastation to the people of <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/comment/ukraines-lessons-for-sandwiched-nations-like-nepal">Ukraine</a>, the war has had severe impacts on the global scale, even raising the spectre of a nuclear weapon exchange. As the conflict drags into its second year, there have been urgent calls for its resolution, and the matter will come up at the G7 Summit of leading industrial nations in Hiroshima from 19-21 May. In February, an emergency special session of the UN General Assembly passed a resolution calling for the early realisation of peace in Ukraine. Among the operative paragraphs of the resolution was one that urged the ‘immediate cessation of the attacks on the critical infrastructure of Ukraine and any deliberate attacks on civilian objects, including those that are residences, schools and hospitals’. Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/comment/90-seconds-to-midnight">90 seconds to midnight</a>, Daisaku Ikeda With that as a first essential step, all concerned parties must come together to create a space for deliberation toward a complete cessation of hostilities. I would like to propose that, as negotiations advance through the cooperative efforts of the concerned countries, they be joined by representatives of civil society, such as physicians and educators who work in schools and hospitals to protect and nurture people’s lives and futures, participating as observers. In March, the leaders of Russia and China issued a joint statement following their summit meeting which read in part: ‘The two sides call for stopping all moves that lead to tensions and the protraction of fighting to prevent the crisis from getting worse or even out of control.’ This is aligned with the resolution adopted by the emergency special session of the UN General Assembly. The <a href="https://www.g7hiroshima.go.jp/en/summit/about/">G7 Hiroshima Summit </a>next week is an opportunity to build on these commitments and develop concrete plans for negotiations that will lead to a cessation of hostilities. I also urge the G7 to commit at the Hiroshima Summit to taking the lead in discussions on pledges of No First Use of nuclear weapons. The Ukraine crisis is without parallel in the length of time that the threat of use and the fear of actual use of nuclear weapons have persisted. Since the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the hibakusha of those cities, in coordination with the larger civil society movement, have stressed the inhumane nature of nuclear weapons. Non-nuclear-weapon states have engaged in continuous diplomatic efforts, and the states possessing nuclear weapons have exercised self-restraint. As a result, the world has somehow managed to maintain a seventy-seven-year record of non-use of nuclear weapons.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20230509090512_43ed50f0f0bbdd477bc52a0aba3313079bdaf26cdcbedec4f6e9439da3576221.jpg" data-media-id="editor_3" data-image-id="20230509090512_43ed50f0f0bbdd477bc52a0aba3313079bdaf26cdcbedec4f6e9439da3576221" data-rendition-name="original" width="1207" height="702" loading="lazy" alt="G7 summit"> <figcaption>Karipbek Kuyukov (left) at a gathering of anti-nuclear weapons activists in Tokyo ahead of the G7 Summit in Hiroshima. The Kazakh painter was born without arms because of exposure to radiation from the former Soviet nuclear testing site in Semipalatinsk. Photo: Katsuhiro Asagiri, Multimedia Director of INPS Japan.</figcaption> </figure>  If international public opinion and the taboo against the use of nuclear weapons were to fail to provide their braking function, nuclear deterrence policy will compel humankind to stand on the edge of a precipice, never knowing when it might give way. Since the start of <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/ukraine-crisis-hits-nepal-economy-hard">the Ukraine crisis</a>, I have drawn attention to the joint statement by the five nuclear-weapon states (United States, Russia, United Kingdom, France and China) made in January 2022, which reiterated the principle that ‘a nuclear war cannot be won and must never be fought’, and called for it to serve as the basis for reducing the risk of nuclear weapons use. Also of important note is the declaration issued by the G20 group in Indonesia last November, which stated: ‘The use or threat of use of nuclear weapons is inadmissible.’ The G20 member countries include nuclear-weapon states as well as nuclear-dependent states. It is deeply significant that these countries have officially expressed their shared recognition that the use or threat of use of nuclear weapons is ‘inadmissible’ — the spirit underlying the <a href="https://disarmament.unoda.org/wmd/nuclear/tpnw/#:~:text=The%20Treaty%20on%20the%20Prohibition,threaten%20to%20use%20nuclear%20weapons.">Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons</a> (TPNW). It is vital that this message be communicated powerfully to the world from Hiroshima. As the G7 leaders revisit the actual consequences of a nuclear weapon detonation and the bitter lessons of the nuclear era, I urge that they initiate earnest deliberations on making pledges of No First Use so that their shared recognition of the inadmissible nature of nuclear weapons can find expression in changed policies. If agreement could be reached on the principle of No First Use, which was at one point included in drafts of the final statement for last year’s NPT Review Conference, this would establish the basis on which states could together transform the challenging security environments in which they find themselves. I believe it is vital to make the shift to a ‘common security’ paradigm. Commitment to policies of No First Use is indeed a prescription for hope. It can serve as the axle connecting the twin wheels of the NPT and TPNW, speeding realisation of a world free from nuclear weapons. Soka Gakkai International (SGI) has continued to work with the world’s hibakusha, the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, which arose from its parent body IPPNW, and other organisations first for the adoption and now the universalisation of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. As members of civil society, we are committed to promoting the prompt adoption of policies of No First Use of nuclear weapons, generating momentum to transform our age. <a href="https://nam12.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.sokaglobal.org%2Fabout-the-soka-gakkai%2Flives-of-the-founding-presidents%2Fdaisaku-ikeda.html&amp;data=05%7C01%7C%7C530ac282429b4975602d08daf631f280%7C84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7C1%7C0%7C638092991631893918%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&amp;sdata=wxDtf2a8bAHpXRQsESarxm6r2OMbqQQ2Yn9cdYklX2A%3D&amp;reserved=0" target="_blank">Daisaku Ikeda</a> is a peace builder and Buddhist leader, and President of the Soka Gakkai International (<a href="https://nam12.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fsgi-peace.org%2F&amp;data=05%7C01%7C%7C530ac282429b4975602d08daf631f280%7C84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7C1%7C0%7C638092991631893918%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&amp;sdata=sAZGJhUq0jZ6zvwMxPxPP5%2FT6fKkD%2FPoZhyzUI9IFko%3D&amp;reserved=0" target="_blank">SGI</a>). <a href="https://www.daisakuikeda.org/" target="_blank">https://www.daisakuikeda.org/</a>&nbsp; Read <a href="https://www.daisakuikeda.org/sub/resources/works/lect/2023apr27-g7-hiroshima-stmt.html" target="_blank">full statement</a>.

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G7 in Hiroshima must defuse Ukraine nuclear risk

<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109121140/636b92179c7e80680e06f12bjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1000" height="667"/><figcaption></figcaption></figure>UNICEF Goodwill Ambassadors Priyanka Chopra Jonas, David Beckham, Katy Perry, Orlando Bloom, Whoopi Goldberg, Angélique Kidjo, and Liam Neeson have joined a call demanding that G7 leaders commit to urgently donate doses of Covid-19 vaccines to poorer countries.The open letter, published ahead of the three-day G7 Leaders’ Summit beginning 11 June in Cornwall, UK urges the leaders to share a minimum of 20% of Covid-19 vaccine dose supply urgently, to reduce the risk of the virus spreading further and the threat of mutant strains."The world has spent a year and a half battling the Covid-19 pandemic, but the virus is still spreading in many countries and producing new variants with the potential to put us all back where we started," the letter reads. "This means more school closures, more healthcare disruptions, and greater economic fallout – threating the futures of families and childreneverywhere."Nepal has fully vaccinated close to 700,000 people using either AstraZeneca Covishield or Sinopharm VeroCell vaccines, a mere 4% of its total 30 million population.People in the age group 60-64 are currently being inoculated with their first dose with one million additional doses of VeroCell gifted by China earlier this month.But what Nepal immediately needs is Covidshield vaccines for at least 1.4 million Nepalis above 65 years who had received their first dose three months ago and are past their recommended time for the booster shot.The Serum Institute of India wasn't able to deliver remaining one million doses of Covishield due to the continued Indian ban on the export. The COVAX facility for global equitable distribution of Covid vaccine was able to send only the first consignment of 348,000 doses of Covishield to Nepal due to the bottleneck in supply.On Wednesday, Nepal recorded 4,344 new cases while 5,768 people made a successful recovery. There were 81 fatalities in the past 24 hours. There are now 80,336 active cases. Of 1,312 people in ICUs across the country, 375 are in ventilator support.The COVAX facility is already facing a shortfall of 190 million doses. By donating 20% of their vaccines between June and August, which amounts to 150 million doses, the G7 countries could temporarily compensate for this shortfall.And the G7 nations could do so without significant delay to current plans to vaccinate domestic adult populations, according to a recent data analysis by Airfinity, the life sciences research facility.“The pandemic won’t be over until it’s over everywhere, so it’s vital that all communities around the world have fair access to Covid-19 vaccines urgently,” says David Beckham, English footballer and UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador.Without urgently ensuring fair and equitable access supply, the world will continue to be at risk of deadly virus mutations – like the devastating second wave of Covid-19 sweeping across India and other South Asian countries including Nepal, Pakistan and Afghanistan.“The crisis in India shows why we must act now to avoid further deadly mutations ravaging low- and middle- income nations around the world. UNICEF and its COVAX partners are ensuring vaccines and treatments reaches the world’s most vulnerable populations, but cannot do it alone,” says Priyanka Chopra Jonas, Bollywood actor and UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador.“I’ve joined my fellow UNICEF Goodwill Ambassadors in signing this letter, urgently asking G7 leaders to make this commitment at the UK summit this week, to keep families and children everywhere safe from Covid-19.”The letter reiterates that this weekend’s summit is a vital opportunity to get vaccines where they are most needed, fast, and urges leaders to set out a roadmap to scale-up donations as supplies increase, noting that forecasts suggest as many as one billion doses may be available for donation by year end.“Countries need not choose between fighting the disease at home or fighting it abroad. We can, and must, do both simultaneously – and immediately,” says Henrietta Fore, UNICEF Executive Director. “This is a pivotal time in the fight against Covid-19, as leaders meet to set priorities for what form this fight will take in the coming weeks and months. The disease is not respecting boundaries on a map. Our fight to get ahead of the virus, and its variants, should not either.”The 28 high-profile UNICEF Ambassadors and Supporters joining the cause to ensure fair and equitable vaccine supply to low- and middle- income countries are Ramla Ali, Fernando Alonso, David Beckham, Orlando Bloom, José Manuel Calderón, Sofia Carson, Gemma Chan, Priyanka Chopra Jonas, Olivia Colman, Billie Eilish, Pau Gasol, Whoopi Goldberg, David Harewood, Sir Chris Hoy, Angelique Kidjo, Téa Leoni, Lucy Liu, Juan Manuel López Iturriaga, Ewan McGregor, Alyssa Milano, Andy Murray, Liam Neeson, Liam Payne, Katy Perry, Sergio Ramos, Claudia Schiffer, Teresa Viejo and P!nk.

Hollywood call for urgent vaccine supply

<figure><img width="1644" height="1084" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110131124/636ced8d9c7e80680e09add2jpeg.jpg" alt=""/><figcaption>All photos: UNICEF NEPAL</figcaption></figure>UNICEF has made an urgent appeal ahead of a G7 summit next month to ask developed countries to release some of their vaccine stockpiles to fight the second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic sweeping the Subcontinent.UNICEF with WHO are sponsors of the COVAX Facility that had promised to procure vaccines for developing countries so that they could inoculate at least 20% of their populations. Nepal has only received 348,000 out of the promised 2.248 million doses in March. By the end of this week, the global Covid vaccine equity scheme will have been able to deliver only 65 million of the 170 million doses it was supposed to ship out by now. By the time G7 leaders gather in the UK next month, and as <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/this-is-war/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">a deadly new surge devastated India and Nepal</a>, the shortfall will near 190 million doses."We have issued repeated warnings of the risks of letting down our guard and leaving low and middle income countries without equitable access to vaccines, diagnostics and therapeutics," UNICEF Executive Director Henrietta Fore said in a strongly-worded statement issued in New York on Monday.She added: "While the situation in India is tragic, it is not unique. Cases are exploding and health systems are struggling in countries near – like Nepal, Sri Lanka and Maldives – and far, like Argentina and Brazil. The cost for children and families will be incalculable."On Monday, Nepal recorded a spike in new cases <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/covid-19-numbers-slightly-down-in-nepal/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">after a slight dip over the weekend</a> with 9,247 new infections, 3,098 of them in Kathmandu Valley. Test positivity rate climbed back to 41.8%. Total fatalities in the last 24 hours also saw a notable increase at 214.There were 5,767 recoveries while 6,970 individuals are undergoing treatment in various hospitals across the country. Of them, 1,259 are in ICU and 400 in ventilators support. <figure><img width="2058" height="1238" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110131124/636ced909c7e80680e09add3jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption></figcaption></figure><img width="640" height="355" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110131124/636ced939c7e80680e09add4jpeg.jpg" alt=""><img width="640" height="345" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110131124/636ced969c7e80680e09add5jpeg.jpg" alt="">Nepal restarted its vaccination drive from 16 May for some 300,000 people in the age group 18-59 years who received their first dose of the Chinese VeroCell vaccine last month.So far less than 400,000 of Nepal’s 30 million population have been inoculated with both doses while the fate of 1.3 million who received the first shot of Covishield vaccine remains uncertain because of the ban on exports of the AstraZeneca covishield vaccine by India.Nepal has run out of AstraZeneca Covishield stock, and the COVAX initiative has not been able to deliver after its first consignment of 348,000 doses of the Covishield jab in March (pictured above).The <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/how-nepal-can-survive-2nd-covid-wave/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">clearest pathway out of this pandemic</a> is a global, equitable distribution of vaccines, diagnostics and therapeutics. But COVAX is undersupplied due to limited production capacity, particularly because of the surge in India, which is a global hub for vaccine production.Vaccine nationalism and lack of funding have also played a part in delaying the roll-out. The longer the virus continues to spread unchecked, the higher the risk of more deadly or contagious variants emerging. New data analysis provided by Airfinity, the life sciences research facility, and commissioned by the UK National Committee for UNICEF, indicates that G7 nations and ‘Team Europe’ group of European Union Member States could donate around 153 million vaccine doses if they shared just 20% of their available supply over June, July and August.Critically, they could do so while still meeting their commitments to vaccinate their own populations and buttress vulnerable countries against becoming the next global hotspot while doing so, warns Fore in her statement, adding that supporting the expansion of vaccine manufacturing capacity will help the global vaccinate race.She says: "These measures are critical, but they won’t change anything overnight. Sharing immediately available excess doses is a minimum, essential and emergency stop-gap measure, and it is needed right now."UNICEF helped the Nepal government on Monday to fly in 155,000 Covid-19 antigen test kits to Kathmandu. The kits will be used for quick testing to gauge community spread and at the Indian border.

UNICEF urges G7 to dispatch vaccines

<figure><img width="1644" height="1084" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109111148/636b85779c7e80680e0677f5jpeg.jpg" alt=""/><figcaption>All photos: UNICEF NEPAL</figcaption></figure>UNICEF has made an urgent appeal ahead of a G7 summit next month to ask developed countries to release some of their vaccine stockpiles to fight the second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic sweeping the Subcontinent.UNICEF with WHO are sponsors of the COVAX Facility that had promised to procure vaccines for developing countries so that they could inoculate at least 20% of their populations. Nepal has only received 348,000 out of the promised 2.248 million doses in March. By the end of this week, the global Covid vaccine equity scheme will have been able to deliver only 65 million of the 170 million doses it was supposed to ship out by now. By the time G7 leaders gather in the UK next month, and as <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/this-is-war/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">a deadly new surge devastated India and Nepal</a>, the shortfall will near 190 million doses."We have issued repeated warnings of the risks of letting down our guard and leaving low and middle income countries without equitable access to vaccines, diagnostics and therapeutics," UNICEF Executive Director Henrietta Fore said in a strongly-worded statement issued in New York on Monday.She added: "While the situation in India is tragic, it is not unique. Cases are exploding and health systems are struggling in countries near – like Nepal, Sri Lanka and Maldives – and far, like Argentina and Brazil. The cost for children and families will be incalculable."On Monday, Nepal recorded a spike in new cases <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/covid-19-numbers-slightly-down-in-nepal/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">after a slight dip over the weekend</a> with 9,247 new infections, 3,098 of them in Kathmandu Valley. Test positivity rate climbed back to 41.8%. Total fatalities in the last 24 hours also saw a notable increase at 214.There were 5,767 recoveries while 6,970 individuals are undergoing treatment in various hospitals across the country. Of them, 1,259 are in ICU and 400 in ventilators support. <figure><img width="2058" height="1238" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109111148/636b857a9c7e80680e0677f6jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption></figcaption></figure><img width="640" height="355" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109111148/636b857d9c7e80680e0677f7jpeg.jpg" alt=""><img width="640" height="345" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109111148/636b85809c7e80680e0677f8jpeg.jpg" alt="">Nepal restarted its vaccination drive from 16 May for some 300,000 people in the age group 18-59 years who received their first dose of the Chinese VeroCell vaccine last month.So far less than 400,000 of Nepal’s 30 million population have been inoculated with both doses while the fate of 1.3 million who received the first shot of Covishield vaccine remains uncertain because of the ban on exports of the AstraZeneca covishield vaccine by India.Nepal has run out of AstraZeneca Covishield stock, and the COVAX initiative has not been able to deliver after its first consignment of 348,000 doses of the Covishield jab in March (pictured above).The <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/how-nepal-can-survive-2nd-covid-wave/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">clearest pathway out of this pandemic</a> is a global, equitable distribution of vaccines, diagnostics and therapeutics. But COVAX is undersupplied due to limited production capacity, particularly because of the surge in India, which is a global hub for vaccine production.Vaccine nationalism and lack of funding have also played a part in delaying the roll-out. The longer the virus continues to spread unchecked, the higher the risk of more deadly or contagious variants emerging. New data analysis provided by Airfinity, the life sciences research facility, and commissioned by the UK National Committee for UNICEF, indicates that G7 nations and ‘Team Europe’ group of European Union Member States could donate around 153 million vaccine doses if they shared just 20% of their available supply over June, July and August.Critically, they could do so while still meeting their commitments to vaccinate their own populations and buttress vulnerable countries against becoming the next global hotspot while doing so, warns Fore in her statement, adding that supporting the expansion of vaccine manufacturing capacity will help the global vaccinate race.She says: "These measures are critical, but they won’t change anything overnight. Sharing immediately available excess doses is a minimum, essential and emergency stop-gap measure, and it is needed right now."UNICEF helped the Nepal government on Monday to fly in 155,000 Covid-19 antigen test kits to Kathmandu. The kits will be used for quick testing to gauge community spread and at the Indian border.

<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221107111152/6368e3fc9c7e80680e0333b2jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1192" height="830"/>This month President Trump launched the opening salvo of a trade war by <a href="http://time.com/5297073/donald-trump-steel-aluminum-tariffs-eu-canada-mexico/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">unilaterally imposing tariffs on steel and aluminum imported into the country from the European Union (EU), Canada and Mexico.</a>Canada immediately warned that it would announce retaliatory measures. The EU and Mexico have their guns loaded. The US and China are also at the brink of a trade war.On 15 June, Trump announced tariffs on $50 billion worth of Chinese goods and warned that any retaliation by Beijing would trigger another round of tariffs on Chinese goods. But <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/15/us/politics/us-china-tariffs-trade.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">China struck back</a> within hours, slapping the same amount of tariff on American imports, from agriculture and seafood to cars and energy products.Hopefully the worst can still be avoided, but the experience of the 1930s and the subsequent Great Depression suggest that <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/apr/05/us-china-trade-war-supply-chains-consumers" target="_blank" rel="noopener">trade wars can have serious economic and social consequences on the entire global economy</a>. The IMF has warned that Trump’s new import tariffs pose a stark threat to the global trading system and will ultimately damage the US economy.In addition to starting <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-43512098" target="_blank" rel="noopener">trade wars</a>, Trump’s trade policies are undermining the post-World War II rules-based multilateral trading system established by the US itself, as the hegemon, with the cooperation of other like-minded countries mainly in Europe.Under the auspices of GATT and its successor the WTO, globally tariffs had fallen to record low levels, the volume of international trade had expanded, bringing unprecedented economic prosperity all over the world.Seventy years on, the Doha Round has stalled and some of the WTO rules and exceptions to the rules need to be revisited. But instead of reforming the institution, Trump has threatened to withdraw the US from the WTO – which could happen if the WTO rules against the recent metal tariffs which the US imposed on national security grounds.The US is also undermining the <a href="https://www.wto.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">WTO</a> by refusing to appoint new judges to the WTO Appellate Body, accusing it of bias against the US. The WTO has traditionally appointed judges based on consensus among its members. Perhaps it is time to change this method to save the rules-based system.At the recent G7 summit, with a single tweet from Air Force One while flying to Singapore, Trump drove a deep wedge between the US and other countries that traditionally consider themselves Washington’s closest allies and which had cooperated closely with the US to help build the post-World War II rules-based trading system. The summit was a fiasco.The future of the G7, which is supposed to be an oversight body for global matters including trade, is therefore uncertain. Contrary to what Trump had said at the recent Davos meeting that ‘America First does not mean America Alone’, the G7 is now being described by many as G6+1.The European Union countries and Japan, China, and India should unite, resist, and speak up in favour of the WTO. They should also cooperate more closely in resolving issues, for example, on agriculture, trade, and in reforming the WTO. One reform proposal is that the WTO should address the 21st century trade issues which are ‘behind the border’ such as rules for investment protection, intellectual property and regulations on product standards and their harmonisation.Global value chain or parts and components trade now comprise about 70% of global trade. Currently the WTO focuses on 20th century trade issues such as tariffs, quotas, and subsidies. It is the mega-free trade agreements such as the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comprehensive_and_Progressive_Agreement_for_Trans-Pacific_Partnership" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP)</a> and, to a lesser extent, the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regional_Comprehensive_Economic_Partnership" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP)</a> that are focusing on 21st century trade issues.It is also time to start thinking of replacing the G7 with the G20. Of course, the G20 is not perfect and there is a need to enhance both its ‘input’ legitimacy – its exclusive nature and lack of broader representation – and ‘output’ legitimacy – its ability to strengthen international cooperation and come up with solutions.But it is the only forum where, in addition to the G7 countries, systemically important emerging markets have a representation and voice. The G7 members once ruled the world but now their share of world GDP is declining from about three-fourths in the 1990s to about one-half currently. The G7’s share of world population has also declined from about 20% to 15% during the same period, with aging populations in most countries. On the other hand, the G20 accounts for 85% of the world’s GDP and over 60% of its population. It could well save the global trading system from the depredation of the go-it-alone tendency of the US.Pradumna B Rana is Associate Professor at the Centre for Multilateralism Studies at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS), Nanyang Technological University in Singapore.

Trade tit-for-tat

The daily 10-hour curfew at Tribhuvan International Airport from 8 November that will last five months has affected tourism during Nepal’s peak season, with some hotels and trekking agencies here reporting cancellations into spring next year. The reduced hours at Nepal’s main aviation gateway till 31 March means that a third of all flights have been cut. This has also caused ticket prices to surge by up to eight times of normal fares. For example a Kathmandu-Delhi ticket that used to cost Rs12,000 is now listed at Rs50,000, and even then seats are not available.&nbsp; “Especially if they are here to trek, change in flight dates can cause tourists to miss their connections,” says Jagan Timilsina, who runs a trail running and outdoor education business. &nbsp; Pokhara is feeling the brunt as hotels report last-minute cancellations for November because of flight disorders. Some hoteliers also say although there have been some cancelled trips, most itineraries have been rescheduled.&nbsp; Hari Prasad Sharma Gaire of the local chapter of the Hotel Association of Nepal says the Kathmandu airport closure should have been timed for the off-season. He told us: “Starting construction during the peak tourist season was a mistake and will cause the tourism industry to lose a lot of business. The upgrade could have been spread out over a longer time but closed for fewer hours at night so that disruption was minimal.”&nbsp; Nearly a third of the 1.2 million tourists who visit Nepal annually come to Pokhara, which is also the gateway to Mustang, the Annapurna treks and pilgrimage tourism to Muktinath. Located by scenic lakes with a range of adventure sports like hot air ballooning, paragliding, canyoning, bungee and ziplines, Pokhara is also popular among diaspora Nepalis. “Besides its own attractions, Pokhara is really the hub for central Nepal, and we have been trying to get visitors to extend their stay here,” says Timilsina, who started out as a trekking porter and rose up the ranks to be an expedition guide and entrepreneur. &nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2024111603114_0e071ce63ea9b0a9a7ee76f8c3cea0ff08c6767c41dd09f6bc4413d2db067a60.jpg" data-media-id="editor_0" data-image-id="2024111603114_0e071ce63ea9b0a9a7ee76f8c3cea0ff08c6767c41dd09f6bc4413d2db067a60" data-rendition-name="original" width="3500" height="2333" loading="lazy" alt="Pokhara's tourism woes NT"> <figcaption>Tourist arrivals in Pokhara have slumped since the disruptions at Kathmandu airport due to upgrading work. Photo: KRISHNA MANI BARAL/NEPALI TIMES ARCHIVE</figcaption> </figure>  Even without the Kathmandu airport closure affecting tourist arrivals, Pokhara was already suffering from a decline due to many factors like the poor state of the Prithvi Highway, the shortage of luxury accommodation for high-end tourists, and the reluctance of international airlines to start direct flights to Pokhara despite an expensive new airport that was inaugurated two years ago.&nbsp; “There was a lot of initial excitement on the construction of the international airport,” says Timilsina, “but it hasn’t delivered as expected due to politics. People have invested in nearby businesses, and have faced losses.” India has blocked direct flights from its cities to Pokhara because the facility was built by a Chinese company. Although tourists and pilgrims from India hit record levels this year, the poor state of the highways and the Indian bus accident on the highway to Kathmandu in July that killed 27 pilgrims from Maharashtra state dampened arrival figures. Gaire says, “While tourist arrivals to Pokhara are now approaching pre-Covid levels, we haven’t seen the improvement we were expecting. We need a better marketing strategy. What are our embassies abroad doing?”&nbsp; Indeed, Pokhara used to be a favourite destination for Chinese tourists. There was a boom in arrivals from China before Covid, especially after a popular Chinese tv serial was shot on location here. But arrivals from China have not really recovered since the pandemic because of the economic slowdown there. Promoting Pokhara airport to handle direct flights from Chengdu or Kunming could revive Chinese arrivals.&nbsp; Nepal’s Civil Aviation Authority (CAAN) has used the Kathmandu airport closure as an excuse to arm-twist international airlines to start flying to Bhairawa, which has barely been in operation for two years since it was inaugurated. So far, Fly Dubai, Thai AirAsia, Jazeera and Qatar are flying to Bhairawa, but most use it as a hop before flying on to Kathmandu, which does not reduce congestion at Kathmandu.&nbsp; An ideal situation could have been to get Pokhara to run to full capacity while Kathmandu is partially out of action. Pokhara entrepreneurs are puzzled why the CAAN and the national government have not taken more interest in promoting Pokhara as an alternative to reduce the congestion in Kathmandu. Nepal’s football team that was flying to Dushanbe this week couldn’t get tickets via Delhi, and took a domestic flight to Bhadrapur, crossed over to Bagdogra and flew on to Delhi to catch their flight to Tajikistan.

Pokhara’s tourism woes

An excerpt of a conversation between an anthropologist and linguist Mark Turin, PhD and Lava Deo Awasthi, PhD, the first Chairperson of the Language Commission of Nepal. Nepali Times: What is the role of Nepal’s Language Commission and when was it formed? Lava Deo Awasthi: The Constitution of Nepal (2015) created a Language Commission (LC) with the following four core mandates: (a) to develop eligibility criteria for gaining status as an official language and offer recommendations to the Government of Nepal about the official language(s) in each province; (b) to offer recommendations to the Government about measures to be taken for the conservation, promotion, and development of languages; (c) to suggest possible ways of using mother tongues in education by assessing their stage of development; and, (d) to conduct studies, carry out research and perform monitoring functions about the response to the constitutional provisions for the federalisation of languages in Nepal. The Commission was founded in 2016 and I was appointed as the Chairperson of the Commission in September of the same year by the Cabinet of Ministers. What in your own professional and educational background helped to prepare you for the role? I have worked with the Government of Nepal for about 30 years, alongside holding teaching appointments at universities in Nepal. Prior to assuming the role of the Chairperson of the Commission, I served as permanent Secretary to the Government of Nepal and worked as the Chief Administrator of the Central Development Region. I was appointed as Director General of the Department of Education and completed my assignments as Joint Secretary at the Planning, Monitoring and Educational Administration Divisions of the Ministry of Education.&nbsp; In addition, I have taught courses as a visiting professor at Tribhuvan University and Kathmandu University for more than three decades. Later, I also started supervising MPhil and PhD students at the Far Western University in Mahendranagar, Kanchanpur. My PhD project from the Danish University of Education was dedicated to making sense of Nepal’s social construct and commitment to multilingualism, exploring the persistence of monolingual school practices in the face of constitutional promises and state commitments to multilingualism. I conducted a survey of Nepal’s languages and carried out a qualitative study of the Tharu language in the district of Bardia. I analysed language policy statements and explored classroom pedagogies in schools. I documented how teachers showed a tendency to resist change and maintain the status quo because they were not consulted when new educational language policies were introduced. Teachers also exhibited a deeply-held adherence to the Gurukul education system which appears to have been harnessed as a way to resist newer pedagogical ideologies imported from the West. Recognising how engrained these rich traditions of knowledge transmission are, I wanted to know how students’ engagement in the learning process appeared to have dwindled, creating a gap between children’s home languages and the language(s) of the school. Whilst statutory provisions for education in the mother tongue were oriented towards promotion, classroom pedagogies remained resolutely monolingual and exclusionary. The result was that multilingual education policies that had been introduced in Nepal did not result in meaningful changes in classroom practices. My research was also a reflection of childhood traumas I had experienced at the earliest stage of formal education. My home language, Baitadeli, has a strong oral tradition and no written literature. English is my fifth language in terms of exposure and competence, and my home district of Baitadi is well-known for its loyalty to the local language. I had to drop out of school after completing my sixth grade. Staying at home, I received much attention from my family and had much greater exposure to my native language, culture and environment. My overall impression is that dropping out of school had a surprisingly positive impact on my life. The opportunity offered a surprising dividend for me as I gained mastery in my mother tongue and received extensive exposure to folk literature and Indigenous knowledge and survival skills, cultivating my interest in language, culture, literature and local cosmologies.&nbsp; Now that I reflect on it, I appreciate how language has always played a key role in my life. I grew up in a multilingual environment: brought up with Baitadeli, Hindi, Sanskrit, Nepali and English. Language played a major part in my decision to leave school and my later success is closely linked to my competence in several languages. It was rewarding to be at home with my family as I deepened my understanding of native language and culture, which in turn helped me to harness and refine my art of living. Languages matter so much to me because they are both software and hardware. Later, when I was in secondary school, I realised that my command of my home language contributed significantly to enhancing my Nepali and English. I used my mother tongue as a form of linguistic capital to strengthen my competence in both English and Nepali.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2024111811110_5400ba54792bf9e4854e1c1effde8bf09804e99647f23513700b450cc49adc4a.jpg" data-media-id="editor_0" data-image-id="2024111811110_5400ba54792bf9e4854e1c1effde8bf09804e99647f23513700b450cc49adc4a" data-rendition-name="original" width="1000" height="1500" loading="lazy" alt="Dr Lava Deo Awasthi"> </figure>  In your term as the Commission’s first Chairperson, what were your strategic goals and objectives? My first strategic goal was to create an environment conducive to implementing the provisions of the Constitution of Nepal in relation to language. My priority was to prepare a detailed action plan for my six-year tenure in consultation with language stakeholders, including language experts, professionals, activists, Indigenous community members and representatives of relevant national and local-level institutions. The Commission formed a body of high-level advisors to ensure that the Chairperson’s work was well-informed and credible. The advisors to the committee had highly visible professional and social reputations in Nepal and had much experience in the field of language conservation, promotion, research and development. Another strategy we adopted was to establish close institutional linkages with federal, provincial, and local level governments for collecting opinions and disseminating information widely.&nbsp; What critical issues did you have to consider while discharging your duty? When Nepal’s new Constitution was drafted, a number of concerns could not be adequately addressed. These related to the conservation of languages, the recognition of official languages at the provincial level, and the use of mother tongues at federal, provincial, and local levels. These unresolved issues and matters pertaining to the federalizsation of Nepal’s languages were passed on to the Language Commission to address and resolve.&nbsp; Regarding the recommendations for official languages, a five-year timeline had been set by the Constitution. With great effort, we succeeded in having all provinces agree to recognise their official languages as per the recommendations of the Commission.&nbsp; What were your greatest achievements during your term? One of the greatest achievements was that we succeeded in setting a language agenda at all levels. Nepal’s language communities and other stakeholders expressed the view that this was the first time their languages were recognised and their voices heard by the state. People participated in debates and discussed issues relating to language that in all likelihood had never before happened in their lifetimes, at least not in ways that were supported by the state. We encouraged people to speak in their own language(s) and provided translators during plenary sessions and group discussions. Another major achievement was developing criteria for the status planning of languages at federal, provincial, and local levels, and to recommend 11 province-level official languages, in addition to the Nepali language. Similarly, a notable achievement was recognising Indigenous languages spoken by smaller communities, all of whom faced ongoing marginalisation and high levels of endangerment. The Commission identified 9 new languages that had not been reported in the 2011 census, and provided a framework for recognising official languages within a municipality. The commission emphasised the need for documentation and digitisation of languages for developing corpora and archives at national and sub-national levels.&nbsp; Languages of historical importance as well as classical languages were given recognition for their protection, growth, and development. Recommendations were made for the conservation, promotion and development of Nepal’s marginalised languages that are threatened by majority languages and for those languages that hold particular power at local and global levels. Recommendations were also made for how best to safeguard Nepal’s languages from the ever-growing spread of English and other powerful, globalising languages.&nbsp; A further important aspect of the Commission’s work was to emphasise mother tongue medium instruction in schools across the nation. Recognising the role of language in children’s cognitive, socio-emotional and academic development, the Commission suggested strategies for linking schools with ward-level language clusters for use in the classroom. The importance of nurturing and respecting a child’s first language was reiterated in the Commission’s recommendations for children’s learning and all-round development. By the end of my term, a remarkable change could be observed in terms of building trust within and across Nepal’s diverse language communities. A network of language groups and stakeholders across the country proved to be a powerful way of bringing all language communities under one roof for a collective review of and response to the process of federalising language policy. The many language stakeholders across Nepal appreciated the opportunity to work within a coordinated framework, and—feeling empowered by this—seemed genuinely enthusiastic about the initiatives taken by the Commission.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2024111811114_b45297fdd2fedf17bdb6313e495a1062c0d87f1a19fa5349f871f220b75f93ab.jpg" data-media-id="editor_1" data-image-id="2024111811114_b45297fdd2fedf17bdb6313e495a1062c0d87f1a19fa5349f871f220b75f93ab" data-rendition-name="original" width="1500" height="1000" loading="lazy" alt="Dr Lava Deo Awasthi NT"> </figure>  What were the most significant challenges for you as Chairperson? One of the major challenges was winning people’s trust in advocating for the mission of the Language Commission. I faced considerable resistance as I sought to emphasise the use of native languages in families and communities. While the Commission advocated for multilingualism and promoted linguistic diversity, the prevailing policy circles and central level institutions had been deeply influenced by a one-language discourse and ideology of Nepali only. The spread of English also poses a huge threat to Nepal’s languages. However, people in power do not seem to see this as a problem. They tend to abandon their own languages in preference for English. The way that Nepal’s municipalities are increasingly introducing English as a medium of instruction at the earliest stage of a child’s school-based education has proven to be detrimental to their cognitive development, socio-emotional wellbeing and academic success. Most of Nepal’s elites have been heavily influenced by the spread of English and remain unaware about its impact on their home languages as well as on the inter-generational transmission of Indigenous languages in the country. I wish that we could have produced more compelling evidence to show the consequences of making poor policy choices for our children’s education. Demystification calls for a collective response. To make change happen across this entire, complex and federalising country was daunting work and left like a race against time. I feel that I could have done more to offer concrete examples in favour of using the mother tongue as a medium of children’s education at the earliest stages of a child’s education. What do you see the Language Commission achieving in the next 5-10 years? The Language Commission will have to ensure that all of its key recommendations are implemented at all levels of government. In 10 years’ time, all seven of Nepal’s provinces will have their official languages in place. These languages will also be recognised as languages of federal business, alongside Nepali. I anticipate that all official languages in the federal and provincial systems will have a national portal for inter-language corpora using machine translation to fulfil their federal, provincial and local level language functions, and that all languages spoken in Nepal will be represented through a digital database in the national archive. The Office of Statistics will monitor the status of Nepal’s languages over time. By the end of the next decade, each municipality in the country will have recognised one or two official languages at the local level, based on speech populations. Other local languages will have received community-level legal recognition and official status to fulfil their functional roles. Languages that are highly endangered or at risk will be entitled to receive state grants for enhancing local level capabilities to encourage families and young learners to speak the language. Incentive schemes will be introduced in municipalities that promote language within the family and at home. Inter-generational transmission of languages will have received welcome and timely attention across Nepal. It is my hope that all schools—public and private—will have introduced mother tongue medium instruction at the earliest stage of school education, at least up to class five. Nepali, English and other national as well as classical and foreign languages will be taught as subjects. The existing policy of English medium education at the early stage of education will be abolished. The Government of Nepal will be held accountable if the number of speakers of any language decreases or if local communities face language loss and greater endangerment. Under the aegis of the Language Commission, a Centre for Language Research and Innovation will be created with world-class facilities for language documentation and archiving in collaboration with Tribhuvan University’s Central Department of Linguistics and other relevant institutions. Harnessing the vastness of Nepal’s linguistic diversity, the Language Commission will morph into a centre of excellence for national and international communities to engage in collaborative language research, to share experiences and document best practices at in service of global linguistic diversity and Nepal’s many Indigenous languages.

Languages are both software and hardware

Turkish Airlines has introduced a new amenity kit collection designed in collaboration with French fashion house Lanvin for international business class passengers on flights more than five hours. It consists of five pieces designed for sustainability and elegance. Bags are reusable and will consist of Lanvin cosmetic products like hand and body lotions and lip balm. Eye masks and socks are made from recycled materials, earplugs are packaged in paper and the toothbrush is bamboo.

Turkish amenity kit

Earlier this month, Nepal received Rs1.6 billion from the World Bank as part of its <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/will-nepal-ever-be-paid-for-saving-trees">Forest Carbon Partnership Facility (FCPF)</a>, rewarding the country for increasing its carbon sink capacity. Nepal is the first in South Asia to benefit from this facility, and it is specifically to recompense the country for increasing forest cover in 13 Tarai districts between 2018-2024. “We are also trying to get another Rs13 billion from the facility while also preparing for free market-based carbon trading in the international market,” says Nabaraj Pudasaini of the REDD (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation in Developing Countries) Implementation Centre. Big emitters of greenhouse gases are under pressure to reduce their carbon emissions, and many have signed agreements to do so by investing in decarbonisation projects in developing countries. Countries that emit more than a specified amount of carbon would be able to buy emission rights from countries that emit less. Nepal is internationally known for its community forestry program which has been largely credited for <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/tree-mendous">increasing tree cover to over 45%</a> in less than three decades. But this achievement had not been adequately recognised or rewarded internationally before. Forests, especially in the tropics, absorb and store large amounts of carbon while releasing oxygen in a process known as photosynthesis. <a href="https://www.fao.org/forest-resources-assessment/en/">Preventing deforestation</a> and increasing canopy cover is considered a much more achievable goal than reducing emission in the scale necessary to limit global average temperature to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels. COP11 in Montreal in 2005 first proposed reducing carbon emissions by improving forest quality by halting degradation. By 2015, a new mechanism of financial assistance was created to help less developed countries with sustainable management of forests <a href="https://www.un-redd.org/">(called REDD+)</a>. Under this new mechanism, countries receive aid based on their efforts to prevent forest degradation and increase carbon sink, and in 2021 the World Bank was entrusted with implementing it. Nepal’s FCPF receipt this month was calculated on the basis of 2.4 million tons of carbon stored at a rate of $5 per ton. In the second phase, Nepal will receive more than Rs4 billion within the next year for storing an additional 7 million tons of carbon. Eighty per cent of this amount obtained from carbon trading needs to be spent on local beneficiaries and indigenous communities.&nbsp; But carbon trading is not easy, Nepal needs to prove that protected forests will not be destroyed in future.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20241121091132_c8a381c9a95aa86fec558951650d97bb87914741f01766982ba2b086af001f16.jpg" data-media-id="editor_4" data-image-id="20241121091132_c8a381c9a95aa86fec558951650d97bb87914741f01766982ba2b086af001f16" data-rendition-name="original" width="1500" height="999" loading="lazy" alt="Greenbacks for greenery NT "> <figcaption>Photo: KUNDA DIXIT</figcaption> </figure>  Explains carbon trading expert Yugan Manandhar. “Forests should be handed over to the community and shown that they are managed sustainably. Proving this will be particularly challenging; forest encroachment and degradation is rife in the Tarai.” <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/multimedia/nepal-is-going-up-in-smoke">Deliberate forest fires</a> have also added to the challenge because they increase carbon emissions and reduce the sink capacity of forests. The basis for the amount that Nepal received was set five years ago by calculating the carbon reserves of forests in the 13 Tarai districts. In the meantime, sustainable forest management, tree plantation, forest destruction and erosion control were prioritised to increase carbon reserves in those forests. Nepal is signing another carbon trading agreement during the ongoing Baku climate conference. The <a href="https://www.leafcoalition.org/">Lowering Emissions by Accelerating Forest finance (LEAF Coalition) </a>proposes to sell the carbon stored in the forests of Bagmati, Gandaki and Lumbini provinces. For this, Nepal signed the letter of intent three years ago at COP26 in Glasgow. The target is to store 70 million tons of carbon in 32 million hectares of forest in the three provinces per which Nepal will receive Rs13 billion in four years at $10 per ton with provisions to increase the rate if various conditions are met. However, the agreement in itself doesn’t guarantee the amount. According to the targets set by Nepal, forest degradation should be stopped and carbon reserves increased by protecting tree cover. Preparations are also underway for clean air carbon trade because it has offset fossil fuel use by introducing 30,000 electric vehicles. Nepal has been selected for the first round to receive $40 million within one and a half years through the Clean Air System of the World Bank. Given that most of Nepal’s energy mix is from biomass, replacing them with electric stoves can significantly improve health by reducing indoor pollution as well as strengthen the country’s capacity for carbon trade. “Nepal's goal now is to sell carbon in the free market where carbon credits are bought and sold based on supply and demand in an open and transparent manner,” adds Pudasaini of the REDD Implementation Centre. “Nepal can now set its own price and bargain with interested buyer countries and organisations.” Lately, India has been discussing setting up a carbon market. Nepal has exported Rs12.72 billion worth of electricity to India so far this fiscal year, which can be traded under Nepal’s carbon market. “Carbon trading can create significant economic benefits for Nepal, which will help reinvest in development and environmental protection projects,” says Manandhar. “But we must prioritise sustainable management of forests, cutting older trees and allowing regrowth as well as promoting electric stoves and electric vehicles.”