“If you are 45 or younger then you have never experienced a normal climate,” said Richard Mahapatra, managing editor of environmental magazine Down to Earth. His presentation ‘Politics of Environment and the Media’ was the ending session of the third annual Himal Media Mela 2024.&nbsp; The theme of Press Freedom Day this year is ‘Press for the Planet’, and all workshops and sessions, including Mahapatra’s, provided a plethora of story ideas for the journalists gathered at Yalamaya Kendra.&nbsp; “Climate change isn’t just a story anymore, it is the context where every story takes place,” says Mahapatra. “Everybody and everything is a climate story today. Migration happens on the backdrop of climate crises. And economic stories are invariably also climate stories.”&nbsp; Reflecting on exploits since the industrial age, Mahapatra highlighted how the human way of life has been a catalyst for the climate crisis that has affected Earth.&nbsp; "We have altered the planet so much that it is entering a new age that is named after us: The Anthropocene,” said Mahapatra.&nbsp; Mahapatra cemented the idea that there is a politics to the environment, a problem of the rich vs the poor. Mahapatra added that it is the poor who are left on the degraded land with tremendously polluted air, water, and land.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2024050316054_2311d978cb41e1b00f2626886324a23e4d729f48174250156adfb721d062268a.jpg" data-media-id="editor_0" data-image-id="2024050316054_2311d978cb41e1b00f2626886324a23e4d729f48174250156adfb721d062268a" data-rendition-name="original" width="2048" height="1366" loading="lazy" alt="Richard Mahapatra NT"> </figure>  Mahapatra’s presentation focused specifically on the linkages of stories, regardless of how disconnected we feel.&nbsp; “We are already by existence globalised. In such a situation, no local story stays within its locality. We are linked. A climate change story or a simple disaster story from one locality can be linked to another climate issue taking place a million miles away,” said Mahapatra.&nbsp; Conflicts and war, all over the world, have displaced people, and climate-related disasters are displacing more.&nbsp; “The jungles, which naturally take about 120 years to become extinct, are now dying in thirty years,” said Mahapatra. “Our extinction rate is dangerously high.” To combat this crisis, added Mahapatra, journalists must gear up and do their part.&nbsp; He says: “Soon enough, Nepal, which has six seasons, will barely have three.” &nbsp;

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Ushering in the Anthropocene

The third Himal Media Mela opened on World Press Freedom Day on 3 May, adopting the UNESCO theme to focus on the link between the media, politics and environmental action. Mohamed Nasheed, former president of the Maldives, a climate activist and a writer/journalist was the keynote speaker. “The danger that the journalists face is immense and it continues. Just this year more than 100 writers were murdered in Gaza simply for telling the truth and sadly it will continue,” said Nasheed who was jailed for 12 years, 18 of those months in solitary confinement where he was tortured for his writings on corruption and the abuse of human rights by the government in the Maldives. He added: “Therefore it is encouraging to see all of you here making a stand for no media in South Asia has had the resolve, the courage and the consistency to continue in their work relentlessly for so long as Himalmedia.” Kunda Dixit, co-publisher of Himalmedia started his welcome remarks with a quip about disrupted Internet service on World Press Freedom Day before quickly drawing attention to how journalists reporting on illegal logging or mining have actually been killed in the Philippines, Brazil, Mexico, and India. Even in Nepal, the press has come under fire for reporting about the Chure deforestation, illegal sand mining, logging, wildlife trade and the crusher industry, especially their interlinkages with politics and corruption. “Even as human activity globally has endangered nature and threatened all life on the planet, journalists reporting on these issues face threat, intimidation, or are silenced by abusive trolling,” said Dixit. He added: “It is no coincidence that the threats to environmental journalists come from the same sources that are undermining democracy, pluralism, and freedom of expression.”  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20240503100520_10576823a995db10abc49a94c484ef119fdfc2cce399a0f1c0bc879b43347102.jpg" data-media-id="editor_0" data-image-id="20240503100520_10576823a995db10abc49a94c484ef119fdfc2cce399a0f1c0bc879b43347102" data-rendition-name="original" width="2048" height="1366" loading="lazy" alt="himalmedia mela"> </figure>  During his keynote address, Nasheed highlighted the clear ties between media, and climate action. “Freedom of expression and democracy is the most important adaptation measure against climate change,” he said. He explained: “If we don’t have democracy and the ability to express ourselves, we will continue to build the wrong dam, wrong roads, wrong embankments at the wrong place at the wrong price. We already see bridges bridging nothing, roads leading to nowhere, airports not used, and vanity projects of politicians. This is because we are unable to speak out because we do not have a say in what our governments do.” Nasheed now leads the Climate Vulnerable Forum which is the intergovernmental organisation of 68 countries including Nepal set up in 2009. He said that all 68 countries have lost 20% of their GDP because of bad weather, emphasising that environmental stories are not just human rights and justice stories anymore but rather economic and financial dispatches. “We take a loan to build a bridge, a house, a school. But bad weather takes the bridge away but the debt remains. Now we have to pay the debt without receiving the benefits from the debt that we took. Many climate-vulnerable countries are in debt distress. It is likely that more than 15 countries will go into default this year,” he said.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20240503100520_a9a8d12e16193ec8eb06a47c7a5aefeb660e56ca7fd58166da44d22376c21f92.jpg" data-media-id="editor_1" data-image-id="20240503100520_a9a8d12e16193ec8eb06a47c7a5aefeb660e56ca7fd58166da44d22376c21f92" data-rendition-name="original" width="2048" height="1390" loading="lazy" alt="himalmedia mela"> </figure>  Climate Vulnerable Forum is based in Ghana’s Accra among other things is promoting what he calls Climate Prosperity Plans which are essentially low carbon development strategies that would give the same outcomes of GDP growth of high employment and low inflation but without damaging the planet. The Forum looks into new technologies and methods for farming, irrigating, harvesting, fertilising, transport, and building cities and infrastructure such that climate-vulnerable countries ensure their prosperity while building climate resilience. Also discussed during the inaugural was how the international platforms like the COP are limited to talks and not real action required to battle the climate emergency. “I have been attending COPs for nearly 30 years but nothing much has come out of them, to just see talking shops over and over again is really disturbing when you come home and see another house being washed away or an island being eroded or another reef bleached,” he said.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20240503100520_dc867aa76f49e61a355f37dd8ce9834318bc9eed11ee0782ba98c1f647987d2a.jpg" data-media-id="editor_2" data-image-id="20240503100520_dc867aa76f49e61a355f37dd8ce9834318bc9eed11ee0782ba98c1f647987d2a" data-rendition-name="original" width="2000" height="1333" loading="lazy" alt="himal media mela 2024"> </figure>  Nasheed also spoke about his transition from journalism and advocacy to politics, and how much like him journalists around the world are delving into policymaking and politics for a great impact. “We can’t save the coral reefs anymore than you can’t save the Himalayas by your activism alone. We have to get the international community to agree on certain things, if not it is going to be almost impossible to save the planet,” he said. “It is getting more and more obvious that if we look after nature, we are likely to prosper than by destroying nature. We must explore other development paths to prosperity.” Bringing the focus back to Nepal, Nasheed spoke about Nepal’s tremendous conservation effects, especially that of the forest cover. He said: “Nepal needs to be paid for the trees under carbon exchange mechanism, others are breathing simply because you have the forests.” The one-day-long conference features hands-on workshops and panels on AI, data mining, disaster preparedness, investigating climate finance, the economy of ecology and environmental crimes tailor-made for working journalists.

Sonia Awale

Democracy is the best adaptation measure against climate change

Samsung Nepal has opened pre-orders for the Galaxy A57 5G and A37 5G. Both phones run Samsung’s One UI 8.5, featuring AI capabilities like voice transcription, Circle to Search, and photo editing. They feature a 50MP triple-camera system, a Super AMOLED display, and six years of OS and security updates.

Galaxy A series

Know your Ministers

‘One early morning, we heard the ambassador’s wife cry out, “Ram, Ram, Ram!” A disaster has befallen Nepal!” She had heard on the radio that a fire had consumed Singha Durbar." This is not about the arson attack on 9 September 2025, but the one on 8 July, 1973. It started in the South Wing of the then single-largest building in all of Nepal. It took two days to bring the blaze under control, requiring the use of explosives to demolish one wing to protect the imposing western facade. As Bhekh Bahadur Thapa recalls in the English translation of his memoir A Life in Public Service: Nepal from Autocracy to Democracy, he was then on leave from the Nepal government serving with the IDRC in Ottawa.&nbsp; He had already served as Nepal’s Finance Secretary at age 25, went on to be Finance Minister and Governor of Nepal Rastra Bank. He was already younger than some of the GenZ ministers in Nepal’s present RSP government. Thapa, now 89, was at the launch of the book in February which was attended by former diplomats and bureaucrats. After speeches by panelists, there was a question from the audience about how Thapa had managed to be the diplomat he was, managing Nepal’s international relations on the world stage.&nbsp; Writer and journalist Akhilesh Upadhyay, who was moderating the panel, responded by going into the section of the book where we see Thapa as an ambassador to the US, playing tennis with White House officials, cultivating a network of contacts to project the identity and welfare of Nepal, and making it possible for a state visit by King Birendra to Ronald Reagan’s America. The book is full of anecdotes that suggest Thapa was a clever and strategic diplomat, always calm and unruffled, easily making friends in high places with his maturity and engaging sense of humour. Thapa’s memoir is heavy on details about Nepal’s administrative history during the years he was active in public service, serving as minister and ambassador under three kings: Mahendra, Birendra and Gyanendra, and alongside five prime ministers.&nbsp; Aside from an insider look on how certain treaties, development deals and research projects in Nepal came into fruition, Thapa goes into great detail about his personal and professional relationships with the kings, ministers, ambassadors, foreign leaders and politicians.&nbsp; As a reader, one is struck by the level of detail around the events that unfolded in Nepal over the years during Thapa’s tenure. Was Thapa recording a journal over the years of the events and the conversations that transpired, or were they committed to his phenomenal memory? Either way, the reader gets a glimpse of Nepal’s recent history from the early days of the Panchayat, through the People’s Movement and the democracy period, the Maoist insurgency, Royal Palace massacre of 2001, and Gyanendra’s coup of 2005.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2026041204048_125dc8ae300a1e33124f394abe724d42727f83e067b0201d2008b58d60c459a4.jpg" data-media-id="editor_0" data-image-id="2026041204048_125dc8ae300a1e33124f394abe724d42727f83e067b0201d2008b58d60c459a4" data-rendition-name="original" width="1584" height="1000" loading="lazy" alt="How to win friends and influence nations NT"> </figure>  Not enough is said about the political parties of the time whose presence led to the way Nepal’s multiparty democracy came to be shaped. The book keeps its focus on the administration and the key figures around it, mostly those in the Panchayat era. Towards the second half of the book, we do start to hear about political parties, but not in great depth. Another figure whose presence in the book is conspicuously less prominent is that of his wife, Rita Thapa — the person who seems to have rescued him every time financial quandary or family care became a challenge. Yet, we do not see her as a full person. Perhaps because of the personal tragedies in his life, the children are also barely mentioned.&nbsp; The book is therefore less personal and more technical. Throughout, we learn about Thapa’s thinking as he navigated the world of diplomacy to win him the trust of those who mattered. There are tips here for a new generation of Nepali officials and diplomats about how much commitment and focus is needed to be good at one’s job and serve the national interest. This book adds to tomes that have been written on Nepal’s fragile relationship with India. ‘India has always wished for Nepal to remain dependent on it,’ writes Thapa, who served as Nepal’s ambassador to India and later in the Eminent Persons Group &nbsp;on Indo-Nepal relations that has been allowed to languish. The book has several insights into the Indo-Nepal trysts with diplomacy and agency.&nbsp; China’s role is also recorded, viewed through conversations during a visit to Beijing, but all that was before Nepal’s neighbour to the north emerged as a world economic and military power. The book also has such sudden instances of quirkiness and humour. For instance, we see a young Thapa in America explaining to a government official why he would like to return to Nepal instead of settling down in the US. “Because, Nepal is beautiful,” he said. The text is immaculate and does not read much like a translation, credit for which clearly goes to the team that put the edition together: translator Prawin Adhikari, &nbsp;Anagha Neelakanthan and Bhekh Thapa’s daughter, Manjushree. As Nepal enters a new era of governance and diplomacy, A Life in Public Service: Nepal from Autocracy to Democracy should be essential reading for students of political science, economics and foreign affairs who can gain a fresh perspective on the country’s trajectory.&nbsp; There are dozens of forgotten state secrets recorded in the book, but the reader must also remember this is a story told from one person’s perspective and there may be others.&nbsp; So, what really made Thapa the diplomat he was? I met him in 2004 at the Kantipur TV studio when he was serving as king Gyanendra’s foreign minister. He was there for a studio interview, and I was just done with my English newscast.&nbsp; He surprised me at the door: “Pratibha! I’ve been reading your articles in The Kathmandu Post. You must keep writing.” I thanked him, glad to have been noticed for my work by a stranger. That was perhaps one of the things that set Thapa apart — he excelled at staying close to those in power, while also noticing those who were not.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20260412040412_213e706136a038ec9f5e2b8c6d7f7c1e9ceed9479e22fe2884872ad7bd20955f.jpg" data-media-id="editor_1" data-image-id="20260412040412_213e706136a038ec9f5e2b8c6d7f7c1e9ceed9479e22fe2884872ad7bd20955f" data-rendition-name="original" width="1136" height="702" loading="lazy" alt="Book details"> </figure>

How to win friends and influence nations

Prime Minister Balendra Shah on Wednesday broke tradition and met with 17 foreign envoys collectively, a move that was a notable departure from how his predecessors operated.&nbsp;
Shah had already set himself apart by talking less, listening more, and delegating to trusted friends. But by meeting all ambassadors at one go in the presence of the Foreign Ministry, he signalled a paradigm shift in how he wants Nepal to be seen: no longer just balancing India and China, but as a country confident about its <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/guest-editorial/tripolar-contestation-over-nepal">strategic importance and place in the world</a>.
In just two weeks, the <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/rsp-dos-and-don-ts">RSP has sprung into action </a>on multiple fronts to implement its ambitious 100-point, 100-days action plan. It has taken short-term measures to mitigate the impact of the Gulf war, as well as medium- and long- term measures to streamline the bureaucracy. A few high-profile figures have been made examples of to drive the message home.
Earlier this week, the government recalled six politically appointed ambassadors, the most notable being long-serving Shankar Sharma from New Delhi. The Kathmandu District Court issued arrest warrants against former prime minister Sher Bahadur Deuba and his former foreign minister wife Arzu Rana on charges of money laundering and corruption.
Each ministry has been trying to clean up the accumulated rot from the past three decades: regulatory overhaul of microfinance, education, health and service delivery.&nbsp;
These actions widely disseminated campaign-style on YouTube and TikTok have made most Nepalis hopeful that the party they installed in power means business.
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BACKLASH
But such attempts to overhaul a long-entrenched political culture were bound to face backlash. In their impatience and enthusiasm to get things done, some of Prime Minister Shah’s ministers have over-reached.
It was common knowledge that government-paid advertising in the mainstream press was kickback-driven, but the PMO’s directive that official notices be published or broadcast only on state-run media has been denounced — especially as the media industry struggles to stay afloat.
More serious are some recent appointments by ministers of relatives and figures closely associated with the RSP to key positions. This has rankled because this party built its political plank on ending nepotism and graft.&nbsp;
News that Home Minister Sudan Gurung allegedly had not paid rent on leased land, which illegally encroached on the lake in Pokhara did not help. &nbsp;
Prime Minister Shah himself has come under scrutiny for appointing a kitchen cabinet full of male buddies from his time as Kathmandu mayor. To douse criticism he brought in as adviser investigative journalist Deepa Dahal, who has exposed corruption in high places of the previous coalitions.&nbsp;
Shah’s appointment of another political adviser Asim Shah to the head Constitution Amendment Task Force, is also seen as problematic. He is a filmmaker and former lawmaker, but does not have a background in constitutional law.&nbsp;
Even more controversial is the Cabinet’s decision to appoint RSP Chair Rabi Lamichhane’s legal counsel, Narayan Kandel, as Attorney General. Kandel used to be a UK permanent resident, and does not have as much experience practicing law in Nepal.&nbsp;
Kandel’s appointment drew flak and raised eyebrows, and with the pending legal cases against Lamichhane this appointment represents a flagrant conflict of interest.
Health Minister Nisha Mehta was also accused of favouritism after reappointing Junu Shrestha, wife of Labour Minister Dipak Kumar Shah, as member of the Health Insurance Board which had earlier suspended her. The Labour Minister’s rambling rant at the Board’s meeting on Tuesday has not helped the RSP’s image.&nbsp;
(UPDATE: On Thursday, Prime Minister Shah sacked the Labour Minister after the RSP found him in breach of the party's code of conduct and discipline. He served 14 days in the Cabinet, one of the shortest tenures for a minister in Nepal )
It is hard to know what <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/ball-in-balen-s-court">Balendra Shah is thinking</a>, and how Rabi Lamichhane is going to justify some of these moves. After all, making politics, governance, and bureaucracy a meritocracy has been the core tenet of the RSP, and it risks alienating its mainly youth base if these missteps persist.
But at least for now, most RSP supporters seem to be giving the party the benefit of doubt.

himal-media-mela-2024

Ushering in the Anthropocene

Democracy is the best adaptation measure against climate change

Galaxy A series

Know your Ministers

How to win friends and influence nations

Nepal’s new government springs into action