As Kathmandu becomes more congested and polluted, and with remote online work becoming the norm, many professional Nepalis are planning to retire in Pokhara, or move there.&nbsp; With its stunning mountain panorama, balmy winters and proximity to a profusion of wilderness areas, builders are responding to this demand with new townhouses, housing development and apartments. One such block of flats is the 10-storey <a href="https://sungavaapartment.com/">Sungava Apartment</a> located at Phulbari above the Seti River, near the point where it flows into and under Pokhara. The imposing structure near Manipal Hospital is almost complete, and on a recent visit the site was strewn with huge boulders unearthed while digging the foundation.&nbsp; The Seti brought down these boulders during a gigantic flood that geologists estimate happened 800 years ago when a chunk of Annapurna IV broke off and ploughed into the glacier below. Today, Sungava (means ‘orchid’) sits safely on a high terrace, 100m above the blue-green Seti and commands a view of Dhaulagiri, Annapurna South, Machapuchre, Annapurna III and IV.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2024102411104_5f8fc736c86ea3c08d7bef43bb727081d3cc1a2caa55ae2b441717e6044de7e9.jpg" data-media-id="editor_1" data-image-id="2024102411104_5f8fc736c86ea3c08d7bef43bb727081d3cc1a2caa55ae2b441717e6044de7e9" data-rendition-name="original" width="2016" height="1512" loading="lazy" alt="High living below the Himalaya NT"> </figure>  The soil here is conglomerate that has solidified like concrete, and the boulders were extracted by heavy earthmovers. It is intriguing to think that these metamorphic rocks as big as cars, rounded by glacial grinding, were once a part of a much higher Annapurna IV. Even for those with little interest in geology, Sungava is an ideal place to contemplate the tectonic forces that pushed these peaks into the sky to be sculpted into delicate shapes by wind, snow, earthquake and avalanche over millions of years. The view of the Himalayan panorama from Sungava’s many balconies are breathtaking when not obscured by clouds, or the haze that drifts in from across the southern border. On most days, just watching the towering pyramid of Machapuchre (Tamu name: कतासुँ क्लिको) play hide and seek with the clouds is mesmerising. There are rocks aplenty at Phulbari, and it is probably the flowers that grew along the flat terraces e that gave the place its flowery name. The boulders will hopefully be turned into a rock garden while landscaping. An nearby restaurant complex is making the best use of the stones in its design, using flat rocks as outdoor benches and tables. Sungava was designed by the husband-wife architect team of Deepak Sherchan and Jyoti Joshi of <a href="https://thedarkmermaidamarbshrestha.blogspot.com/2013/12/creative-builders-collaborative-cbc.html">Creative Builders Collaborative (CBC)</a>, which also built Heritage Plaza, Indreni Apartment and numerous other projects in Nepal. Sadbhavana retains CBC’s trademark Newari-style masonry and here it borrows from the orange brickwork of the old town of Pokhara, integrating it with modern design elements. A few of those heritage houses are still standing in Ganesh Tole and Ram Krishna Tole in Pokhara’s old quarter.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2024102411108_5eb64a4885961b6d30781cefeb1e8a313da313ac5227c7a66b60f0c7d48d6fab.jpg" data-media-id="editor_3" data-image-id="2024102411108_5eb64a4885961b6d30781cefeb1e8a313da313ac5227c7a66b60f0c7d48d6fab" data-rendition-name="original" width="1362" height="595" loading="lazy" alt="High living below the Himalaya NT"> </figure>  About 400m from the apartment past a bend on the river, and down below three tiers of terraces in the canyon is a suspension bridge. Below it, the Seti is still swollen with post-monsoon flow as it tumbles away in a hurry to head down south.&nbsp; Back at the apartment, it is quiet, far away from the hubbub of Lakeside a 15 minute drive away, and in the lap of greenery. There are 52 units at Sungava and it already has a close-knit prospective community of professionals, including doctors, publishers, engineers, and businesspeople from the renewable energy and IT sectors.&nbsp; Some residents say they opted for a second home in Pokhara to make it a ‘base camp’ to explore the Annapurnas with its many hiking trails made newly accessible with new roads. With the NRN citizenship law, overseas Nepalis can now also buy the flats. &nbsp; The floor plans include options for north and south-facing 3-bedroom apartments with verandas, and the facility has underground parking has EV charging, heated pool, sauna and gym. There are still some unsold apartments with panoramic views of the mountains and one can imagine oneself at the kitchen with its huge window, humming a ditty while preparing breakfast: “खाना पकाउँ हिमाल हेरेर...”

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High living below the Himalaya

Dasain is here, the festival of family and travel. The spirit is dampened this year because of the flood disaster, and many highways are still blocked.&nbsp; But Nepali Times takes the occasion of this ten-day festival to present Top Ten Peaks that are <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/women-on-the-move">off the beaten trek</a>, and offer stunning views. They are not too demanding but take you far from the madding crowd. <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/the-journey-is-more-interesting-than-the-destination">Escape</a>. 1. Kori Peak Most visitors to <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/letter-from-sikles">Sikles </a>are en route to Kapuche, the l<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/kah-phu-che">owest glacial lake in Nepal</a> (2,450m). But for better views hire a local guide, and cross the Madi Khola to climb to Kori (3,800m), a ridge-top summer pasture. There will be no trekkers on this little known jewel of the Himalaya. Lamjung Himal is dead ahead, and the adventurous may want to continue on to Namun La, the old trading route to Manang. 2. Panchase Hill&nbsp; This long ridge walk can be stretched as long as you want. Start at the Peace Stupa above Pokhara, and hike the forested ridge overlooking Phewa Lake with spectacular 120 degree panoramas of Dhaulagiri to Himalchuli. Along the way are villages untouched by the trekking industry. The highest point at <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/economic-benefits-of-saving-the-ecology">Panchase</a> Hill is ‘only’ 2,500m. Binoculars are a must for bird-watching.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20241004041056_a62462e446decb0356b35138abd277ca122af0e8baa404087c8ae980c12fc114.jpg" data-media-id="editor_5" data-image-id="20241004041056_a62462e446decb0356b35138abd277ca122af0e8baa404087c8ae980c12fc114" data-rendition-name="original" width="1363" height="669" loading="lazy" alt="Trekking map NT"> </figure>  3. Khumai Peak Directly north of Pokhara is this 3,245m peak that is becoming popular since a road to Hemja now cuts short the trek for a two-day-up-one-day-down hike. At the top you look up to the imposing south face of Machapuchre. The trail is not well trodden yet (that is why you are there) but lodges have sprung up. Hike further up to Korchan Danda (3,710m) for the magic of a Himalayan sunrise. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 4. Mulde Peak If you have been there and done that on Poon Hill, then<a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/mulde-peak,1759"> Mulde (3,637) is higher, wilder and quieter</a>. The trail branches off at Tadapani from the Ghandruk-Ghorepani route and climbs steeply through thick forests draped with lichen and orchids. There is a lodge at the base for overnight stay. Next morning ascend for one hour to the top for a breathtaking sunrise over the Annapurna ramparts, Machapuchre and Dhaulagiri. For more, trek on to Khopra Ridge and Hidden Lake.&nbsp; 5. Pikey Peak  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20241004051028_2d1071364abec8b2a37fa620c1a641c7e4c8449b8bc4384a36ffc58f34c67c7f.jpg" data-media-id="editor_7" data-image-id="20241004051028_2d1071364abec8b2a37fa620c1a641c7e4c8449b8bc4384a36ffc58f34c67c7f" data-rendition-name="original" width="1500" height="1001" loading="lazy" alt="Pikey peak "> <figcaption>Photo: MANISH PAUDEL / NEPALI TIMES ARCHIVE</figcaption> </figure>  The <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/multimedia/lifetime-experience-on-pikey-peak">must-climb in Solukhumbu is Pikey</a> (4,065m) that none other than Edmund Hillary described as one of the best lookouts in the Himalaya. On a clear day you see eight eight-thousander peaks all in a row: (east-west) Kangchenjunga, Makalu, Lhotse, Everest, Cho Oyu, Shishapangma, Manaslu and Annapurna. If the highway to Phaplu is not repaired by Dasain, fly to Phaplu from where it can be three days and two nights up and down. 6. Pathibhara Peak Combine pilgrimage with a hike to climb up to Pathibhara (3,794) after either driving or flying to Taplejung. Nepal’s most scenic peaks all have temples on top. The view from Pathibhara of Kangchenjunga, Jannu, Makalu and Lhotse-Everest feels sacred even if you are not religiously minded. It is one day up, and half-day down. Good idea to strike Pathibhara off your bucket list before the cable car gets there.&nbsp; 7. Gokyo Ri  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20241004051028_83417ded1111fd19aaa2b321625681fedd3a1c7aa47f28c44444a343d691e3d2.jpg" data-media-id="editor_9" data-image-id="20241004051028_83417ded1111fd19aaa2b321625681fedd3a1c7aa47f28c44444a343d691e3d2" data-rendition-name="original" width="1500" height="1000" loading="lazy" alt="View from Gokyo"> <figcaption>The last light of the day highlighting Mt Everest, Nuptse and Lhotse 20km away, captured from the Gokyo Ri. Photo: AÏSHA MACDOUGALL / NPALI TIMES </figcaption> </figure>  Everest Base Camp is crowded and desolate, with no view of the highest mountain in the world. Head off, instead, from Khumjung to the <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/go-gokyo">Gokyo Valley and along the Ngozumba</a> (Nepal's longest glacier) to a village by the lake that is the highest all-year human settlement in the world. Charge your head torch, and head off on a 2-3 hour climb up to Gokyo Ri (5,357m) to watch the sun set with all its glory on Mt Everest, Lhotse, Makalu, Kangchenjunga, and Cho Oyu. The trek can be extended up Renjo La to Thame, or Cho La to Everest Base Camp. &nbsp; 8. Sailung Peak&nbsp; Take a right turn on the Jiri Highway at Mude along a rough road till Lamche Ahal and then hike the next morning to Thulo Sailung Peak (3,146m). This is one of the highest points in southern Dolakha district and the view is spectacular with everything from Manaslu to Numbur, a 200km sweep of the horizon. Dominating the scene is Gauri Shankar (Chomo Tseringma). Nepali hikers have started going to Sailung to shoot YouTube videos. 9. Panch Pokhari This is one of the nearest and most accessible treks from Kathmandu, starting after a five hour drive to Okhareni via Chautara to five sacred lakes dominated by a ridge (4,250m) with full frontal views of Dorje Lakpa and Phurbi Ghyachu of the Jugal Himal Range. You have the trail mostly to yourself. The path climbs through forests of dwarf rhododendron teeming with birdlife.&nbsp; 10. Kyanjin Peak  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20241004051036_4eab1082528a9bc8ce5ee6429bdb6f6edbb2caf15460dd6a7c10056146930fd7.jpg" data-media-id="editor_11" data-image-id="20241004051036_4eab1082528a9bc8ce5ee6429bdb6f6edbb2caf15460dd6a7c10056146930fd7" data-rendition-name="original" width="1500" height="1125" loading="lazy" alt="Kyanjin NT"> <figcaption>Kyanjin is the highest settlement in the Langtang Valley. Photo: KUNDA DIXIT</figcaption> </figure>  Langtang National Park is the closest real wilderness area near Kathmandu that also offers culture and adventure. Start walking from Dhunche, one night stop and we are in Langtang Valley passing the village that was buried in the avalanche after the 2015 earthquake. Kyanjin Gompa (3,835m) is now called ‘Thamel on the Hill’, and that is not a complimentary description. But it is a good base camp to <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/the-story-of-langtang-cheese">explore the Valley</a>, including climbing Kyanjin Ri (4,773) for a grandstand view of Langtang Lirung (7,234m).

Peak Season

This late monsoon storm was not a surprise. Weather forecasts had warned of heavy precipitation a week before, the Met Office predicted heavy rain on 27-28 September, SMS warned people to take precaution, radio stations issued bulletins, and night buses were banned in 56 districts.&nbsp; The tragedy was compounded because we knew what was coming, and did not do enough to prepare. The accurate weather forecast made no real difference on the ground. When it started raining on Thursday morning and did not stop till Saturday, there was no sense of the scale of this emergency. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/60-dead-64-missing-in-nepal-floods">More than 200 people lost their lives, dozens are still missing.</a> Thousands of homes were swept away, Nepal lost nearly half its electricity generation capacity because of damage to power plants, Kathmandu has been nearly cut off with bridges and sections of highways swept away. Yes, this was primarily a natural disaster. Kathmandu Valley and its surroundings got half the average annual precipitation in just 40 hours, the heaviest rainfall measured since records started being kept in 1972. But the high death toll was totally manmade.&nbsp; Three buses were buried by a mudslide in Dhading, killing at least 35 people. This was an eerie reminder of the <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/100-101-102-hh5uvzf9">Simaltal accident on 12 July </a>when two intercity buses were swept by a mudflow into the Trisuli River at night, killing 62. The buses have still not been found.&nbsp; In both cases, heavy rainfall on a poorly engineered local road up the mountains triggered the initial landslide that swept debris to the highway below. This was manslaughter, not an ‘accident’.&nbsp; We said it then, and we are saying it now: most mountain roads follow no reason or science. It is a corruption-fed activity in which local governments and their cronies plan roads ad hoc and rent their own bulldozers. Debris accumulated during construction is dumped over the edge, where monsoon rains wash them to settlements, farms and highways below. Last weekend’s disaster is a warning that accurate weather early warning is just the first step – it is not enough to prevent a huge loss of life. After the warnings, there should have been door-to-door miking along hazardous river banks urging people to move to higher ground, shelters should have been in place, rescue equipment and rafts pre-positioned, live monitoring of precipitation in the catchments. The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority (NDRRMA) was just posting situationers on social media. The Home Ministry became a Ministry of Condolences and Empty Promises.&nbsp; This disaster is a reminder of the 1993 Central Nepal cloudburst that hit the Lothar Khola in Chitwan, the Kulekhani areas, and highways blocked highways marooning Kathmandu for weeks. More than 1,300 people were killed.&nbsp; The death toll in Kathmandu this time was compounded by the fact that the city has spread into the floodplains of the Vishnumati, Manohara and other tributaries of the Bagmati. Natural waterways have been hemmed in by streets. The rivers were just reclaiming what was theirs.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20240930150944_1221b4fb442a21e8d2dbf1aeeca61b7a8d791c117d6a93401f15ba2a95d49a69.jpg" data-media-id="editor_2" data-image-id="20240930150944_1221b4fb442a21e8d2dbf1aeeca61b7a8d791c117d6a93401f15ba2a95d49a69" data-rendition-name="original" width="1949" height="1299" loading="lazy" alt="Nepal floods"> <figcaption>Kathmandu Valley, especially its southern fringes looks like an epicentre of a major quake following the rains. Photo: SUMAN NEPALI</figcaption> </figure>  Urban pressure has also forced settlements to move up the Valley’s rim, below steep hillsides with topsoil already saturated in the late monsoon. The torrential downpours caused the slopes to fail. The damage to Upper Tamakosi and dozens of other hydropower plants also is a warning not to put all our eggs in one basket. The Sikkim disaster exactly this time last year was proof that these are at high risk from glacial lake floods and landslide dammed rivers suddenly bursting. More logical would be to build smaller, better designed, plants on many rivers. The Himalaya is also the youngest and most fragile mountain range on earth, Nepal has always had either too much or too little water, and climate breakdown is making this contrast more extreme. Combined, this means we in Nepal live in a multi-disaster prone country with seismic, hydrological and climate risks.&nbsp; After multiple floods in early 1990s, a Japanese grant helped set up the Disaster Prevention Technical Centre (DPTC) in Pulchowk, which was later renamed the Department of Water Induced Disaster Management. We have not heard much from them lately. With the government AWOL, it is ordinary Nepalis who have shown extraordinary courage in saving those being swept by flood water, rescuing babies on canoes (pictured), or digging for passengers trapped in buses buried by landslides. The Nepal Army and the Police rescued thousands, but there was an absence of coordination.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20240930150944_cb55edb93eb3aad169b22bc4dec06b5478746fbe75417c628bf671ec698f7912.jpg" data-media-id="editor_3" data-image-id="20240930150944_cb55edb93eb3aad169b22bc4dec06b5478746fbe75417c628bf671ec698f7912" data-rendition-name="original" width="1080" height="720" loading="lazy" alt="Nepal floods"> <figcaption>Photo: SOCIAL MEDIA</figcaption> </figure>  Now, the attention must focus on urgent relief and rehabilitation. But that might be a tall ask just before everything shuts down for Dasain, and when governance fails, lack of accountability and transparency is the norm even without holidays.&nbsp; Sonia Awale

When it rains it pours

There was controlled chaos at the Chhaya Centre on 8 September before the premiere of <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N2EXOwDgrIg&amp;t=25s">Shambhala</a>, which has made history as the first South Asian film to be selected for the 2023 Berlinale in-competition lineup in three decades. <a href="https://www.imdb.com/name/nm5336883/">Director Min Bahadur Bham</a> ran around, dreadlocks flailing, to test the DCP in the projection room and welcome an all-star lineup of guests. Even so, he found time to sit down with us for an interview in a quiet corner in the lobby. Despite visible signs of stress, Bham’s passion for his craft shines through. The premiere was the culmination of years of work, but as Bham tells it, the true essence of filmmaking is the journey itself.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20240912100956_fe4bb576edb2f6ca22d460c425a8b9fdf8d3855dd4e9cac9e13fb56a69094cdd.jpg" data-media-id="editor_2" data-image-id="20240912100956_fe4bb576edb2f6ca22d460c425a8b9fdf8d3855dd4e9cac9e13fb56a69094cdd" data-rendition-name="original" width="616" height="585" loading="lazy" alt="Min Bham NT 3 "> </figure>  Min Bahadur Bham, 40, was born in isolated Mugu. As a boy he already knew he wanted to be a film director after his photographer and journalist father bought a cinema hall in his hometown.&nbsp; While watching Bollywood movies there, his friends all wanted to be actors and would imitate the mannerisms of their favourite stars. But Bham craved something more.&nbsp; “Even back then, I wondered who tells the actors what to do. There must be someone guiding and coordinating their performance,” he says. “I didn’t know at the time that it was done by a director, but I instinctively felt that was the person I wanted to be.”&nbsp; Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/a-director-from-kathmandu">A director from Kathmandu</a>, Sewa Bhattarai This early fascination set Bham on a journey that would take him far, far away from Mugu. In Grade 8 he was already saving money for film school, and by Grade 10 he had run away from home. He started in theatre in Kathmandu, learning acting, lighting, set design, and costume. This theatre background proved to be formative and influenced his later approach to cinema. “If I had to choose, I’d still give more points to theatre,” he tells us. “It’s a pure art form, it has a poetic and an artistic sense to it, requiring discipline and hard work, unlike the finances and glamour of cinema.” Beyond filmmaking, Bham developed a deep interest in <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/medication-to-meditation-in-the-mountains">spirituality</a>. “Creating art is a form of meditation,” Bham says, his eyes shimmering with intensity. “Filmmaking, like meditation, requires pouring all of yourself into it.” His debut feature,<a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/must-see/Kalo-pothi-review,3101"> Kalo Pothi (The Black Hen)</a> premiered at the Venice Film Festival in 2015, earning critical acclaim for its nuanced portrayal of two boys caught in the crossfire of <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/all-is-fair-in-war-and-peace">Nepal’s Maoist insurgency</a>. The film’s success, however, left Bham ambivalent.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20240912110924_b4333fc1aeefc7adc6160a183f0dfc8ca5ee8cd66df6eab085f47436d83c8c4b.jpg" data-media-id="editor_7" data-image-id="20240912110924_b4333fc1aeefc7adc6160a183f0dfc8ca5ee8cd66df6eab085f47436d83c8c4b" data-rendition-name="original" width="1442" height="1008" loading="lazy" alt="Movie posters NT"> </figure>  “I felt burdened by the success," he confides. “Looking back, I’m critical about its lack of cinematic language: it felt more like a film essay.”&nbsp; Read more: <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/Nepali-Times-Buzz/Narrating-stories-of-nepal,3082">Narrating Nepal</a>, Smriti Basnet Kalo Pothi was a personal story of Bham’s own memories when his friends in school were joining the Maoists, and he heard of the disappearances. A recurring theme in both Kalo Pothi and Shambhala is childhood. “All the characters in my films are reflections of myself,” Bham confesses. “Of course, they’re manipulated for the sake of the narrative, but their essence is drawn from my own childhood when I was very fragile and introverted.” As a boy, instead of playing with children his age, Bham preferred hanging out with older people, listening to their stories: “I missed out on a normal childhood, but had a wonderful one nonetheless.” These early experiences, the memories and nostalgia, became invaluable storytelling tools for cinema, and his PhD in anthropology was an asset as well. “As a filmmaker, it’s essential to grasp the nuances of human behaviour, culture, and politics,” he explains.&nbsp; Before Kalo Pothi, Bham wanted to study political science to get a &nbsp;deeper, holistic understanding of what was happening in Nepali society at the time.&nbsp; But it is with Shambhala that Bham truly comes into his own as a director. "Kalo Pothi was my love letter to my society, and Shambhala is a love letter to my existence,” he says.&nbsp; Shambhala benefits from Bham’s own spiritual journey. He started meditating at age 12, becoming a more serious practitioner by 15. “Through meditation, I began having vivid recurring dreams of a past life as a lama in a monastery in Dolpo,” he says.&nbsp; Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/review/daughter-of-chomolungma">Daughter of Chomolungma</a>, Pinki Sris Rana He travelled to Dolpo, where the terrain and people matched the dreamscape of the places from his meditation. “It was a surreal moment,” he says. “That’s when I realised I had to make Shambhala, to explore the subconscious and discover what I didn’t know.” When the film was selected for the Berlinale, Bham admits he was not very excited, perhaps because he was confident it was going to go places. In Berlin he did not attend any parties, cancelling all interviews and official meetings.&nbsp; “I wanted to be at peace and simply observe. I didn’t want to get caught up in the networking or the festivities,” he recalls. Though polyandry is a central element of Shambhala, Bham says it only serves as a backdrop to an inner quest into the meaning of existence, femininity and reincarnation. “Dolpo offers such incredible landscape that you can point the camera at anything and it will be stunning,” he says. “But it was not a love story, so I used the mountains as characters themselves.” Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/review/streaming-the-himalaya-on-film">Streaming the Himalaya on film</a>, Pinki Sris Rana The film’s protagonist is Pema (played by<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepal-s-star-shines-in-locarno"> Thinley Lhamo</a> for which she won the<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0iCvN6jHVMQ&amp;t=973s"> Boccalino d’Oro Prize for Best Acting Performance at Locarno</a> last month) whose power and freedom challenge patriarchal norms.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20240912110944_491763c06fc1827cd131157b9b3750c9831ee8252fb1d378769dc800170c7f67.jpg" data-media-id="editor_13" data-image-id="20240912110944_491763c06fc1827cd131157b9b3750c9831ee8252fb1d378769dc800170c7f67" data-rendition-name="original" width="1080" height="719" loading="lazy" alt="Berlin film festival NT"> </figure>  “Pema’s character is a reflection of inner strength and independence, transcending gender,” Bham explains. “As a male director, I also wanted to explore my feminine side to understand it more deeply.”&nbsp; Read also: <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/Nepali-Times-Buzz/feminity-to-masculinity,1952">From femininity to masculinity</a>, Bernardo Michael and George Varughese He adds that, in Shambhala the male characters reflect aspects of himself, while Pema represents his feminine side: “Developing the characters, I made sure the male side did not overshadow the feminine side in me.” Bham is researching ideas for his next film which might, for a change, be set in Kathmandu or Angkor Wat to discover his artistic sensibility, irrespective of locale.&nbsp; More than a geographical journey, Min Bahadur Bham is on an artistic voyage deep into his inner being to find the meaning of existence itself. &nbsp; Shambhala is set to release on 13 September in cinemas with Nepali and English subtitles.

Min Bahadur Bham’s cinematic quest

The Himalayas can be seen as a heap of rocks covered in ice and snow, aloof and permanent. But what of the intangible, non-physical Himalayas — the heritage, culture, songs, languages, festivals, lives and livelihoods? The mountains are in flux, and some of the changes to the climate and weather are global in nature while others are local — outmigration and influences of the outside world. Wang Lama is deeply affected by the changes he sees around him, and using his art tries to peer into the future. Will the Himalayas as we know it survive in the coming decades? He shares these worries in his solo exhibition, In Search of Vanishing Identities at the Takpa Gallery.  <figure><img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20240603140644_cd82723e54e2445a1faa9ecd2a67716de3d09b0173f000a14bbb153a48cb4a88.jpg" data-media-id="editor_0" data-image-id="20240603140644_cd82723e54e2445a1faa9ecd2a67716de3d09b0173f000a14bbb153a48cb4a88" data-rendition-name="original" width="1500" height="1500" loading="lazy" alt="Wang Lama"></figure>  Will the yaks, the monasteries, monks and prayer flags be just a memory? Taking the reference of villages of three trans-Himalayan districts (Humla, Mustang and Manang) Lama mostly uses pen and ink with watercolour to bring us minutely detailed Himalayan landscapes. Lama takes refuge in Himalayan architecture and art, his works primarily focusing on the remnants of the past and sites of the present.  <figure><img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20240603140644_6eaa5442c9fccb2abd191d5cf38fc3962d1cf05f1ffc45848026652b7078d96e.jpg" data-media-id="editor_1" data-image-id="20240603140644_6eaa5442c9fccb2abd191d5cf38fc3962d1cf05f1ffc45848026652b7078d96e" data-rendition-name="original" width="1500" height="1056" loading="lazy" alt="Wang Lama"><figcaption>Artist Wang Lama</figcaption></figure>  “We have always associated identity with people and our cultural dress. But what about the knowledge, architecture, and art of these places?” asks the 35-year-old artist rhetorically. “Villages are emptying out, and city dwellers are migrating abroad, there is no one left to recognise the knowledge, to witness the pace of change and associate our space with their vanishing identity.” A traveller artist, Lama draws as he goes from place to place. Born in the Nyin Valley of remote Humla, Lama is nostalgic about the places of his childhood among the arid mountains of northwest Nepal. Those places are no longer what they were, he worries. In some of his exhibits, he takes a broader temporal perspective taking us back in time when yak caravans carried rock salt through the mountain trails whose existence is slowly vanishing. Simultaneously, he yanks us back to the present with the works showcasing abandoned alleys, houses and monasteries.  <figure><img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20240603140644_d976cfd07d92c6ed46a02f78810c3240cc6e674c57dc3bdea322f874380de855.jpg" data-media-id="editor_2" data-image-id="20240603140644_d976cfd07d92c6ed46a02f78810c3240cc6e674c57dc3bdea322f874380de855" data-rendition-name="original" width="1500" height="2133" loading="lazy" alt="Wang Lama"></figure>  Lama has also captured Manang and its changing landscape in Golden Hour which is a mix media on canvas depicting traditional mud houses, each with a waving vertical prayer flag. There is a wisp of smoke rising from the houses, and in the middle is an incongruous concrete house. A dilapidated traditional stupa stands amidst the mud houses and a concrete stupa lies next to the concrete. “I wanted to show how modernity can kill the essence of a place,” Lama explains. “Today, everyone is opting for concrete structures and the traditional stupa which was made from stones brought from each household in the locality is being replaced with cement. The idea of everyone coming together to build something is gone.” Then there are prayer wheels embedded in walls, paintings and carvings on windows and doors, and alcoves embedded in the stone walls of traditional houses. The colours red, blue, white, green and yellow represent the five elements of nature in Buddhist philosophy — and serve as a motif in most of Lama’s art.  <figure><img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20240603140640_b75f9b7477a8ba00c149bcd81ee7e94056f3027c85c06ce85a43a53afcea2b52.jpg" data-media-id="editor_3" data-image-id="20240603140640_b75f9b7477a8ba00c149bcd81ee7e94056f3027c85c06ce85a43a53afcea2b52" data-rendition-name="original" width="1742" height="2501" loading="lazy" alt="Wang Lama"></figure>  There is a rustic tone in every piece, and Lama says, “In the past, our ancestors built houses that were a part of nature. The holes in the mud houses were deliberately made as nesting areas for birds, they were a refuge to birds as much as for humans.” Birds help pollination and insect control in the shrinking arable land of the Himalayas. In the piece Eternal Silence, a monk is meditating inside a sky cave facing the stupa.  <figure><img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20240603140644_2e8a9c181a0d2af74c01cdaa45f5b8a37e2b5057b61b3efe2ed6356078ed5517.jpg" data-media-id="editor_4" data-image-id="20240603140644_2e8a9c181a0d2af74c01cdaa45f5b8a37e2b5057b61b3efe2ed6356078ed5517" data-rendition-name="original" width="1500" height="1048" loading="lazy" alt="Wang Lama"></figure>  “The stone stupa, the sky caves of Mustang and even the monkhood are all on the verge of extinction, and this painting documents their memory,” says Lama. Though the exhibition’s dominant theme is the changing Himalayan landscapes and its fragile ecosystem, each of Lama’s works also raises the global changes that are affecting us all as we grapple with figuring out the type of world we want to live in. Is it the world centred solely on human ‘progress’ we want to be part of, or a tradition that believed in co-existing with nature? In Search of Vanishing Identities 11AM- 6PM (Tuesday to Thursdays) 11AM- 7PM (Fridays to Sundays) Till 9 June Takpa Gallery, Lazimpat

Pinki Sris Rana

Between losing and loss

Animal tracking is an art that has been practiced by traditional peoples for thousands of years for hunting and survival. Gathering evidence about an animal with tracks, scat, and other signs, they locate, trail, and interpret its behaviour in the wild.&nbsp; In Nepal, although indigenous people like the Raute, sikari hunters and a few naturalists use tracking, the knowledge is diminishing. Between 1993-1995, I lived in what was then the remote village of Khandbari of Sankwasabha district to help establish the 2,300 km2 Makalu-Barun National Park. I started making and collecting plaster casts of the mammal tracks encountered along the forest trails, riverbanks, fields, and alpine areas.&nbsp; My friend and co-manager was Narayan Poudel who was tragically killed in the 2006 helicopter crash in the Kanchenjunga Conservation Area. He was enthusiastic about the collection and encouraged me to make plaster casts of as many tracks as possible that could be used in a natural history book about the Makalu-Barun National Park someday. Natural History of the Wild Side of Everest by Frances Klatzel was eventually published. My main teachers were the Rai sikari hunters whom accompanied me on treks through the park. They had grown up learning about the forests, animal tracks, and hunting and trapping (paso) techniques. They were also experts at identifying edible, utilitarian, and medicinal plants, and could live quite comfortably for months if given nothing more than a kukuri and a little salt. Hunting was prohibited in the national park and buffer zone but there were local people with a hunting background who were among the best naturalists that I had ever encountered. They were fluent in the flora and fauna of the forests in which they lived. They could mimic dozens of bird and animal calls, follow a trail over solid rock, and often knew the names of the birds, mammals, and reptiles in three languages. I observed my guide Bhakta Ram Rai examine a set of fresh tracks made the night before just outside of our camp near Walung. Just on the basis of that track he could infer that the tracks were rounded, wider than long, with three-lobed footpads and four, somewhat rounded toes. &nbsp;No claw marks, except occasionally at steep and muddy trail inclines. &nbsp; The animal was large, walking, unhurried, with a body length of about 1.5m, shoulder height of 40cm, and weight of approximately 50kg, most likely male. &nbsp;The tracks were made between 4 to 6 hours previously, just after the misty rain. It was the leopard which had dined on a barking deer recently.&nbsp; Fast forward to 2019. I had been to Nepal many times in the interim period and dozens of plaster casts I had made 25 years before remained stored in cardboard boxes in my basement wrapped in Rising Nepal newspapers from 1994.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20240603040640_2e6b41d0d5a1eea47460289caa4a16ecf3ae0297e1abe76120ce2b3f659309aa.jpg" data-media-id="editor_0" data-image-id="20240603040640_2e6b41d0d5a1eea47460289caa4a16ecf3ae0297e1abe76120ce2b3f659309aa" data-rendition-name="original" width="640" height="480" loading="lazy" alt="Mammal tracking in Nepal"> <figcaption>Rubber molds of various Himalayan mammals presented to the Natural History Museum in May of 2022.</figcaption> </figure>   <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20240603040640_d8e9fa64038b6bc232a12744f103cb5fd97d674671bea4bea5d163fe7ae43195.jpg" data-media-id="editor_1" data-image-id="20240603040640_d8e9fa64038b6bc232a12744f103cb5fd97d674671bea4bea5d163fe7ae43195" data-rendition-name="original" width="2448" height="3264" loading="lazy" alt="mammal tracking in Nepal"> <figcaption>Silicone rubber track molds (left) and the plaster casts from which they are made (right) for (top to bottom) sambar, Himalayan black bear, and tiger.</figcaption> </figure>  &nbsp;I was able to make 30 or more plaster casts of bear, leopard, barking deer, tiger, chital, sloth bear, snow leopard, wild buffalo, blue sheep, and pika tracks, and turn them into a silicone rubber moulds to make them durable, so they could be used as a teaching tool for students of natural history. The Natural History Museum in Kathmandu has a collection of over 50,000 plant, animal, and fungi. Its head Ganesh Bahadur Thapa was enthusiastic about using the track casts as an educaitonal tool and they are currently on display there together with later collections of snow leopard, blue sheep, Tibetan wolf casts, as well as Tarai species.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20240603040644_9746d8deb0a89c60a53bfa4097ecef1c43e258bad56842d971c2795935880ab8.jpg" data-media-id="editor_2" data-image-id="20240603040644_9746d8deb0a89c60a53bfa4097ecef1c43e258bad56842d971c2795935880ab8" data-rendition-name="original" width="2976" height="1984" loading="lazy" alt="mammal tracking in Nepal"> <figcaption>Students at the Basha Valley Shgar in Balistan, Pakistan examine a plaster cast they made from a silicone rubber mold of a snow leopard track during “Snow Leopard Day.” Photo: Baltistan Wildlife Conservation and Development Organization</figcaption> </figure>   <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20240603040644_ad8be607af056524db03bc56487150f29018a03d226cd88a41f7d3a8374ca61f.jpg" data-media-id="editor_3" data-image-id="20240603040644_ad8be607af056524db03bc56487150f29018a03d226cd88a41f7d3a8374ca61f" data-rendition-name="original" width="4032" height="3024" loading="lazy" alt="mammal tracking in Nepal"> <figcaption>Several of the silicone rubber mammal track molds are displayed at the Natural History Museum.</figcaption> </figure>  Ideally, the next step will be to develop mammal tracking and natural history educational programs for students throughout Nepal as they ahve in Baltistan in Pakistan. “Making school children aware of snow leopard behaviour and its habitat, and teaching them about tracks and tracking from a young age will significantly contribute to survival of the species,” says Ghana Gurung, director of the WWF Nepal.&nbsp; Wildlife educational programs are particularly important at a time when Nepal becomes more and more urbanised, with children spending less and less time in the natural world. Tracking opportunities abound even on the outskirts of towns. Common leopard, wild boar, and barking deer tracks, for example, can be found along the sides of the roads on the Kathmandu Valley rim.&nbsp; A basic knowledge of tracks and tracking would also be of immense value to Nepal’s growing numbers of natural history and trekking guides, most of whom seem to be fluent in birds and mammals, but lack the interpretational skills of their forebears. Natural History Museum staff will also be trained in mould making techniques so that its tack collection can continue to grow. Says Ganesh Bahadur Thapa of the Natural History Museum: “The first mammalian silicone rubber moulds amassed over three decades of work in Nepal is now a valuable asset of the museum. It can enhance awareness of wildlife in Nepal, and contribute to conservation efforts.”&nbsp; Alton C Byers, PhD is Senior Research Scientist at the Institute for Arctic and Alpine Research (INSTAAR), University of Colorado at Boulder in the United States.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20240603040644_5d8acfd4a58cc5659fbd96f10e5d7bd287d48760a38150480abab5137d93276c.jpg" data-media-id="editor_4" data-image-id="20240603040644_5d8acfd4a58cc5659fbd96f10e5d7bd287d48760a38150480abab5137d93276c" data-rendition-name="original" width="4000" height="3000" loading="lazy" alt="mammal tracking in Nepal"> <figcaption>Ganesh Bahadur Thapa (fourth from left) and Alton C Byers (third from left) at the Natural History Museum in Kathmandu in May 2023.</figcaption> </figure>  Natural history of the planet ‘Animal tracks are the transient reminders of who has passed and what they were doing – in short, a paragraph in the maker's life history book. Normally tracks are gone for eternity but casts retain the story of sentient beings for others to read, comprehend and contemplate through a thoughtful naturalist's mind. Learn to read the story. &nbsp;Preserve a track, save the natural history of planet earth.’ -Dr Jim Halfpenny, President, A Naturalist's World, Gardner, Montana, USA

Tracking Himalayan wildlife

The rugged mountains of Rukum East are all covered in late snow. After a <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/first-drought-then-downpour">prolonged drought</a>, it has finally snowed, but it is too late for the high altitude meadows to grow again. They have all dried up. &nbsp; At 3,720m, visitors rarely make it to the high pasture at Ma Kharka. But even until 20 years ago, every family in the village of Lugum brought its sheep and mountain goats for grazing up here. Shepherds with their flocks spent half a year in what used to be cool, green patches of grasslands. Very few do so now. Rassa Gurung, 60, is one the last few shepherds carrying on their <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/village-of-the-climbers">ancestral occupation</a>. “I started coming here as a baby, slung over my mother’s back. We didn’t read and write back then, we all helped our parents tend the sheep,” he says. Gurung knows every corner of this pasture like the back of his hand. His sheep used to graze freely, but now he has to watch out that they do not wander into someone’s farm or enter the nearby community forest.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2024021517020_1112590731e0e52430463cd0bbf6e400e24f846d284b2fc42b8010da24b7da70.jpg" data-media-id="editor_2" data-image-id="2024021517020_1112590731e0e52430463cd0bbf6e400e24f846d284b2fc42b8010da24b7da70" data-rendition-name="original" width="1750" height="995" loading="lazy" alt="Climate crisis ruins Himalayan pastoralists NT"> <figcaption>Rassa Gurung is one the last few shepherds carrying on their ancestral occupation.</figcaption> </figure>  Mt Dhaulagiri looms in the distance, and even that high up there is little snow this year. It looks like a giant dark rock. The sheep are also dying from mysterious causes. “Some 40-50 sheep die every year now, I myself have only 150 sheep now, down from 300 four years ago,” says Gurung. “Most of them die because they eat poisonous grass, as the edible grass does not grow in time. Some are eaten by leopards and bears.” He adds: “It rains when it is not supposed to and it does not snow when it is supposed to. Sometimes it does not snow till March, and other times it does not rain until June, so there is no grass to graze on.” High mountain communities are<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/climate-change-is-a-disaster-in-the-nepal-himalaya"> disproportionately affected by the climate crisis</a>. This year was one of the hottest ones Nepal has experienced. “Farmers are affected directly by the increase in the average temperature. Unpredictable seasonal changes can lead to the growth of new species, and native indigenous plants disappear,” explains climate scientist Ngamindra Dahal. He adds: “Rainfall patterns have also changed. At times we have unseasonal cloudbursts, other times there is no winter rain and we get droughts. The absence of snow has affected sheep herders.”&nbsp; Indeed, new kinds of grasses have started growing and for shepherds like Gurung, there is no way to know if they are edible.&nbsp; Botanist Bhakta Bahadur Raskoti agrees that climate change has affected the growth of edible grass for sheep and goats in high mountain areas. “Because of climate change, grass species from the Tarai are now found in the mountains, while mountain grasses have moved up,” he adds. Shepherd Jore Pun, 43, used to have 350 sheep a few years ago, but now has only 250.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2024021517020_6dd609e1837506d6a623b9c6217cae8b7da0909ee445a1d0d1fe13cf277fef87.jpg" data-media-id="editor_4" data-image-id="2024021517020_6dd609e1837506d6a623b9c6217cae8b7da0909ee445a1d0d1fe13cf277fef87" data-rendition-name="original" width="1250" height="751" loading="lazy" alt="Climate crisis ruins Himalayan pastoralists. NT"> <figcaption>Jore Pun</figcaption> </figure>  Lugum used to be a large sheep farming village in Rukum East. Half of the 400 households here used to herd sheep and goats. Today, there are 500 households but only 35 are pastoralists.&nbsp; The Magar people make up the majority of the Rukum East population. To them, sheep rearing used to be a way of life here. The sheep are sacrificed during their festivals and women make clothing from their wool. With the sheep gone, these traditions are now in decline. “Our grasslands are depleting and sheep rearing has become unfeasible,” says ward chair Mankaji Pun. “Moreover, young men are moving out for jobs in the cities or overseas. They are abandoning their ancestral occupation.” <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/no-country-for-young-men-c89lgrrl">Many men from here have left for the Gulf</a>, Malaysia or India. Youth here are also increasingly taking the backdoor to America. Only the women, the elderly and children are left.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20240215190216_a8e5bf8de837acaf13c1c9d966a3316bb7098b3d6c12da9d65323d920445c19b.jpg" data-media-id="editor_6" data-image-id="20240215190216_a8e5bf8de837acaf13c1c9d966a3316bb7098b3d6c12da9d65323d920445c19b" data-rendition-name="original" width="1700" height="1000" loading="lazy" alt="Temperature map NT"> </figure>  Every household here has <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepalis-take-backdoor-to-the-american-dream">at least one member in the USA</a>. These families spend as high as Rs6 million to make their way there, borrowed from local lenders at high interest. The ones who remain are averse to hard work. Dilchan Pun Magar of Lugum was rearing sheep until three years ago. He had 200 of them. Unable to make a living, he also kept side jobs. He has now completely given up on sheep rearing and operates a hotel. “We couldn’t modernise sheep farming. It was a lot of work and we barely made any money, so I ended up leaving it altogether,” says Pun Magar. Rassa Gurung is still supporting his family by selling sheep. He says he makes Rs400,000 a year, and the income goes to paying for his children’s education. “But my children are not interested in taking after me, they think it is too much work,” he adds.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2024021517020_8a63eabfb7287bf84d8a5a9753b343eec25c4607ed67b8610316d40af46b16ab.jpg" data-media-id="editor_8" data-image-id="2024021517020_8a63eabfb7287bf84d8a5a9753b343eec25c4607ed67b8610316d40af46b16ab" data-rendition-name="original" width="1523" height="1000" loading="lazy" alt="Climate crisis ruins Himalayan pastoralists NT"> </figure>  Jore Pun also cites the new generation’s lack of interest as a reason for the decline of sheep farming. He says, “People started going to school. Now everyone is migrating. Sheep farming is a lot of work, after all.” There are still about 22,000 sheep in Rukum East, according to the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development. Two years ago, there were nearly 800,000 sheep across the country. It is now down to 770,000. This decrease in sheep numbers has similarly affected the production of meat, down from 2,964 metric tons last year to 2,880 this year. Wool production has also decreased, from 584,000kg two years ago to 567,412 this year.&nbsp; Translated for the Nepali original published on himalkhabar.com

Climate crisis ruins Himalayan pastoralists

Yartsa gunbu, commonly dubbed the caterpillar fungus or ‘Nature’s Viagra’, is rightly famous across the Himalayas and beyond.&nbsp; And with a market value of between $20,000-40,000 per kg thanks to its huge medicinal properties, it’s small wonder people across the region are on their hands and knees across these mountains to track the stuff down. But it’s not just for its extraordinary economic value that it’s worth admiring this wonder fungus. In fact, what’s far more remarkable is the sheer uniqueness of its genesis.&nbsp; Because yartsa gunbu (Ophiocordyceps sinensis, yarsagumba in Nepali) is the sort of lifeform that is so extraordinary that the only place it could exist—outside the pages of a sci-fi novel or some extravagant Studio Ghibli anime—is in nature.&nbsp; Every single one of these tiny marvels is a product of metamorphosis: formed when the larva of a moth is implanted between 3,000 to 5,000m during the rainy season, then attacked by a parasitic fungus that gradually envelops it, to eventually create this sprout of phenomenal medicinal power.&nbsp; And scientists are still only just beginning to understand the yartsa gunbu’s properties. As well as the feted increase in libido it is believed to cause, it is also prized for its anti-inflammatory properties, and is used as a general tonic to improve stamina and reduce fatigue. Yartsa gunbu is just one of the almost infinite varieties of natural life that surround us in a dizzying abundance across the Hindu Kush Himalaya.&nbsp; Because, while many of us are aware of the link between the sweeping expanse of these mountains, and the vast ice mass they contain, and the 10 great Asian rivers that rise here to water our crops, slake our thirsts and power our lives, these great ranges in altitude serve another purpose: their rapid shifts in contours creating world-famous havens for biodiversity, including many species found only here.&nbsp; And while the steep gradients have created many completely unique and wildly distinct lifeforms, in close proximity to each other, the sheer inaccessibility of the region’s terrain has meant that many of these lifeforms have been sheltered from human activities. Until now.&nbsp; This region holds an astonishing four of the world’s 36 global biodiversity hotspots; 12 of the global 200 eco regions, 575 Protected Areas, and 335 important bird and biodiversity areas. These are breathtaking figures – and ones we should be proud of, an abundance we should fight to protect, and be funded to maintain.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20240214100252_5ad679a6909aa45951e70af5b9fdd8fd3674e8574a79f1f24f1331686fd1c25f.jpg" data-media-id="editor_0" data-image-id="20240214100252_5ad679a6909aa45951e70af5b9fdd8fd3674e8574a79f1f24f1331686fd1c25f" data-rendition-name="original" width="2490" height="1860" loading="lazy" alt="Biodiversity hotspots"> <figcaption>A map showing the four global biodiversity hotspots of the Hindu Kush Himalaya: Mountains of Central Asia, Himalaya, Indo-Burma and Mountains of South-West China. Map Source: Hi-Wise Report by ICIMOD</figcaption> </figure>  Instead, it’s the opposite that’s happening. With carbon pollution driving temperature rise and black carbon deposits on ice accelerating glacier loss and creating more erratic patterns of rainfall, and land-use change, this vast resource is declining at unprecedented speed.&nbsp; The situation is so bad that ecosystem researchers describe the Hindu Kush Himalaya as a “biosphere on the brink”. Or as the New York Times pithily put it in a headline last year, Animals Are Running Out of Places to Live.&nbsp; The HKH cryosphere is warming two times faster than the global average. Glaciers melted faster in the 2010s than the previous 10 years, and we will reach peak water demand by 2050. This will have enormous impacts on biodiversity and ecosystem services. That is only 26 years away. We are also the most polluted region in the world now. Some of this is because of the industries that were exported from the west to this region, and the lack of access to cleaner technologies. But whatever the causes, whoever is to blame, the fact is that pollution has huge implications for not just human health, but also for biodiversity, crop production, and so on. And already we’ve seen massive biodiversity decline. 70% of original biodiversity has been lost over the last century. And yet, to go back to the improbably arising caterpillar fungus, and other famous products of “nature’s medicine cabinet”, 85% of mountain communities remain dependent on this biodiversity and highland ecosystem services. With grim predictability, yartsa gunbu availability is reported to be declining. And we already have many examples of large-scale ecosystem disruptions across the HKH. Rangeland quality is deteriorating, with a host of problems that accompanies that. We have various invasive and other species moving up.&nbsp; Tigers have been seen at 4000m above sea level – at unprecedented elevations. And we’ve got aggressive upslope movement of certain species at high altitudes, such as rhododendron shrubberies, impacting the growth of high value medicinal products and pastures in these areas.&nbsp; And the flipside is that we have the unintended consequences of conservation successes, with the rebounding of certain species sparking human wildlife conflict. Striking the right balance between human and animal life is extremely challenging, and another area that ICIMOD is working hard to address. But having dedicated the largest part of my entire career to working to advance biodiversity protection and how it is valued in global fora, it pains me deeply that multiple commitments to protect nature that have been made over decades are still not being realised. What is clear too is that this situation is far more acute in the poorer and marginalised regions of the world – such as the Hindu Kush Himalaya. It does not have to be this way, we also have good stories amidst all the news of habitat loss and degradation and species extinctions. 75% of Bhutan is forested, and 40% of Nepal – so two countries in this region are defying wider global trends in terms of deforestation. Pakistan, despite challenges, has committed to plant 10 billion trees.&nbsp; These shoots are coming from unexpected corners too, including, perhaps least likely of all allies, from the finance sector.&nbsp; Just this week, Brazil received $150M in foreign finance for Amazon rainforest protection. We’re starting to see capital markets shift finance flows into what really matters – a regenerative Earth. While there is much to be done – currently, less than one per cent of the <a href="https://forestdeclaration.org/">$460 billion</a> per year needed to halt and reverse forest loss by 2030 has been delivered – there is a growing recognition of the fact that human survival depends on halting and reversing declines in nature.&nbsp; This week, ICIMOD has been honoured to host the third lead authors meeting of the IPBES nexus assessment. As the world’s foremost experts in nature stand in this, one of the most biodiverse places on the planet, the evidence of nature’s value is categorical. Nature must be built into all investment and action. We need to accelerate policy, institutional and market reforms to make this happen – and push for a rapid increase in innovative global finance, especially to high-value and vulnerable regions like the Hindu Kush Himalaya.&nbsp; Global science processes such as IPBES and IPCC must continue to highlight the enormity of the challenge, deliver evidence on viable solutions, and communicate widely and persuasively. ICIMOD is proud to link arms with these key platforms to advance this crucial work, and at this crucial moment for the planet and our collective future. Izabella Koziell is the Deputy Director General at International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) in Kathmandu.

Biosphere on the brink

The first-ever Mt Everest sightseeing flight was undertaken in 1933 by a British pilot duo flying from northern Bihar over Nepal in a flimsy Westland Wallace biplane with an open cockpit (below). We have come a long way since then.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2023101912104_f31597aad6da4dc9a926e38faf8296a39ff44698fe708ec252c4ff80d648e55a.jpg" data-media-id="editor_0" data-image-id="2023101912104_f31597aad6da4dc9a926e38faf8296a39ff44698fe708ec252c4ff80d648e55a" data-rendition-name="original" width="972" height="669" loading="lazy" alt="Mountain flight 2"> </figure>  The next celebrity was UN Secretary General Dag Hammarskjöld when he visited Nepal in 1961. King Mahendra had just staged his coup and jailed elected Prime Minister B P Koirala, and was cultivating the international community. The king loaned his private DC-3 for the secretary general to get up close and personal with the world’s highest mountain. Hammarskjöld went back to New York and contributed an article for National Geographic (below) in its January 1961 edition with his black and white photographs of the trip, and possibly launched the first promotion of Everest sightseeing flights.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2023102205100_ad8eb504b5b6cef65748665d615d738a84901e865274aab0b69be2cca923bc19.jpg" data-media-id="editor_1" data-image-id="2023102205100_ad8eb504b5b6cef65748665d615d738a84901e865274aab0b69be2cca923bc19" data-rendition-name="original" width="2000" height="1000" loading="lazy" alt="Mountain flights in Nepal"> </figure>  In 2013, the grandson of Douglas Douglas-Hamilton, the Marquis of Clydesdale, Charles Douglas-Hamilton commemorated the 80th anniversary of the 1933 overflight of Everest by going on a sightseeing flight himself from Kathmandu.&nbsp; Today, there are dozens of hour-long Everest-view flights every morning from Kathmandu that fly at 24,000ft along the central Himalayan mountains, make a U-turn over Lukla and return. Before Covid, there used to be 30 Everest flights a day from Kathmandu airport. Buddha Air has the most flights, and leaves aisle seats empty so all passengers have a window seat. This also makes the flight expensive, but most passengers say it is well worth the experience. It is one of the few flights in the world that takes off and lands from the same airport, and the fare is $220 for overseas passengers and Rs14,000 for Nepalis and Indians. Unlike other flights, where cabin attendants are busy serving food and drinks, on Everest flights they go up and down the aisle pointing out prominent peaks and escorting passengers one by one to the cockpit for better views. That is the other difference: in these flights, passengers are actually allowed into the cockpit. Opinion is divided about which side of the plane offers superior views, but there is a general feeling that the right side is better because the plane is closer to the mountains on the return leg. But this does mean that passengers do not have much of a view during the first half of the flight – unless there are some empty seats on the left side. The other debate is about whether it is better to sit in front or at the back. The turboprop engines of Buddha's ATR-72s are mounted below the plane’s high wings and are relatively small (compared to the Q400, for instance) so it does not obstruct the horizontal view much. Still, a seat at the back of the plane (#13-16) are best because there is nothing to block the view. &nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2023101912108_8ee24a5f858db84bfb090e6067395c1eda33befd697a1e2c9ad2f9daf224447c.jpg" data-media-id="editor_2" data-image-id="2023101912108_8ee24a5f858db84bfb090e6067395c1eda33befd697a1e2c9ad2f9daf224447c" data-rendition-name="original" width="1559" height="527" loading="lazy" alt="mountain 4"> </figure>  Right after takeoff, the Buddha Air ATR-72-500 makes a wide climbing turn over Kathmandu Valley, and the western Himalaya with Annapurna, Himalchuli, Manaslu heave into view. As the plane sets a northeast heading, out of the left window there is a parade of the central Himalaya peaks: Langtang, Shishapangma, Dorje Lakpa, Phurbi Ghyachu, Gauri Shankar. The plane gains height, and the pastel plateau of Tibet can be seen behind the mountains. The rivers that flow down from there have carved deep gorges through the mighty mountains. At this point, passengers get 2-3 minutes each in the cockpit, and a clear view of Mt Everest, Lhotse and Makalu silhouetted by the rising sun, and only 30km away to the north.&nbsp; Far below, in the shadow of surrounding peaks, one can make out Lukla, Namche Bazar and on the horizon, the imposing massif of Cho Oyu and Nepal’s longest glacier, Ngozumba. As the plane turns back, the aircraft is usually abreast of the summit of Numbur which is the same height as the cruising altitude of the plane.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2023101912100_4ddeaffd221fa35f223a7215170b2a2854ba1f1833d27d090cbb92d2e2026b9f.jpg" data-media-id="editor_3" data-image-id="2023101912100_4ddeaffd221fa35f223a7215170b2a2854ba1f1833d27d090cbb92d2e2026b9f" data-rendition-name="original" width="1015" height="763" loading="lazy" alt="Mountain flight 1"> </figure>  On return, the plane starts descending after Gauri Shankar, but the mountains are usually visible right up to the point where the gears come down and the plane prepares to land back in Kathmandu. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Without having to scale the actual peaks, mountain flights are a fantastic way to take in the breathtaking views of the Himalaya, and one of the most popular activities tourists undertake while in Nepal.&nbsp; Most flights in Nepal are actually also mountain flights. A Kathmandu to Tumlingtar or Bhadrapur flight on Buddha Air, for example, offers almost the same views. Similarly, flights to Pokhara, Bhairawa, Nepalganj or Dhangadi have a spectacular panorama of the western Himalaya. &nbsp;&nbsp; Since it began operations 26 years ago this month, Buddha Air has been the domestic airline conducting the most Everest flights. These days, besides its Everest Experience, it also offers the Annapurna Experience and the Kora Experience (see box, below).&nbsp; Passengers also get a ‘Himalayan Peaks’ map to identify the mountains on this once-in-a-lifetime experience. &nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2023101912108_4a409f74bd235ea371701b857064ee8dfef9d775f013b43171d066744e95be34.jpg" data-media-id="editor_4" data-image-id="2023101912108_4a409f74bd235ea371701b857064ee8dfef9d775f013b43171d066744e95be34" data-rendition-name="original" width="1402" height="564" loading="lazy" alt="mountain flight 6"> <figcaption>PHOTO: Guðmundur Páll Ólafsson </figcaption> </figure>  The Annapurna Experience&nbsp; Although Mt Everest gets all the attention because it is the highest, the mountains of Central Nepal are equally if not more spectacular, and the sightseeing flights actually fly closer to the massifs of Annapurna, Himalchuli, Manaslu, Machapuchre and Dhaulagiri. This is a 30-minute flight from Kathmandu and lands in Pokhara, and Buddha Air offers charter flights.&nbsp; The Kora Experience (Everest + Annapurna)&nbsp; Buddha Air is now also offering a mountain flight combo that combines the Everest and Annapurna experiences, and the name is derived from the Tibetan word ‘Kora’ which is a pilgrimage circumambulation. The charter flights take off from Kathmandu towards Everest, circle back west to Annapurna overflying the Valley, and land back in Kathmandu in a flight lasting 1.5 hours.&nbsp; <a href="https://www.buddhaair.com/">www.buddhaair.com &nbsp;&nbsp;</a>

Getting up close and personal with the mountains

<a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/Tsum-valley-even-more-difficult-reach-with-earthquake-and-monsoon,2441">The sacred valley of Tsum</a> lies in the Himalayan rain shadow behind Ganesh Himal, and has set an example for harmonious coexistence between human beings and nature. Much of this do no harm philosophy emanates from the belief of the people there in Tibetan Buddhism and in particular the <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/bon-voyage">animist Bön faith</a> which they share with many other secluded valleys in the Himalayas. Tsum Valley is only 60km on a straight line northwest of Kathmandu in Upper Gorkha district on the border with China. It comprises two local wards: Chumchet and Chhekampar under the Chum (Tsum) Nubri rural municipality. <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/nation-road-from-nowhere-to-nowhere,549">Tsum Valley</a> was not always a peaceful place. More than 100 years ago, legend has it, a major conflict arose between two communities and when it became impossible to resolve it internally, the Tsumpa invited a high-profile monk from Dragkar monastery in Tibet. They also summoned the Drukpa Lama Ngawang Palsang from Bhutan who at the time was also residing at Dragkar.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2023101912104_216e00b87f56991be20b881b99352305716b628c093c9381cfb1859734f45c5b.jpg" data-media-id="editor_3" data-image-id="2023101912104_216e00b87f56991be20b881b99352305716b628c093c9381cfb1859734f45c5b" data-rendition-name="original" width="1500" height="1000" loading="lazy" alt="Tsum Valley in Nepal NT"> <figcaption>Mani walls along the fields of Tsum.</figcaption> </figure>  The Drukpa Rinpoche resolved the conflict successfully, and is also credited for advising local people to adapt to drought, famine and pestilence which was happening frequently at the time. Locals were so pleased that they asked Drukpa Rinpoche to reside permanently in Tsum, who in return got the people to adopt a communal edict for peace and harmony with nature, thereby establishing the tradition of Shargya in 1920. Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/the-courage-and-endurance-of-the-langtangpa">The courage and endurance of the Langtangpa</a>, Austin Lord The term Shargya means (hundreds of) commitments taken by the people or community collectively. It was put into writing on a wood block in Tibetan script and then thumb printed. They were:&nbsp; 1. No to slaughtering (of animals, or humans) 2. No setting traps (hunting) 3. No bee-keeping 4. No selling of domestic animals for commercial purpose (mostly to Tibet and lower valleys)  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2023101912108_968ea2c1199f4b4a9cc6bd007a537b4fee1fa6c57721eafef9bd880a894d5562.jpg" data-media-id="editor_5" data-image-id="2023101912108_968ea2c1199f4b4a9cc6bd007a537b4fee1fa6c57721eafef9bd880a894d5562" data-rendition-name="original" width="1125" height="1500" loading="lazy" alt="Tsum Valley in Nepal NT"> </figure>  This indigenous knowledge holds its origin from the ethic of Tibetan Buddhism, and is similar to the non-violence practiced in <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/the-greening-of-the-khumbu">Khumbu</a> and other Himalayan valleys. In the few select communities of the neighbouring valley of upper Nubri below <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=13693">Mt Manaslu</a>, local monks have intervened to stop the slaughter and consumption of livestock as well as a blanket ban on wildlife hunting. The Shargya tradition in Tsum has withstood the test of time and evolved through different historical phases. It saw war and conflict when Tsum Valley became the launching pad for Khampa guerrilla raids on the Chinese military in the 1960s. The 1966 documentary ‘<a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7805632/">Raid into Tibet</a>’ by George Patterson and Adrian Cowell showed the two British journalists sneaking into Tsum to make the film, aided by the Khampa fighters.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20231019121016_22033d7474fe455d5524930bbc74b882e2657de3871664aff46057f3a681d76e.jpg" data-media-id="editor_9" data-image-id="20231019121016_22033d7474fe455d5524930bbc74b882e2657de3871664aff46057f3a681d76e" data-rendition-name="original" width="698" height="501" loading="lazy" alt="Tsum Valley in Nepal"> </figure>  Today, surviving elders recall the violence of the time. It did not just affect the livelihood of locals, it also violated the Shargya ethos because the guerrillas slaughtered many yaks and wildlife. Following the defeat of the Khampa by the Royal Nepal Army, Nepal’s border police post was set up in Tsum in the 1970s. But while the move lessened the influence of the guerrillas, there was a language barrier between locals and the lowland police who were unaware of the region's non-violent tradition.&nbsp; This was eventually resolved after the Shargya edict was translated into Nepali. The 2015 Constitution drafting exercise and the introduction of the ILO convention on Indigenous and Tribal Peoples Convention also played a role in the local people embracing their century–old tradition. People of Tsum consider Shargya an everyday practice handed down over generations. It is a way of living that brings positive change within individuals, as well as in the external environment.&nbsp; The idea is not to commit harm on other sentient beings and nature on which they depend. Shargya is a communal edict, a certain set of oaths taken by people. If violated, people will need to pay a fine.&nbsp; The decision to declare Chumchet (lower Tsum) as Shargya territory and the 2012 Tsum Shargya Festival cemented the tradition. Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai attended the festival to sign the Shargya ethos declaring Chumchet and Chhekamapar as zones of non-violence, and a Shargya preservation committee was formed.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20231019121012_0cbd9f2b1afacc421550ccdcdb8c74a357af71fdbd58e0f0f21daf1b5a7e8d9a.jpg" data-media-id="editor_10" data-image-id="20231019121012_0cbd9f2b1afacc421550ccdcdb8c74a357af71fdbd58e0f0f21daf1b5a7e8d9a" data-rendition-name="original" width="1500" height="1000" loading="lazy" alt="Tsum Valley in Nepal NT"> <figcaption>Tsum festival signing ceremony by founder reincarnate Drukpa Rinpoche in 2012.</figcaption> </figure>  The committee teaches the younger generation about the tradition, and also patrols the area to prevent hunting, animal slaughter, deforestation, and wildfires. If there is an extreme violation of the norms, an individual can even be exiled from the valley. Committee members are rotated every five years, and a centennial celebration slated for 2020 had to be postponed due to the pandemic.&nbsp; Locals say the indigenous edict in creating a peaceful, harmonious and resilient community has helped adapt to the <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/climate-change-is-a-disaster-in-the-nepal-himalaya">climate crisis</a>.&nbsp; They say the region has never suffered a severe drought, famine or major conflict after the introduction of Shargya. They say individual behaviour change from Shargya ethos has helped create a balanced coexistence between humans, &nbsp;nature and sentient beings. Farmers in Tsum do not use chemical pesticides, they minimise the use of plastic. Locals also worship the mountains and rocky cliffs as their protectors, and treat water, forest and wildlife as invaluable divine treasures.&nbsp; Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/multimedia/the-organic-uncle-of-chitwan">The 'Organic Uncle' of Chitwan</a>, Anita Bhetwal As a result, trekkers and visitors to Tsum Valley today see freely roaming wildlife such as the Blue Sheep, the Himalayan Tahr, <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/trekking-to-save-nepals-snow-leopards">Snow Leopard</a> and Black Bears in the villages and farms, unafraid of humans.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20231019121012_f8da4618c7f0484fc9aff18b95059f55218086a6832a85ba6f0f522125553c5f.jpg" data-media-id="editor_14" data-image-id="20231019121012_f8da4618c7f0484fc9aff18b95059f55218086a6832a85ba6f0f522125553c5f" data-rendition-name="original" width="1500" height="967" loading="lazy" alt="Tsum Valley in Nepal NT"> </figure>  However, despite its remoteness, <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/building-back-a-beyul-in-tsum">Beyul Kyimolun</a> is not a hidden valley anymore. There are challenges arising from <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/new-high-way-to-dolpo">haphazard tourism and road construction</a>.&nbsp; But people are also promoting homestays and small guesthouses over modern amenities. Responsible tourism complemented by the indigenous culture has further cemented Shargya as a unique and resilient tradition. Tsum Valley today teaches us how an intergenerational commitment can change the world for the better at a time when people are more individualistic than ever before. It is a perfect blend of religious practice and a social construct, preparing the community for the changes and crises to come.&nbsp; Pema Norbu Lama is a research associate and social entrepreneur from Tsum Valley.&nbsp; This article was written prior to the recently held Tsum Centenary Festival and therefore might lack certain updated information of the communal edict. Please refer to pocket book prepared by the organising community for updated information.

Do no harm

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.”

Greenbacks for greenery

Khukri Rum is <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=3719#.WurBk6SFPIU">one of Nepal’s most iconic brands</a>, and is now launching a new Cask Series premium product to sell in Nepal and abroad. The Cask Series Smoked Finish Khukri Rum is a limited edition sipping rum with only about 5,200 bottles made for export and rum connoisseurs in Nepal. Each bottle is numbered and will mention the cask from which it is derived. “We are taking a classic Nepali liquor to a premium, luxury rum category. Each Cask Series flavour line will only be produced once,” explains Shuvash Lamichhane, General Manager of The Nepal Distilleries that first started making Khukri rum in 1959 in Balaju and has never stopped. Fermented from molasses in the Tarai after the annual sugarcane harvest, the rum is matured for at least eight months during distillation. The distillery bottles the classic Khukri XXX, Coronation Khukri XXX, Khukri White Rum and Khukri Spiced Rum. It is now adding this limited edition of the Cask Series. While the original rum is stored in huge wooden vats, the rum used for this more exclusive line is in smaller casks made from oak or sal, with charred insides that give the rum a smoky, smoother flavour. The Cask Series rum is indeed smokier than the classic, while the spiced rum tastes toasty and mostly of cardamom. These flavours are carefully crafted by blenders and tasters who have to pass regular palate tests.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20241122131124_10b8ddca93b37b0348bf964b4f09e7fac6ef4e754cca6231368850539cd558e2.jpg" data-media-id="editor_1" data-image-id="20241122131124_10b8ddca93b37b0348bf964b4f09e7fac6ef4e754cca6231368850539cd558e2" data-rendition-name="original" width="1498" height="1000" loading="lazy" alt="Khukri Rum"> </figure>  The packaging for the Cask Series is as special as the process. A sturdy patterned box that opens up to a black glass bottle with gold lettering, and an indication of which cask the rum is from. These are then shipped to premium customers around the world One of the reasons this is the more expensive premium line is because the casks are smaller than the vats and the blenders reject more than half of the rum in the casks when the aging period is complete. The trick for the blender is also to decide when to take the rum out of the cask. Says Lamichhane: “If we have 25 casks, only ten might match the flavour profile for a certain series.” Over the decades, The Nepal Distilleries has created and maintained a brand that feels quintessentially Nepali, and serves as Nepal’s ‘ambassador’ with exports to Germany, Korea, Belgium, Finland, the Czech Republic, besides the existing markets among Nepalis in the US, UK, Hong Kong and Australia. Its unique <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/khukri-rum-sharpens-its-act">khukri shaped bottle</a> first introduced for King Birendra’s coronation in 1975 has been a collector’s item. The bottle and rum have been a staple for Nepalis and visitors to take as gifts when they leave the country, and is used as decoration on bar tables around the world. Now, nearly 40 years later, even that bottle will soon be getting a makeover with a sharper design and sleeker handle. “Our bottle design has always been instantly recognisable,” says Lamichhane.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20241122131124_b9474db3fc83c85845348dddc30c49652ee1f17229531867fa241de50849cedc.jpg" data-media-id="editor_3" data-image-id="20241122131124_b9474db3fc83c85845348dddc30c49652ee1f17229531867fa241de50849cedc" data-rendition-name="original" width="1500" height="1000" loading="lazy" alt="Khukri Rum NT"> <figcaption>Christopher Armes, master blender of the Cask Series.</figcaption> </figure>  The Himalayan restaurant at The Hague, for example, has a Khukri Coronation bottle<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/from-the-himalaya-to-holland"> adorning its bar</a>. In Washington DC, Himalayan Heritage Restaurant &amp; Bar offers a ‘Nepalese Khukri Rum’ mojito with fresh mint, soda water, lime juice and sugar syrup, for $12. A distinct element of the <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/business/khukri-rum-gets-award">award-winning classic Khukri rum</a> is its 'modern auburn' colour from caramel sourced from cooking sugar and blended with the raw rum. The spirits are then stored in a warehouse with floor-to-ceiling vats which are not just for storage, as the wood imparts flavour into the rum, and removes a lot of the harshness. &nbsp; On a visit this week, the bottling room was just about to begin for the day and the production line was churning out different shapes and sizes of Khukri bottles. Most of the process is automated, including screwing bottle caps, sticking labels, placing the government seal, and packaging. The only manual intervention is quality control where bottles are held against the light to check for sediment and colour.

Khukri goes premium with new rum

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

Nepal now generates a surplus of electricity and it is all from renewable hydropower. Nearly half the country is under forest cover. Despite meeting these decarbonisation goals, Nepal’s hydropower plants are threatened by increased risk due to climate impact.&nbsp; Till <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/editorial/when-it-rains-it-pours-ksqprbu3">28 September</a>, Nepal was <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/india-nepal-sign-power-exchange-deal">exporting just over 1,000MW</a> of electricity to power-hungry India, when flash floods and landslides unleashed by historically heavy rains damaged over 30 hydropower plants across the country, temporarily <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/power-to-the-people">slashing nearly half the power generation.</a> The 456MW Upper Tamakosi in Dolakha was the hardest hit and it will take six months and Rs2 billion to repair. This has significantly reduced exports as well as domestic generation. Two months later, Nepal has still not been unable to fully keep its export commitment, and is actually paying Rs100 million in fines to India. Thirty-seven existing and under construction projects under the Independent Power Producers' Association Nepal (IPPAN) suffered Rs2.5 billion in damage. One of them is the 22MW Bagmati project in Makwanpur which was almost completely buried in flood debris. Even before <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/60-dead-64-missing-in-nepal-floods">record-breaking rain in September</a>, 15 other hydropower projects had been damaged by floods. Last year, floods caused by heavy localised rain damaged 28 hydropower plants. World governments met in Baku for COP29 to discuss the Loss &amp; Damage Fund and the Adaptation Fund, but for countries like Nepal the commas and brackets are meaningless until they are turned into $ and €. And likelihood of adequate compensation for climate-related damage is a long way off, if ever. Nepal’s national strategy is to use its vast hydropower resource as clean energy to spur economic growth, job creation, and boost export revenue. But the plants are located in narrow Himalayan valleys prone to landslides and floods even at the best of times. Now, those <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/comment/changing-climate-for-investment-in-nepal">risks have been heightened by weather extremes</a> due to climate breakdown. At present, Nepal generates over 3,300MW of clean hydropower, and the target is to reach 12,700MW in the next five years. Projects equivalent to 6,000MW are under construction or ready to start. The Ministry of Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation has an Energy Development Roadmap and Action Plan with the target of producing 28,500MW by 2035 by when more than half of it will be exported.&nbsp; “The climate crisis will further change the rainfall patterns making hydropower generation a big question mark in the future,” Manjeet Dhakal in Baku, who is also the Nepali adviser to the LDC Chair at the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). “We are building hydropower projects on rivers without evaluating risk. This whole process needs to be reviewed and reconsidered.” The report of the National Adaptation Plan published by the Ministry of Forest and Environment last year mentions that hydropower production, transmission and distribution will be at risk from flash floods, debris flows, glacial lake outbursts and rising temperatures.&nbsp; This risk is not confined to Nepal. Average global temperatures have increased by 1.3°C compared to the pre-industrial era. Worse, the Himalayan mountains are warming faster than the global average by 0.7°C because of elevation-dependent warming. A study conducted by our own Department of Hydrology and Meteorology in 2017 showed that the average temperature in Nepal has increased in the last four decades. Scientists say this is leading to extreme weather unleashing floods and landslides on slopes already destabilized by seismicity.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20241124071128_d22901a360e8958f606d80ffa21defba05a671f65afec65539dc21a6885d8345.jpg" data-media-id="editor_5" data-image-id="20241124071128_d22901a360e8958f606d80ffa21defba05a671f65afec65539dc21a6885d8345" data-rendition-name="original" width="1333" height="1000" loading="lazy" alt="Right climate for Nepal’s energy transition NT"> <figcaption>BIBLICAL RAIN: Photo taken during catastrophic rain on 27-28 September at the Upper Tamakosi project site that destroyed the control room, killing four staff and burying the sedimentation tanks. Photo: RSS</figcaption> </figure>  Increased atmospheric temperatures has made the monsoon rains more erratic. It does not rain when it is supposed to, and it comes down in torrents when it is not supposed to. The September floods happened two weeks after the monsoon was supposed to retreat from central Nepal. Kathmandu Valley received half its annual precipitation in just over a day. &nbsp; Winter precipitation has also failed, especially in the high mountains and trans-Himalayan valleys. Thirteen of the past 19 years experienced winter drought. This impacts on dry season flows of the rivers, reducing hydropower generation. Nepal’s power capacity normally goes down by one-fourth during winter, but the gap is widening. The Kabeli corridor could only generate 20MW November-March even though plants there have an installed capacity of 200MW. Similarly, Upper Tamakosi only produced 65MW at most against its 456MW capacity last winter. The Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) pays producers double the price for winter electricity, Rs8.40 per unit. Even though winter operation is highly profitable the rivers run low and NEA has to import from India to meet the winter demand. “This is not just a weather problem but a serious challenge also for the country's energy future, good climate-friendly design should be combined with policy and effective implementation,” says Subarna Das Shrestha, a hydropower investor and CEO of Sanima Mai Hydropower. “Insurance premiums have gone up as well, and settlement for damage is not timely.” <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/climate-risk-to-hydropower-investment">Hydropower investment</a> at one time was regarded as having a high rate of return. Now, some investors have become <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/climate-smarter-himalayan-infrastructure">wary of the risks involved</a>. Says IPPAN’s Uttam Blon Lama: “Hydropower projects expected to give stable returns are now looking risky. Not only is climate adaptation design and planning expensive, but future repair and maintenance costs will also skyrocket.” Nepal has only one storage type dam <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/multimedia/rivers-be-dammed">in Kulekhani</a> and another one is being built in <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/multimedia/missing-pieces-of-the-hydropower-jigsaw">Tanahu</a>, but they are also at risk. In September, the sluice gates of Kulekhani Dam had to be opened causing loss of life and destruction downstream. Nepal has to learn lessons from the deadly collapse of the $1 billion <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/sikkim-flood-is-warning-to-nepal">Chungthang Dam in Sikkim</a> in October 2023 cause by a glacial lake burst. Glacial Lake Outburst Floods (GLOFs) in Nepal pose potentially catastrophic risk to infrastructure. The <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/lives-on-the-line-in-the-himalaya">Thame flood in August</a> was a relatively minor debris flow that damaged half of this village in the Everest region when <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/climate-breakdown-linked-to-thame-flood">two glacial lakes at 4,760m burst</a>. Luckily there was no loss of life. Of the <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/lives-on-the-line-in-the-himalaya">47 high-risk glacial lakes</a> in the eastern Nepal Himalaya, 21 are in Nepal and the rest are in rivers in China that are tributaries of the Arun and Bhote Kosi where Nepal has major hydropower plants under construction, or planned.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20241123021128_b596cd8520c57a6c5476031e7a3ea6510f26b464c4d5351d2bc10f6f7d6b70d8.jpg" data-media-id="editor_14" data-image-id="20241123021128_b596cd8520c57a6c5476031e7a3ea6510f26b464c4d5351d2bc10f6f7d6b70d8" data-rendition-name="original" width="871" height="648" loading="lazy" alt="Page 10-11 map #1236 NT"> </figure>  Global temperature rise is accelerating the melting of Himalayan snow and ice, increasing the <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/living-below-nepal-s-melting-mountains">number and size of glacial lakes</a> so that we do not even have names for them. Imja Tso did not even exist in the old trekking maps until 25 years ago, but is now a 2km long lake. “Natural moraine dams in the mountains are weak, and the projects downstream can face major destruction if they burst, and the risk will only increase in future,” warns climatologist Arun Bhakta Shrestha at the <a href="https://www.icimod.org/">International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD)</a>. <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/terrifying-assessment-of-a-himalayan-melting">An ICIMOD assessment in 2019</a> projected that if present heating trends continue, as they probably will, the Himalaya will lose two-thirds of our glaciers by the end of this century. “Generally speaking, hydropower developers hand over the project to the government after 30 years but by that time given the climate risks, they may not be an asset anymore,” says Manjeet Dhakal. Indeed, the cascade of expensive projects India is building on the Arun River are supposed to be handed back to Nepal in 25 years, but there is a big ‘if’ about whether they will survive that long. &nbsp;&nbsp; Planning of hydropower projects is still based on historical hydrological data, and does not take into account future temperature rise and its consequences. Investors, on the other hand, say that planning hydropower projects with climate components would make them even more expensive.&nbsp; “It’s not that we aren’t preparing for climate risk, we design keeping in mind the once-in-100-year flood,” says Blon of IPPAN. “But if we start designing based on once in 1,000 years flood, the cost would be so high that we won’t be able to build them at all.” Nonetheless, Subarna Das Shrestha of Sanima Mai Hydropower says that there is no option but to go for climate smart infrastructure despite the higher cost. Sanima Mai's powerhouse, for example, is completely underground. The strategy could also be to spread the risk by building less expensive plants located on rivers all over the country. Nepal is also diversifying away from its sole reliance on hydroelectricity, which at present supplies 92% of the power in the grid. Most of the rest comes from solar plants, where the total potential has not even been scratched. &nbsp; This article is brought to you by <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/" target="_blank">Nepali Times</a>, in collaboration with <a href="https://inpsjapan.com/en/" target="_blank">INPS Japan</a> and <a href="https://sgi-peace.org/" target="_blank">Soka Gakkai International</a>, in consultative status with UN ECOSOC.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20240630110640_30c3782f9c09219bf1c249b51483a3cfb7a53a06d117d2aebd23ca7080d12758.jpg" data-media-id="editor_21" data-image-id="20240630110640_30c3782f9c09219bf1c249b51483a3cfb7a53a06d117d2aebd23ca7080d12758" data-rendition-name="original" width="680" height="103" loading="lazy" alt="SDG logo"> </figure>  &nbsp;