Gebru Jember Endalew has been involved in UN negotiations on climate change since 2008 as a core member of the Ethiopian negotiating team. Last year, he stepped down as Chair of the Least Developed Countries (LDCs) Group on Climate Change, of which Nepal is a member and Bhutan is the new Chair.Currently, Endalew is an adviser at the Korea-based <a href="http://gggi.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Global Green Growth Institute</a>. Endalew was in Kathmandu this week for consultations on resilience and adaptation for Asia-Pacific members of the LDC group. He spoke to Nepali Times on how least-developed countries like Nepal can cope with <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/climate-climax/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">climate change</a>.Read also:'<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/?p=21122&amp;preview=true" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Climate damage</a>', Editorial<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/a-terrifying-assessment-of-himalayan-melting/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Terrifying assessment of a Himalayan Melting</a>, Kunda Dixit'<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/?p=21132&amp;preview=true" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Turning on the heat</a>', Ajaya DixitSimilarities between Nepal and EthiopiNepal and Ethiopia have a lot in common. We are LDCs, we are land-locked, face severe impacts of global climate change despite not being major greenhouse gas emitters. And we are both mountainous countries. Mountain ecosystems are <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/regular-columns/guest-editorial/mountainous-change,887" target="_blank" rel="noopener">highly fragile in terms of climate change impacts</a>, as proven by the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/a-terrifying-assessment-of-himalayan-melting/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">study released this week</a> by ICIMOD Hindu Kush Himalaya Assessment and the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/decarbonise-now/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">IPCC 1.5 Degree World report</a>.We know that a 1.5 degree world is achievable, but even an increase of one degree in global average temperature has major consequences ranging from forest fires, extreme weather events to changing monsoon patterns. Yet some of the countries were still in denial at the Climate Summit in Poland. But we LDCs have been consistent in terms of our reflections about the 1.5 degree report and we believe it will be taken up at the UN Secretary General’s meeting in September in New York.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108101144/636a25cb9c7e80680e0439e0jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="800" height="1067"/><figcaption>Photo: KUNDA DIXIT</figcaption></figure>Climate justiceWhile we need to continue to push big emitters for more pledges for adaptation, we cannot completely depend on compensation to address the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/on-thin-ice-in-the-khumbu/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">impact of climate change</a> on our people. Trillions were promised in Poland but it will take years to materialise. And now that the number of big emitters have increased, and include many of our own countries, reimbursement alone will not take us anywhere in terms of investments required.If we stick to <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=9980#.XFvcbVUzaUl" target="_blank" rel="noopener">historical responsibility for carbon emissions</a>, we will not arrive at a solution. If we wait for developed countries to pledge resources, we will not be able to adapt to the urgent impacts that are already being felt. So government in countries like Nepal and Ethiopia need to look for domestic financial resources and engage the private sector in solutions to generate revenue. We need to move out of the victim narrative to proactive leadership to deal with it.In fact, Nepal can be a leader in terms of developing innovative mitigation actions, even if it may have a much <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/from-a-fossil-past-to-an-electric-future/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">smaller carbon footprint</a> compared to other countries. Better ecosystem and resource management here can reduce the risks of flooding in lower catchment areas of India and Bangladesh.And to be honest, past actions cannot be blamed when people were just trying to improve their lives. Post-industrial emissions were not deliberate. The biggest blunder of all would be for our leaders to repeat the same mistakes with the knowledge they have today about the impact of greenhouse gases.Turning the clock backCountries like the US and Brazil are <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/bypassing-trump-on-climate-action/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">regressing on prior commitments</a> when it comes to climate change action. But I’m a bit of an optimist myself. Despite a somewhat bleak scenario at the leadership level, what is happening on the ground is encouraging. We see consecutive peaks in investment on renewable energy around the world including in the US, and these newer cleaner technologies are cheaper and more easily accessible to the people.Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/bypassing-trump-on-climate-action/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Bypassing Trump on climate change</a>, Kunda DixitMitigation or adaptation?Mitigation, adaptation and development have to go together. There is no point in making distinction. Mitigation measures to reduce fossil fuel dependence eventually contributes to development and resilience. For example: electricity generated from hydropower improves the living standard of the people while also reducing greenhouse gases.Initially there was a misconception that mitigation was not for the developing countries. We know now that everyone has to be involved in the global mitigation process, not just to save the planet but also to save our economies.All of this requires good leadership. Unless there is a political guidance, whatever resources we have might be either least used or abused. Good governance is a key to better planning and implementation to cope with climate impact.

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From playing victim to proactive leadership on climate

<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108101144/636a25cd9c7e80680e0439e1jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1400" height="1050"/><figcaption>Photo: GEORGE MALLORY</figcaption></figure><figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108101148/636a25d09c7e80680e0439e2jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1200" height="900"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>Unprecedented in recorded history, there was a 100 degree C difference in temperature between the northern and southern hemispheres last week. While parts of Australia baked in record 50oC heat, in North America hell froze over with the mercury plunging to -50oC.Somewhere in between in Nepal, <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/snowbound-rara/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">heavy winter snow blanketed the mountains</a> last week after a break of almost 12 years. The fact that such snowfall was seen as ‘abnormal’, indicated just how far from the ‘normal’ we have deviated.The return of winter snow in Nepal and the simultaneous extreme hot and cold in the antipodes actually proves the impact on weather patterns brought by <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/climate-climax/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">climate change</a>. Most climate models agree that the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/decarbonise-now/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">rise in global average temperature</a> due to the continued emission of carbon dioxide will result in higher rates of temperature rise over land, and particularly in the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/a-terrifying-assessment-of-himalayan-melting/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">higher Himalayan regions</a>. The snowline has been migrating upward with rainfall replacing snow, and lowered seasonal snow and <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/climate-for-change/the-great-himalayan-thaw/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">ice storage</a> have started limiting melt flow in rivers.Read also:<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/a-terrifying-assessment-of-himalayan-melting/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Terrifying assessment of a Himalayan melting</a>, Kunda Dixit'<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/?p=21122&amp;preview=true" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Climate damage</a>', Editorial As rivers originating in <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/nepals-silent-emergency-springs-going-dry/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">the Himalaya start going dry in the summer season</a>, there is serious concern about rising heat. In a few weeks, temperatures across northern South Asia <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/blogs/thebrief/2017/07/19/asia-heating-up/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">will start going up</a>. Day-time summer temperature will reach 40oC+ in many places. Nights will not cool down enough, and humidity will also increase. At higher humidity, the human body cannot release heat through sweat evaporation fast enough to cool itself. Most people cannot remain unprotected in the open for more than 6 hours at temperatures above  370C.A 2014 study of interactions of temperature and humidity in the Indus and Ganga plains by the US-based National Center of Atmospheric Research, and ISET-International found that by 2050, most of June, July and August days and nights will hover above the 370C threshold. A later study by MIT researchers warned of deadly heat waves in the Indo-Gangetic plains, meaning the numbers dying across India, Pakistan and Nepal Tarai in summer will shoot up.Read also:<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/climate-climax/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Climate climax</a>, Editorial<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/decarbonise-now/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Decarbonise now</a>, Ajaya Dixit<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/on-thin-ice-in-the-khumbu/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">On thin ice in the Khumbu</a>, Kunda DixitThe <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/naturally-nepal/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">rapid degradation of natural ecosystems</a> within and around many of our cities have removed heat sinks. <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/poisoning-the-air-we-breathe/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Vehicular emissions</a>, air conditioners, concrete and asphalt pavements, and <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/open-air/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">air pollution</a> trapping heat between buildings continue to raise the temperature in core cities. These urban heat islands will amplify the impact of global warming, with significant impacts on low-income families and the poor living in substandard housing, lacking safe drinking water, basic energy, and without direct access to air conditioning.Even if air conditioning was affordable for poor and low-income families, running them will require additional energy from over-burdened electricity grids. In Australia’s heat wave last week, the authorities advised residents to delay using washing machines and dishwashers, and requested healthy people to consider keeping their air conditioners at 24oC to save energy. Older model air conditioners also leak HFCs – chemical coolants which are about 7,000 times more potent greenhouse gases than carbon dioxide.Read also:'<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/?p=21128&amp;preview=true" target="_blank" rel="noopener">From playing victim to proactive leadership on climate</a>'<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/climate-for-change/the-great-himalayan-thaw/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The great Himalayan thaw</a>, Ajaya DixitIn Nepal, as <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/editorial/climate-climax,3651" target="_blank" rel="noopener">global temperature rises</a>, the lower river valleys of the Siwalik and the Mahabharat as well as Tarai plains will see more days when the safe temperature/humidity threshold will exceed 37OC. Even in Kathmandu, June-July-August will have hotter days as global warming combines with the urban heat bubble to make it uncomfortably humid and unsafe.Nepal’s policies, plans and actions have not yet taken the threat of heat risk seriously. Nor have we begun to  systematically assess changes in local temperatures and humidity regimes.Reducing the threat of increasing heat requires us to carefully rewire the way we design houses, build infrastructure, deliver and manage energy, <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/who-now-owns-nepals-forests/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">forests</a>, grow food, and maintain productivity of small land holders and field workers. Shifting to cleaner forms of energy for cooking and <a href="w.nepalitimes.com/here-now/cleaner-air-with-greener-buses/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">public transportation</a> would give us the flexibility required to minimise growing threat of heat, and adapt.Urban and rural municipalities can begin working on solutions without waiting for national policies. Local governments have the authority and their programs must emphasise restoration and conservation of natural ecosystems, water sources, and provide incentive for climate-friendly house design and materials. Public health systems need to be better prepared to respond immediately to the elderly, children and pregnant women with heat stress.Increasing heat and low dry season flow of rivers is going to affect millions living downstream from the Himalaya in Nepal and beyond. In the mid term, developed and giant middle-income countries need to significantly curb emission of greenhouse gases. There is no other way.And while they mitigate carbon use, we in Nepal need to be prepared for low river flows in the dry season, and find ways to minimise the impact of prolonged heat waves. The more we delay taking action, the higher will be the future cost of measures we will have to take to adapt to the heat.Ajaya Dixit is Executive Director of Kathmandu based ISET-Nepal. His monthly column Climate for Change deals with the impact of global warming in Nepal.

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Turning on the heat

<figure><img width="1400" height="1045" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108101144/636a25b59c7e80680e0439d9jpeg.jpg" alt=""/><figcaption>Illustration: DIWAKAR CHETTRI</figcaption></figure>Climate change is global, it does not respect national boundaries. Neither should its solution. The only way we can save the biosphere from anthropogenic carbon build-up is to reduce our use of <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/from-a-fossil-past-to-an-electric-future/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">fossil fuels</a>. There is no other way.The <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/decarbonise-now/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">latest report</a> from the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and the findings presented at the Climate Summit in Katowice late last year show that warming trends are <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/climate-climax/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">much worse than we thought</a>. The effect is already seen in the last few years which have been the hottest since records started being kept.Read also:<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/a-terrifying-assessment-of-himalayan-melting/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Terrifying assessment of a Himalayan melting</a>, Kunda Dixit'<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/?p=21132&amp;preview=true" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Turning on the heat</a>', Ajaya DixitAs Ajaya Dixit writes in his Nepali Times column this week, last week we saw a 100oC difference between the temperatures in parts of Minnesota and Australia. Then unprecedented floods hit Townsville in Queensland. The polar vortex has frozen North America, while above the Arctic Circle it is unseasonably warm.Here in Kathmandu this week, the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) released its long-awaited <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/a-terrifying-assessment-of-himalayan-melting/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">assessment</a> which shows that the Himalayan mountains are melting faster than anyone expected, Altitude Dependent Warming and deposition of pollution particles are <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/climate-for-change/the-great-himalayan-thaw/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">amplifying the thaw</a>.An analysis of the assessment and interview with ICIMOD’s <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/regular-columns/guest-editorial/mountainous-change,887" target="_blank" rel="noopener">David Molden</a> indicate that even a 36% ice loss during the rest of this century will have serious consequences for 1.6 billion people living downstream from the Himalaya. And that is just the best-case scenario, in all probability carbon reduction targets to keep warming within 1.5oC will not be met, meaning that two-thirds of the glaciers will be gone by 2100. Another recent report is even more apocalyptic: 90% of the glaciers below Mt Everest will vanish during this century.Read also:<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/climate-climax/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Climate climax</a>, Editorial<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/decarbonise-now/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Decarbonise now</a>, Ajaya DixitNow that we know things are much worse than we thought, what are we going to do about it in? Nepali Times also talked this week with Gebru Jember Endalew, who has just stepped down as chair of the Least Developed Countries Group in the UN climate change negotiation process who is in Kathmandu for a consultative workshop of the Asia-Pacific region.Endalew argues that least-developed, landlocked mountainous countries like Nepal should move on from seeking funds for climate change adaptation, and launch national strategies to build up <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/editorial/going-green-environment-day,3064" target="_blank" rel="noopener">carbon stock</a> and <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/editorial/a-fossil-economy,1411" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reduce dependence on fossil fuels</a>.Read also:'<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/?p=21128&amp;preview=true" target="_blank" rel="noopener">From playing victim to proactive leadership on climate</a>'<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/climate-for-change/the-great-himalayan-thaw/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The great Himalayan thaw</a>, Ajaya DixitIndeed, what Nepal does or does not do is not going to save the planet. With an annual carbon footprint of 0.12 tons per capita (Qatar’s footprint is 40 tons) Nepal’s contribution is minimal compared to the gas guzzlers. However, Nepal’s petroleum demand is the fastest growing in the region, and has more than <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/the-cost-of-light/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">doubled in the last two years</a>, increasing our trade imbalance with India. Nepal spent Rs90 billion last year in importing petrol, diesel and gas, widening the country’s already yawning trade deficit.The argument that since we did not create the <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/editorial/climate-climax,3651" target="_blank" rel="noopener">climate crisis</a>, we should just try to adapt does not hold anymore. Another recent report, State of Climate Action in Nepal says that Nepal also needs to take mitigation action, not only because it will help save our mountains from melting but, much more importantly, to save the country’s fossil-based economy from collapse.Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/on-thin-ice-in-the-khumbu/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">On thin ice in the Khumbu</a>, Kunda Dixit Nepal’s long-suffering people have lived through <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/editorial/performance-legitimacy,3505" target="_blank" rel="noopener">poor governance</a>, instability, under-development, poverty and inequality for generations. We have survived droughts, <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/editorial/deep-water,3883" target="_blank" rel="noopener">floods</a> and landslides. Adaptation is not a new word for us. And climate change is just the latest crisis to hit Nepal, making all our existing problems worse. It crowds out the other crises we face because it is treated as a stand-alone problem.As Endelew eloquently argues, we need to move beyond the victim narrative in international negotiations and stop blaming historical emissions. As resurgent landlocked countries like Ethiopia and Rwanda have proven, in the final analysis it all boils down to national leadership, and the political will to clean up our own act first.10 years ago this weekThe Editorial in issue #437 of 6-12 February 2009 is so prescient in the context of next month’s Nepal Investment Summit we present the following extract from it:In his address to the nation last week, Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal bemoaned that frequent strikes were scaring away investors. He said the tendency of Nepalis to hit the streets at the slightest pretext needed to be stopped once and for all. But what is Prime Minister Dahal going to do about it? He must know it is goons from his own party who are undermining his efforts to woo investors. The head of the Maoist student wing publicly threatened last week to "break the backbones" of anyone daring to oppose his union. Since they have done it before, nobody doubts their ability to carry out the threat.Union militancy has now become the single biggest worry of the private sector. Many entrepreneurs have bought peace at prices that nobody knows about. It is of no concern to the union mafia that these institutions already pay much higher wages than the minimum fixed by the government. But then it is not really about wages, is it? It is about control and extortion.

Climate damage

Who is accountable for teacher-student relationships?

Early on Monday morning, a bus from Pokhara to Kathmandu plunged off the highway in Dhading killing 19 passengers. Two weeks ago, another bus fell into the Tama Kosi in Manthali, killing 12. A few days before that a bus crash in Baitadi killed 13 people.&nbsp; In just the month before Nepal's election, more than 50 people have been killed in road traffic accidents. Most of these cannot be called 'accidents'. They are a direct result of poorly maintained highways and lack of enforcement of traffic discipline. Political parties in Nepal have rolled out their election manifestos, and voters are once again presented with a flood of promises. Page after page, these documents list megawatts and microcredit, highways and airports, jobs and investment. In these manifestos, growth is quantified, projects itemised, revenue forecast — and there are even threats to beat up contractors who do not finish their jobs. But when everything is declared a priority the stale promises are empty. The voter is left confused as to where the party’s loyalties really lie. Will any of these plans and pledges actually ever materialise and help Nepalis live longer, safer, healthier lives? The main job of any accountable government is to protect its citizens, not so much from foreign enemies but from domestic mismanagement. And this means the most basic test the new government should be made to pass is whether it can ensure basic well-being and protection for all its people. The problems of safety, health, and survival remain unresolved for most Nepalis, and are quietly eroding their lives. In the past year alone, the country’s <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/roadkill">roads and highways claimed more than 2,300</a> lives. An estimated 41,000 Nepalis die each year directly because of <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/what-is-invisible-is-more-dangerous">air pollution</a>, and their <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/air-pollution-killing-season-starts-early">lifespans are lessened by 3.4 years</a>.&nbsp; <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/editorial/poor-health">Non-communicable diseases</a> now account for well over half of total deaths in the country. And even where survival has improved, deprivation remains. Chronic malnutrition continues to haunt communities in <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/mass-migration-from-muktikot">Nepal’s western mountains</a> despite progress in maternal and child health.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20260223130240_4f4ef83a31c3c4ae36ecdffb33a355e2fa3de9e98244b840a895af2d95c35ac0.jpg" data-media-id="editor_5" data-image-id="20260223130240_4f4ef83a31c3c4ae36ecdffb33a355e2fa3de9e98244b840a895af2d95c35ac0" data-rendition-name="original" width="1024" height="683" loading="lazy" alt="A life-first manifesto for Nepal NT"> </figure>  These are the lived realities of most Nepalis, and it is here that development can deliver its most immediate returns. A rising GDP, in and of itself, does not make roads safer, clean polluted air, or provide enough nutrition to children. Such outcomes demand intentional, granular policies that confront the specific, everyday problems shaping people’s lives.&nbsp; Macroeconomic growth, trade and investment are important, but these alone cannot guarantee improvements health and safety. The word ‘growth’, after all, is also synonymous with malignancy. Economic progress and human protection are correlated only when governance deliberately links them. Impact on life is the unit in which ordinary Nepalis calculate progress. What is needed, then, is a governing philosophy measurable in these same terms: a ‘life-first’ standard where every policy, budget, and reform can be understood and judged by its impact on protecting and extending human life. Such a ‘life-first’ approach would scrutinise three aspects of every policy. First, whether the policy prevents loss of life. A death is termed preventable if better, more coordinated response systems and regulations could have avoided it (vaccines, drugs, road safety, clean drinking water). A newly built six-lane highway <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/highway-accidents-are-no-accident-in-nepal">can be a death trap</a> due to poor design or lax enforcement of safety rules. If neonatal deaths continue in a district despite hospitals being present, or if malnutrition claims lives in predominantly agricultural regions, they too are failures. Preventable deaths also cluster where accountability is less direct. Just last year, <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/suicides-a-pandemic-within-a-pandemic">Nepal recorded 6,866 suicides</a>, with nearly 20 lives lost every day, yet these deaths fail to prompt any serious examination of governance. The same holds for fatalities linked to domestic or communal violence, alcohol and substance misuse, or ‘natural’ disasters, which register as ‘tragedies without remedy’ rather than as outcomes policy can influence. But when avoidable loss of life recurs at scale, isolated incidents become patterns, and patterns reveal systemic neglect. Saving lives, however, is only the first step, and what matters just as much is the quality of years lived. Nepal’s life expectancy now stands at 71 years, yet many citizens spend years in avoidable disability, untreated chronic illness, or mental distress. A life- first government must ask not only whether people live, but whether they thrive. Are citizens able to pursue education, work, and family life without fear of preventable harm? Do communities have access to clean air and water, nutritious food, and basic healthcare? Can a teenager anywhere in Nepal imagine a future not foreclosed by premature marriage, or untreated depression?  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20260223130240_157d72b80b82a07699b6bffbb30036b86f0f767a5674cc3db3d5c20343442940.jpg" data-media-id="editor_8" data-image-id="20260223130240_157d72b80b82a07699b6bffbb30036b86f0f767a5674cc3db3d5c20343442940" data-rendition-name="original" width="2529" height="1427" loading="lazy" alt="A life-first manifesto for Nepal NT"> </figure>  Thriving requires policies that prevent suffering and promote well-being in addition to ensuring survival.&nbsp; Finally, governance must consider graceful aging. Elderly Nepalis should not be left to navigate disease, poverty, or isolation alone. Social systems, healthcare, and community support must enable their continued participation and dignified well-being. Adopting this three-layered standard would gradually reorient how success of any new government is defined. Transportation would be judged by fatalities reduced on the roads. Electricity generation would be measured by whether households can switch from firewood dependence to smoke-free electric stoves.&nbsp; Increase in annual rice harvest must translate into better nutrition, reducing the prevalence of chronic diseases like diabetes. Accountability must follow problems rather than stop at Singha Darbar. Only then will politicians and bureaucrats eventually recognise that their work converges on the same human endpoint. Critics will argue that economies are complex, trade-offs are inevitable, and that governance cannot be reduced to a single metric.But, as Acemoglu and Robinson show in their book <a href="https://ia801506.us.archive.org/27/items/WhyNationsFailTheOriginsODaronAcemoglu/Why-Nations-Fail_-The-Origins-o-Daron-Acemoglu.pdf">Why Nations Fail</a>, the key difference between prosperity and poverty lies in inclusive institutions that empower citizens and create broad incentives for well-being.&nbsp; Extractive institutions concentrate power and wealth in the hands of a few while keeping the majority trapped in neglect. Nepal’s governance has remained a striking example of extraction. If lawmakers in the new Parliament continue to resist changes that would save and improve the lives of ordinary citizens, the same systemic rot will persist for generations to come. A life-first mentality can cut through this inertia by clarifying the moral centre of governance and reminding policymakers that behind every policy failure lies human cost. <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/epicentre-of-hunger">Every mother in Bajura</a> with a child going hungry at night, every farmer in the Madhes unable to afford medical care, and every family that has lost <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/comment/saving-kidneys-to-save-nepal">a migrant son to kidney failure</a> understands the true <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/multimedia/dirty-dangerous-difficult-and-dehydrating">value of a life saved</a>. Life is the one metric that transcends ideology, ethnicity, and region. Centering governance on this single, focused metric, can shift an election from a contest of rhetoric to a contest of evidence. Which party ensured access to safe water and basic healthcare? Which made work at home and abroad safer and less exploitative. Which measurably extended healthy years of life for ordinary citizens? Health is wealth. By improving the healthy lifespan of citizens economic prosperity would follow naturally. A ‘life-first’ governance model would therefore compel Nepal to address the underlying structural failures across all sectors, rather than merely alleviating their symptoms. The GenZ protest that toppled the government last September was, at its core, a demand for accountability and a rejection of politics as usual. But as the country edges closer to the polls, that clarity has started to dissipate. Parties are now echoing the language of reform, but the public discourse remains dominated by promises that feel disconnected from Nepal’s most immediate and basic priorities. Every preventable death, every hungry child, and every neglected elder becomes a direct failure of governance and a moral debt the state must answer for. It is how we can make sure we keep the next government in check. The writers are Nepali GenZ students of biomedical engineering at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University.

Nepal’s life or death election

Of the nearly 19 million eligible voters in next week’s election in Nepal, an estimated 5 million are abroad and cannot cast their ballots. Many others within Nepal must travel to their home districts, and might decide not to because of the cost.
Flights into Kathmandu these days are full of global Nepalis returning just to vote, but almost as many are leaving for overseas jobs. Most of those coming or going are in the 20-40 age group, and a majority want Nepal to see a change in leadership.
Bangladesh held an election this month in which citizens overseas could vote by mail.&nbsp;
“Bangladesh made maximum use of technology not just for campaigning but also for polling itself. We could have also managed this, so people within Nepal did not have to travel to their home districts to vote,” says Mohna Ansari, former head of Nepal’s National Human Rights Commission who was an election observer in Bangladesh.
A 3-day holiday has been declared so people can travel to their home constituencies to cast ballots. Even if there was not enough time to manage ballots for overseas Nepalis, it could have been done for Nepalis within Nepal.
Former Chief Election Commissioner Bhojraj Pokharel reckons that physical voting in countries with a large Nepali diaspora would have been a logistical nightmare, but in the PR system, using electronic voting machines or paper ballot could have been piloted in some places. It is not possible to manage the entire voting process until we introduce the internet voting system.
“First of all, there needs to be political will to bring the policy and be ready to undertake that level of investment and it is not a one-time cost,” Pokharel says. “A government formed by the GenZ could have atr least issed an ordinance ensuring this right, piloted out-of-country voting where possible, which could have built pressure for the future Parliament and the government. It would have given people hope. It is a lost opportunity.”
All major political parties called for voting rights for global Nepalis in their manifestos, but these very leaders blocked legislation allowing it despite a 2017 Supreme Court ruling out of fear that it would be anti-incumbent.&nbsp;
<h2>Why so late?</h2>
Bangladesh delivered election results in just one day, but the final results of Nepal's last local polls in 2022 including that of Kathmandu constituencies took nearly a month.
Acting Chief Election Commissioner Ram Prasad Bhandari said this week that the results of the First-Past-The-Post (FPTP) ballot counting would “likely” be published within 24 hours of the poll closing at 5PM on 5 March. But many are skeptical.
“I wonder if we lack the capacity or know-how to announce results as quickly as possible,” says Mohna Ansari.
Former Chief Election Commissioner Pokharel says manual ballot paper counting in Nepal is inherently slow because of the large numner of political parties and/or candidates on the ballot, the counting mechanism, the political behaviour of the candidates/parties and some managerial issues during counting.
“Our present policy is to count all the ballot papers at the returning officers' officies, located at the district headquarters. It requires collecting ballot boxes safetly first. This takes time, and there have been cases of ballot boxes being damaged or stolen during transport. In a few highly difficult, geographically remote polling centres, we use a helicopter or transport. But sometimes, accommodating the party and candidates' representatives remains challenging,” explains Pokharel. A solution could be counting ballots at the very booths where they are cast.
Another reason for the delay is simply the number of political parties, and the need for each ballot paper to be examined by booth representatives for consensus. In close races, the smallest difference can lead to tense situations, further delaying results, even though counting centres are protected by metal fencing so there is no disruption.
After this, then it is the turn of Proportional Representation (PR) ballots to be counted. Weeks pass by the time the results of candidates and parties are tallied and verified. But the most common delay is because election officers think ballot counting is a nine-to-five job.&nbsp;
“The efficiency of poll station officers is most important, and they are incentivised for this,” says Ansari, adding that counting can even start within an hour after voting closes.
In remote areas, local resources could be mobilised to make counting quicker, but there is a crisis of trust, adds Ansari.&nbsp;
That could be easily solved with electronic voting which the EC implemented in the 2008 polls but discontinued because political parties felt the machines could be hacked or manipulated.

Nepalis Select Who To Elect

The series Nepal Made profiles Nepali products and the people who make them possible.&nbsp; In the lap of Langtang lie misty meadows that are carpeted with alpine flowers during the monsoon. It was here that Gyalbu Tamang (pictured, right) spent his childhood accompanying his father Pasang Norbu to high pastures, to milk nak and make cheese. Norbu himself was taught to produce Emmentaler cheese by two Swiss experts in the 1950s. Switzerland and Nepal are marking the 70th anniversary of diplomatic ties this year, and the cheese plant in Kyangjin was one of the first the Swiss were involved in.&nbsp; Langtang had surplus milk, and the idea was to turn it into cheese to raise nutrition levels. “The Swiss were very hard-working, and were not used to the laid back attitude of Nepalis,” remembers Gyalbu Tamang, now 50. “The children in Langtang were scared of the tall blonde foreigners, but I got along with them.”  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20260221070240_dd47ceaf71a505e075f4a3628baf70161a40ebd21bcec1b1a2ebe03b28da4293.jpg" data-media-id="editor_0" data-image-id="20260221070240_dd47ceaf71a505e075f4a3628baf70161a40ebd21bcec1b1a2ebe03b28da4293" data-rendition-name="original" width="960" height="720" loading="lazy" alt="Langtang cheese"> </figure>  Gyalbu remembers sleeping outdoors with his father, under the stars and gazing at Langtang Lirung luminescent in the moonlight. After the milk was boiled, he helped carry it down in 40 litre churns to Kyangjin for processing.&nbsp; The plant was handed over to the state-run Dairy Development Corporation (DDC). Norbu Lama retired, but cheese making was too ingrained in him. So he bought a dozen yaks and Gyalbu helped him sell the milk. At 18, Gyalbu joined the cheese plant, and 32 years later, he is still there – now manager. “I had learnt everything from my father, so it was easy for me,” Gyalbu recalls. “Trekking boomed in Langtang and there was high demand for cheese. It raised the income of farmers.” 2015 EARTHQUAKE&nbsp; But all that came crashing down just before noon on 25 April 2015 when the earthquake triggered an avalanche that buried Langtang &nbsp;village. More than 300 people, many of them trekkers, were killed. “My father was grazing yaks, and we found him five days later, thrown off by the avalanche. My mother was buried in the ruins of her home,” Gyalbu says. Fortunately, his wife and three children in Kyangjin were safe in their damaged house.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20260221070240_7c0d512514280965aa72511100a2bda4e515c52c6e6428665dc7dd88c62c7ebf.jpg" data-media-id="editor_1" data-image-id="20260221070240_7c0d512514280965aa72511100a2bda4e515c52c6e6428665dc7dd88c62c7ebf" data-rendition-name="original" width="882" height="661" loading="lazy" alt="Langtang cheese"> </figure>  Twenty-seven herders and 400 yaks also perished. The cheese plant was flattened. Even before the disaster, an ageing population, out-migration, and better education meant that fewer Langtangpa were interested in cheese-making. The DDC’s mismanagement also took its toll, and at Rs80 / litre, it was not feasible to herd yaks anymore. The Swiss stepped in again to help rebuild the plant on condition that the price of milk be raised. The DDC agreed to pay up to Rs110/litre depending on fat content, and that price has remained the same.&nbsp; Gyalbu Tamang was in Kathmandu this week, trying again to convince the DDC to raise the price of milk to make cheese-making a worthwhile occupation for the younger generation.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20260221070240_61f302b28a3051006fedba92ac1a88ffab13a1ffb3154603bfc6693aee8fca5d.jpg" data-media-id="editor_2" data-image-id="20260221070240_61f302b28a3051006fedba92ac1a88ffab13a1ffb3154603bfc6693aee8fca5d" data-rendition-name="original" width="960" height="720" loading="lazy" alt="Langtang cheese"> </figure>  There are only three yak ranches left and the numbers of yak, nak and dzo have shrunk. In its heyday, Langtang used to produce 5,000kg of cheese per year. Today, it is down to 800kg. The cheese is sold in Kathmandu for about Rs2,000 per kg, but the plant has no savings to upgrade its 80-year-old equipment. “We are on our own, there is not much help from the government or Langtang people overseas,” laments Gyalbu. “I do not know what the future holds, but I will keep making cheese as long as there is milk, and as long as I am able.”&nbsp;