At the age of five, Dorjee Karmarong fell sick and his local healer-slash-thangka painter cut him a deal: in exchange for treatment, the young patient had to promise to become a painter. The shaman may have been joking, but 38 years later, Karmarong is a successful international artist, and now has a solo exhibition at the Siddhartha Art Gallery. ‘Karmarong: Hidden Valley in the Himalayas’ is a collection of 27 paintings spread across two floors that give the viewer a comprehensive feel for life among the Karmarong community in the remote Mugu district of Karnali. Karmarong has a distinctive style featuring clean outlines, vibrant colours and detailed natural landscapes. Animals, mountains, trees, and the sun and the moon appear constantly. It is a style that took 20 years to perfect, as the painter practised teaching in monasteries of Bangladesh, India, Singapore, and most recently in Vietnam. Mugu is one of the remotest districts in Nepal, but the Karmarong community of about 3,000 people live in about a dozen small villages in the remotest northern corner of the district near the Chinese border. They speak their own dialect. Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/review/the-present-meets-the-past">The present meets the past</a>, Pinki Sris Rana  <figure><img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20241004111032_46339bbefd7b9007dedde289f8c4db9980a60e19ab5a7e0c11c5f1ba4817ba68.jpg" data-media-id="editor_1" data-image-id="20241004111032_46339bbefd7b9007dedde289f8c4db9980a60e19ab5a7e0c11c5f1ba4817ba68" data-rendition-name="original" width="3600" height="2400" loading="lazy" alt="Dorjee Karmarong NT 1"></figure>  Some of the paintings show general goings-on in Karmarong, such as harvest time. ‘The Hospitality of Karmarong’ shows residents gathering to formally welcome an important guest. “In front is someone who is still lucky to have both parents,” explains the painter. ‘Magic of Milarepa’ is a closeup of a grey, cracked yak horn on the floor. There is water on the ground next to the horn, and inside is a green-skinned monk, meditating in robes. “Milarepa was travelling with one of his students in Tibet, who was starting to act a little arrogant. They were suddenly caught up in a storm, and the saint shrank himself and sheltered in the horn, humbling his disciple,” Karmarong explains. Yaks are a constant feature in the exhibition, and the painter Karmarong has given them sentient eyes, with emotions like anger, introspection, suspicion, and even wide-eyed and crazed. “I was once told to study as voraciously as a yak grazes,” says Karmarong. Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/review/human-spiritual-existence-in-a-digital-ecosystem">Human spiritual existence in a digital ecosystem</a>, Kashish Das Shrestha  <figure><img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20241004111032_271aba25a6f1eb642433ef504880407a9b36fea72a85e793a6d70e12299d9274.jpg" data-media-id="editor_3" data-image-id="20241004111032_271aba25a6f1eb642433ef504880407a9b36fea72a85e793a6d70e12299d9274" data-rendition-name="original" width="2400" height="3600" loading="lazy" alt="Dorjee Karmarong NT 1"></figure>  In the middle of ‘The Dance of the Elements’ is a face that is half yellow and half black holding a cigarette around which is coiled a multi-headed serpent. “Thia represents our animal impulses,” Karmarong explains. “It is about how nature makes beautiful things. But when humans tamper with it, something usually goes wrong.” Other pieces are even more abstract. ‘Mandala Fragment’ shows geometric shapes in vibrant colours. Says Karmarong: “It may seem chaotic to a viewer, but I can step back and see something different.” Behind Karmarong’s extraordinary skill and output is a rare life lived in harmony with fate. Even his birth was auspicious: Karmarong was born in a cave to parents returning from working in Himachal Pradesh in India on the eve of Buddha Purnima and Thursday. By age seven Karmarong’s father took him to a cave to learn Tibetan. At 13, the boy was sent to a monastery in Kathmandu and after six years he decided to pursue painting and became an apprentice to master thangka artist Palden. Karmarong trained intensively under the rigid rules of thangka painting. He then met Tenzin Norbu from Dolpo, who helped develop his spiritual connection to art. Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/review/turning-legends-into-games">Turning legends into games</a>, Vishad Raj Onta  <figure><img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20241004111032_3f2d5f809a4230bbee885a2832c2e6872b743343581a96d177fae87885759d76.jpg" data-media-id="editor_5" data-image-id="20241004111032_3f2d5f809a4230bbee885a2832c2e6872b743343581a96d177fae87885759d76" data-rendition-name="original" width="2000" height="1412" loading="lazy" alt="Dorjee Karmarong NT"></figure>  As Karmarong developed artistically and spiritually, he saw art as a fulfilment of his karma. “I started feeling that, in a past life, I had been a yogi who had wanted to build a monastery but couldn’t find an artist,” he says. The yogi committed to a life of dharma to be reborn as an artist. Indeed, there are records of a yogi from Karmarong region named Jimpa Therchan, who struggled with building a monastery and was also a renowned poet and singer. Karmarong also sings, and has written ‘Turquoise Mountain: A Folktale of the Karmarong.’ The titles of the paintings are evocative: ‘Yak’s Reprieve’, ‘Echoes of the Sacred Route’, ‘The Black Yak’s Grace’, or 'The Yak and His Young Keeper.' He is also a YouTuber and his channel has singing performances, rap songs and travel vlogs. Karmarong has depicted his village as a religious, harmonious Shangri-La, although it leaves the viewer a little curious about the darker realities of the place like Milarepa’s own murky past. Karmarong has perhaps consciously or unconsciously woven his own life into the paintings: stories and destinies that translate into the real world. They show travellers leaving from or returning to Karmarong the place, or going on a pilgrimage, reflecting the artist’s own artistic, spiritual and religious journey that has taken him back to his roots. Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/review/mask">MASK</a>, Sonia Awale ‘Karmarong: Hidden Valley in the Himalayas’ Dorjee Karmarong Siddhartha Art Gallery

Vishad Raj Onta

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Karmarong in Karmarong

Raju Rawal gave birth to twin boys 18 months ago, but one of the babies died soon after being born. The reason was that the 23-year-old mother was doing household chores throughout her pregnancy and did not have adequate nutrition. The other son survived, but was seriously underweight and the hospital kept him under observation. Mother and baby were finally discharged with a few months’ supply of ready-to-use therapeutic food for the baby and fortified flour for herself. The baby now weighs 9kg, but the last packet of the fortified flour is finished and Rawal herself is undernourished. Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/multimedia/mothers-of-sarlahi">Mothers of Sarlahi</a>, Marty Logan  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20230707040756_bb11300aa04c96d2d9be301b7a1194d1ea6364b94ee2db2ffb5148f7654186b6.jpg" data-media-id="editor_1" data-image-id="20230707040756_bb11300aa04c96d2d9be301b7a1194d1ea6364b94ee2db2ffb5148f7654186b6" data-rendition-name="original" width="1920" height="1080" loading="lazy" alt="Karnali food insecurity NT"> </figure>  “We had just enough rice to last until this morning, and we will have to depend on our neighbours,” Raju’s husband Karna Bahadur says in a resigned voice. The Rawals are subsistence farmers who grow just enough food to last four months, and do not have regular income. This is the tragic reality behind the stereotype of the remote Karnali being a chronically food-deficit region of Nepal. Despite a reduction in Nepal’s national poverty rate and improvements in the national nutrition level, in these remote mountains hunger still stalks the land. Sangita Damai is a 20-year-old mother who waited in line at the local health post in Tila Rural Municipality with 50 other women to receive their monthly packet of state supplied fortified flour&nbsp; “The harvest is all gone, so our children depend on this flour,” says Damai, whose six-month-old daughter was born malnourished. Her husband is in India for half the year to support their family of eight. Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/multimedia/tara-pariyar-s-karnali">Tara Pariyar’s Karnali</a>, Anita Bhetwal  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20230707040756_f05aaef5799d21cc48c10458978c6161fb9b219a70cd09b5eb9aa657bdc01f32.jpg" data-media-id="editor_3" data-image-id="20230707040756_f05aaef5799d21cc48c10458978c6161fb9b219a70cd09b5eb9aa657bdc01f32" data-rendition-name="original" width="4640" height="3472" loading="lazy" alt="Karnali food insecurity NT"> </figure>  Dilmaya Sarki is also in the queue, having made the half-day trek to the health post along with other mothers holding stunted and wasted babies. “There is no food at home,” says the 25-year-old listlessly. The fortified flour is being provided by World Food Programme (WFP) since 1996, and the government distributes 3kg of fortified wheat flour per household each month for mothers and children between the ages of 6-23 months in Mugu, Jumla, Kalikot, Humla, and Dolpo districts of Karnali province. The WFP says the program benefits 29,000 pregnant women, breastfeeding mothers and infants in the region every year. And the government procured 575 metric tons of fortified flour for this year. “Fortified flour has helped a lot of households who lack adequate food, but it is just enough to feed the children,” explains Balika Rokaya at the health post in Jumla’s Hima Rural Municipality. Female Community Health Volunteer Pulti Khatri agrees that without the nutritive flour has helped a lot of impoverished families. “Mothers come with their children to the health post to get flour, and get health check-ups at the same time,” she says. Read Also:<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/this-is-how-to-upgrade-nepals-rural-health"> This is how to upgrade Nepal's rural health</a>, Sewa Bhattarai  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2023070705070_919242369e85a8b03eacab634bab980fe79a6927eaefb8c1fc93e52c25bbe131.jpg" data-media-id="editor_5" data-image-id="2023070705070_919242369e85a8b03eacab634bab980fe79a6927eaefb8c1fc93e52c25bbe131" data-rendition-name="original" width="4640" height="3472" loading="lazy" alt="Karnali food insecurity NT"> </figure>  Karnali is the most food deficit part of Nepal because of historical neglect of this remote region by successive governments in Kathmandu. Lately, it has been made worse because of droughts induced by the climate crisis. The province required 338,935 metric tons of food grains against availability of 319,818 metric tons. The shortfall had to be sent to the region by the state.&nbsp; The Nepal Demographic and Health Survey 2016 showed stunting in children under five in Karnali Province was 36%, higher than the national average of 25%.&nbsp; “These are just statistics, but you have to look at how hungry the children are to get the real picture,” says Man Bahadur Kunwar, provincial coordinator of the multi-sector nutrition plan till this year. “Our priority has been to provide enough food, we have not yet paid attention to what kind of food.”&nbsp; More than other parts of Nepal, Karnali families suffer from multidimensional poverty, which is measured in terms of access to healthcare, education, drinking water, cooking fuel, nutrition, and sanitation.&nbsp; Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/access-to-water-changes-the-face-of-rural-nepal">Access to water changes the face of rural Nepal</a>, Anita Bhetwal  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20230707040756_c00078333ae6fae3b0c4a5d15b55ce3f7e52b052a2c50a02686cac4c321f0720.jpg" data-media-id="editor_7" data-image-id="20230707040756_c00078333ae6fae3b0c4a5d15b55ce3f7e52b052a2c50a02686cac4c321f0720" data-rendition-name="original" width="860" height="706" loading="lazy" alt="Karnali food insecurity NT"> </figure>  But just distributing fortified flour year after year may not be enough to fight hunger in the Karnali. The province needs a plan to increase local food production.&nbsp; “There has been food scarcity here for decades, but no sustainable solutions,” says Mangal Rawal of the Karnali Academy of Health Sciences. &nbsp;“More than distributing food or money, people must have access to improved education, healthcare and sanitation, and be informed, self-reliant and independent earners.” Yet, the Karnali Province has no choice but to provide emergency food aid to families. It sets aside Rs10 million annually for the fortified flour distribution program.&nbsp; “The situation in Karnali cannot be turned around by distributing fortified flour forever,” says public health worker Madhusudan Kafle. “The problem is chronic malnutrition caused by poverty.”&nbsp; Yogandra Bahadur Shahi, vice-chair of the Karnali Province Planning Commission, insists that women and children need fortified flour and financial support for the time being.&nbsp; He adds, “But in the longer term, we have to improve connectivity, tourism, industry, hydropower, as well as apple and herb and farming and marketing to raise incomes.” &nbsp; Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/news/farm-to-fork">Farm to fork</a>

The Karnali’s hunger emergency

Decades of media stereotyping has given the Karnali a bad rap for &nbsp;chronic hunger and poverty, but at least one woman in this remote region has shown that this need not be so.&nbsp; Pariyar’s husband and two relatives were killed during the Maoist conflict 20 years ago. The responsibility for taking care of her three children and in-laws fell on her young shoulders. &nbsp; When we met her earlier this month in Jumla’s Lihi village, 42-year-old Pariyar was in her apple orchard. The trees were heavy with fruit, and there was a fresh cool breeze blowing down from snow-capped Kanjiroba Himal.&nbsp; Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/milking-every-opportunity">Milking every opportunity</a>, Sahina Shrestha  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2023061212068_ba7ceda3c995d633becf080d1596648f034072c11535bfe1c6cae6666bd21b15.jpg" data-media-id="editor_1" data-image-id="2023061212068_ba7ceda3c995d633becf080d1596648f034072c11535bfe1c6cae6666bd21b15" data-rendition-name="original" width="1550" height="1034" loading="lazy" alt="Tara Pariyar’s Karnali NT"> </figure>  The orchard has allowed Pariyar to earn a decent income to turn her life around, and single-handedly care for her family and community. The apples sell for Rs60 per kg, and one season’s income is enough to support the household for the whole year: food, clothing, children’s education.&nbsp; As a single mother from the Dalit community, Tara Pariyar had to constantly struggle against caste and gender discrimination in this culturally conservative area. Added to this was the stigma of widowhood.&nbsp; And till five years ago, she knew nothing about apple cultivation. She was a day labourer in a farm, and believed that owning an apple orchard was only for rich farmers since it required a lot of investment, the trees took five years to bear fruit and the crop could be destroyed by disease or hailstorms. Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/tale-of-a-modern-day-lahure">Tale of a modern day lahure</a>, Uday Bahadur Baniya  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2023061212068_9676466ac505c24fb7a9fc4e741a4ca34e042fb53beb941cf345cfe9643d9ce9.jpg" data-media-id="editor_3" data-image-id="2023061212068_9676466ac505c24fb7a9fc4e741a4ca34e042fb53beb941cf345cfe9643d9ce9" data-rendition-name="original" width="2339" height="1560" loading="lazy" alt="Tara Pariyar’s Karnali NT"> </figure>  Climate change had also altered the weather pattern, prolonged winter drought affected apple trees that needed snow to flower in spring. She was convinced apple cultivation was too risky for someone with limited means like her. All that changed with the government’s insurance scheme in Humla, Mugu and Jumla districts for apple and other cash crops. Suddenly, farmers did not have to worry about losing their crop and Pariyar took the leap. Under the scheme, the government pays 80% of the annual premium and the farmers bear the rest. The UN’s World Food Programme (WFP) distributed families with up to 25 apple saplings each to get their orchards started. Pariyar already had five apple trees, and she bought another 20 saplings to grow 50 trees. Then she insured some of them for Rs40 per tree per year with Shikhar Insurance. Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/feminising-farm-based-firms">Feminising farm-based firms</a>, Shristi Karki&nbsp; <div class="embed-block"><div><div style="left: 0; width: 100%; height: 0; position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.25%;"><iframe src="//cdn.iframe.ly/api/iframe?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fembed%2FyAoPe6KllSQ&key=87ca3314a9fa775b5c3a7726100694b0" style="top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute; border: 0;" allowfullscreen scrolling="no" allow="accelerometer *; clipboard-write *; encrypted-media *; gyroscope *; picture-in-picture *; web-share *;"></iframe></div></div></div> The company compensates farmers for drought if precipitation in Jumla is less than 70mm from March-May, like this year. Which is why Pariyar received Rs4,500 in insurance payout, and she ploughed it back into her business, buying 40 more apple saplings.&nbsp; “Because climate change has made the rains so unpredictable, apple farming can be very risky, which is why I was hesitant at first, but insuring the trees made business sense, and it has lifted my family’s status,” Pariyar says. &nbsp; Her first apple harvest last year was 200kg, from which she made Rs12,000 income. But this year, with 100 fully grown trees, she hopes to sell up to 1,300kg for Rs74,000. She has her fingers crossed that there will not be one of those fierce spring hailstorms that Jumla Valley is famous for. All this income has helped her pay for her elder son Munal to learn Korean and the younger one, Upahar, to finish Grade 11 in Surkhet. Her daughter Sharada is already married. Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/staying-in-nepal-to-create-jobs/">Staying in Nepal to create jobs</a>, Naresh Newar  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2023061212068_9fb4ddcb1fbedc5e956b7682c49dbba59a078f68d3f99e7b5a3c185c41026ba4.jpg" data-media-id="editor_7" data-image-id="2023061212068_9fb4ddcb1fbedc5e956b7682c49dbba59a078f68d3f99e7b5a3c185c41026ba4" data-rendition-name="original" width="2386" height="1591" loading="lazy" alt="Tara Pariyar’s Karnali NT"> </figure>  Income from apple farming has given Pariyar the confidence to also raise chickens and breed rabbits. The local variety of chicken are much sought after for their taste, and she can sell those for Rs800 each, while rabbit meat is catching on and they fetch Rs600.&nbsp; Besides this, Pariyar is also carrying on her family tradition of growing rice and buckwheat in a small plot of land a steep one hour walk up the mountain from her home. Although the harvest is not much, it does mean she does not have to buy the staples.&nbsp; All the work on the farm has taken its toll. Tara’s face is wrinkled, the soles of her feet have hardened with callus because of working barefoot in the fields.&nbsp; “I don’t mind how they look, at least I can provide for my family, and after all, isn’t this the reality of life in the Himalaya?” she asks with a bright smile.&nbsp; Read Also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/money-grows-on-trees-here/" target="_blank">Money grows on trees here</a>, Sahina Shrestha  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20230612120612_d71b91179db3fbda7001242d0d7c407674bbc8a80a9ca240b5e26369f535b71a.jpg" data-media-id="editor_9" data-image-id="20230612120612_d71b91179db3fbda7001242d0d7c407674bbc8a80a9ca240b5e26369f535b71a" data-rendition-name="original" width="1182" height="789" loading="lazy" alt="Tara Pariyar’s Karnali NT"> </figure>  Despite this, Pariyar finds time to help her community with a WFP supported lift irrigation program to pump water up from the Tila River to fields along the valley. The cash for work program earns her additional income. The community recognises Tara Pariyar’s struggle and sacrifice to provide for her family, and she has become a source of inspiration for her Lihi village. Last month she was in Surkhet for WFP’s 60th anniversary to share her experience so that farmers like her in Karnali can learn from her success. “All this did not come easy,” Pariyar says, “it was a long struggle. Eighteen years ago, I saw my husband being killed before my eyes, and two other members of my family.” Read also:<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepal-s-farmers-reap-what-they-sow-and-more"> Nepal’s farmers reap what they sow, and more</a>, Marissa Taylor  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2023061212068_5c18a3ffdbc0959749b91fdaabd0071d87030c8955bad107a72bc23d14e5fa5e.jpg" data-media-id="editor_11" data-image-id="2023061212068_5c18a3ffdbc0959749b91fdaabd0071d87030c8955bad107a72bc23d14e5fa5e" data-rendition-name="original" width="1407" height="940" loading="lazy" alt="Tara Pariyar’s Karnali NT"> </figure>  Tara’s husband Harilal had been forcibly recruited by the Maoists. One monsoon night in 2002, Royal Nepal Army soldiers on patrol came into the village, and Harilal fled up the mountain to hide.&nbsp; Tara had told her husband not to run away since he was not a Maoist. The next morning while she was in the kitchen, the sound of gunfire echoed in the surrounding mountains. She ran outside to see her husband being led away by soldiers, who then shot him dead. She fainted, and by the time she came to learn that the soldiers had already buried her husband on the banks of the Tila. &nbsp; He brother-in-law Khadka had been killed by the army, and he sister-in-law Sopana was raped and killed a year earlier. After their two sons were killed, Tara’s mother-in-law and father-in-law became mentally ill and she had the added burden of taking care of them.&nbsp; Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/multimedia/delay-dilute-deny">Delay, dilute, deny</a>, Shristi Karki  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2023061212068_9843c87f685b1fdb773729c90435b68aeca1ec908ebfad9c770909ce243e91bf.jpg" data-media-id="editor_13" data-image-id="2023061212068_9843c87f685b1fdb773729c90435b68aeca1ec908ebfad9c770909ce243e91bf" data-rendition-name="original" width="1555" height="1037" loading="lazy" alt="Tara Pariyar’s Karnali NT"> </figure>  Tara went into deep depression after all this, and even tried to kill herself. But it was the thought of leaving behind three young children that brought her back from the brink. Munal Pariyar has memories as a child of his mother facing constant taunts from neighbours. How she would go hungry to be able to afford to educate him and his siblings, while facing social ostracisation in the village for being a Dalit and a widow.&nbsp; “It was a very difficult time, people would come to the house, say unkind things and make our mother cry all the time,” Munal recalls. “But she was like a pillar for us. We had no other support.” Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/news/a-parliamentarian-s-apple-grove">A parliamentarian’s apple grove</a>, Muesh Pokhrel  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2023061212068_c2db5371b4b5749b3f69d125aaf7be008dc2b94444782213b265f9750df393b0.jpg" data-media-id="editor_15" data-image-id="2023061212068_c2db5371b4b5749b3f69d125aaf7be008dc2b94444782213b265f9750df393b0" data-rendition-name="original" width="1555" height="1037" loading="lazy" alt="Tara Pariyar’s Karnali NT"> </figure>  But today, villagers who used to spit on Tara and consider it inauspicious to even pass her by on the road come to her for advice on apple farming, insurance and irrigation.&nbsp; Tara Pariyar is happy she has set an example for women to be independent, but says gender and caste discrimination is still common in Jumla.&nbsp; She remembers Maoist guerrillas using cruel words to tell her she would have to live as a widow if her husband did not join the militia. She became a widow anyway. Those former guerrillas are now all in Kathmandu, and the country’s prime minister is a Maoist. Says Tara with a wry smile: “One day I would like to go to Kathmandu to see for myself why the Maoists from here have all gone there, and what is so special about that place.”&nbsp; Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/the-last-men-standing">The last men standing</a>, Daman Rai

Tara Pariyar’s Karnali

<figure><img width="640" height="494" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110141128/636cfc959c7e80680e0a0b98jpeg.jpg" alt=""/><figcaption>All photos and infographics courtesy of: MERCY CORPS</figcaption></figure>The news of Covid infections in Karnali do not readily reach the capital. But remote districts in this far-flung region have some of the highest coronavirus fatality rates in the country.There are multiple factors involved: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/pandemic-of-poverty/">poverty,</a> limited health and transport infrastructure, shortage of medical staff, lack of testing, and family members returning from India. People in the remote mountains of this historically neglected region now also have to survive on limited food.A recent survey in outback communities of Karnali province shows that the most serious socio-economic impact of the pandemic has been on <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/quarter-of-nepalis-still-hungry-during-pandemic/">access to food</a> – a full one-third of households surveyed reported <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/1-in-5-nepal-families-lack-food/">not having enough food.</a> Another 19% said they were even heavier in debt, and 14% lost their livelihood.To be sure, the Karnali has suffered <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/the-pandemic-of-hunger/">chronic food insecurity</a> even before the pandemic, and almost every household has at least one member working in cities or in India. But the Covid crisis has made it worse. The survey was conducted among 395 people across 21 Karnali municipalities by USAID BHAKARI program implemented by the global humanitarian aid group Mercy Corps with an aim to improve food security in the region. Ten per cent of those polled were people with disabilities. <img width="640" height="283" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110141128/636cfc989c7e80680e0a0b99jpeg.jpg" alt="">Some 78% of those surveyed said they had to change their diet and as high as 90% reported not having money to buy food, 38% switched to cheaper food items while 16% of the households resorted to prioritising children over adults with limited meals. Another 14% said they reduced the size of meal portions, 13% reduced the number of meals per day.  These figures may lead to a long-term impact on the physical and mental growth of children. The coronavirus crisis and subsequent lockdowns have pushed millions of Nepalis back below the poverty line leading to an <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/hunger-for-governance/">epidemic of childhood malnutrition.</a> “The impact of drought and the second wave are significant in the vulnerable communities in Karnali province, further increasing the food crisis in the region. We have reached a critical point,” says Yugdeep Thapa of Mercy Corps.  Women and people with disabilities in particular have faced added challenges in the past 18 months since the outbreak of Covid-19. Of the total women surveyed, 67% are not getting access to <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/ensuring-menstrual-hygiene-during-nepal-lockdown/">hygiene</a> products ranging from soap and sanitisers to menstrual pads.<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/a-little-help-goes-a-long-way-in-home-isolation/"> Limited access to health services</a> due to lockdown-induced restrictions meant that 45% of the women couldn’t visit a health post or hospitals for reproductive health services. There have been a slew of reports about an <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/in-nepal-lockdown-a-domestic-violence-spike/">increase in domestic and sexual violence</a> across the country during the pandemic, with women and children in closer contact with their abusers for a longer period. The Mercy Corps study confirms this, with one-third of the women reporting an unsafe environment at home due to domestic violence. Another 28% said they had faced increased violence and abuse in the household. While telemedicine has been an effective tool to receive medical consultation regarding coronavirus and other health problems, here in the mountains of Karnali Province, a majority of families have had no knowledge of such services with 24% of women unaware of the general Covid related helpline.Last winter’s drought added to the food insecurity. A quarter of those polled said they lost their entire year's harvest, and 89% said they were looking for work to sustain their livelihoods. Some 44% of respondents said they were farmers, 17% were daily wage earners and 21% had family members working abroad. <img width="550" height="980" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110141128/636cfc9b9c7e80680e0a0b9ajpeg.jpg" alt="">The contribution of <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/more-remittance-more-than-remittance/">remittance to household income is likely to increase</a> as job losses have pushed a further 15% of people to migrate to India, many of them after returning home due to the Covid lockdowns there in 2020 and this year. Those who couldn’t afford <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/business/remittances-from-nepali-workers-rise/">foreign employment</a> sold their livestock or property to feed their children during the pandemic. In fact, 57% of the respondents in the study said they had to sell livestock or borrow money. Less than 1% of those surveyed had a year's worth of food stock, 42% had enough food to last only three months at most. <img width="640" height="272" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110141128/636cfc9d9c7e80680e0a0b9bjpeg.jpg" alt="">Half of the participants in the survey have not received any social security allowance to tide them over the long months of the coronavirus crisis. Those who did spent it mostly on food, health care and education.On the disaster front, 62% of the respondents had little to no information on preparedness even as the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/monsoon-hits-nepal-with-a-bang/">annual monsoon flooding season</a> was approaching at the time of the survey. But among those who accessed some news, did it mostly via radio and mobile phones which local governments could use to disseminate essential information in the future. <img width="640" height="530" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110141128/636cfca09c7e80680e0a0b9cjpeg.jpg" alt="">Read Also:<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/covid-19-affecting-food-security-in-nepal-wfp/"> Covid-19 affecting food security in Nepal</a>

Karnali’s Covid blues

<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109171148/636bdaa99c7e80680e08027fjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="836" height="1260"/><figcaption>Karnali River in Humla, one of Nepal's remotest districts which lacks both road and internet connectivity. Photos: NABIN BARAL</figcaption></figure>The Karnali Basin Conservation Foundation (KBCF), a nonprofit promoting biodiversity conservation and economic development, is collaborating with Nepal’s private internet company, WorldLink Communications, to leapfrog into the information age.KBCF funds activities that promote biodiversity conservation, livelihood opportunities, healthcare, access to quality education, and eco-tourism in the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/the-karnali/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/the-karnali/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1602897366688000&amp;usg=AFQjCNHJBDWIi0_GL94wHmPHp3Bb1_PrVA">Karnali River Basin</a> in Nepal’s <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=18119#.X4jvny8RoWo" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id%3D18119%23.X4jvny8RoWo&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1602897366688000&amp;usg=AFQjCNE9iAHo4rfRQhlAmWnKNSNsJoGoWw">under-served</a> western provinces.“It is important to lay a strong foundation for long-term and sustainable growth,” says Radhesh Pant of KBCF, “Having infrastructure, both soft and hard, for a digital economy will be key in this regard. As there is still a lot to accomplish in the region.”For its part, WorldLink is Nepal’s largest internet service provider, and hopes to bridge Nepal’s digital divide with this partnership that will take information technology to the remotest rural areas of Nepal.Pant said that making the internet available to the under-privileged will help bridge the great gap between the connected and not connected. “As the Covid-19 pandemic has demonstrated, with schools and businesses having to move online, access to the internet is more important than ever,” he added.KBCF was set up to try to help develop a broad investment ecosystem in the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/a-karnali-portrait/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/a-karnali-portrait/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1602897366689000&amp;usg=AFQjCNF6a9fNgDYMDqrxU-vOkMe1obOxqQ">Karnali Basin</a>, with a focus on biodiversity conservation and equitable development. In the long term, it aims to boost the economy of the region by balancing nature conservation and development, and making it self-reliant.<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109171148/636bdaac9c7e80680e080280jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1550" height="1036">Dileep Agarwal of WorldLink Communications said, “The vision of Digital Karnali is in perfect synergy with our vision statement to connect everyone, anywhere, all the time. We will jointly work towards identifying growth zones and providing internet access for commercial business, community groups, and individuals to leverage the opportunities of a stable digital platform”WorldLink is actively expanding its services to rural areas and remote villages in Nepal. Agarwal says that giving the underprivileged in <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=302#.X4jv9C8RoWo" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id%3D302%23.X4jv9C8RoWo&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1602897366689000&amp;usg=AFQjCNGukQdlL4BmM97TPrzVqYjBFu44oQ">Nepal’s remotest area</a> access to the internet can close digital divide in Nepal.The KBCF is supported with USAID’s Paani (Water) Project in Nepal, DSV Advisors, a joint venture company of Dolma Advisors Private Limited, SAFAL Partners, and VRock &amp; Company Pvt Ltd.

Now, a ‘Digital Karnali’

<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022110813114/636a45bb9c7e80680e04d39ejpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1250" height="938"/><figcaption>Photos: ACHYUT RAJ BHANDARI</figcaption></figure>- Achyut Raj BhandariWomen may be treated unfairly by society in one of Nepal’s most conservative districts, but it is they who are at the forefront in linking roadless Humla to the rest of the country.It is mostly women in yellow hard hats you see on the 76km stretch of the Mugu-Humla road that is presently under construction. Humla is the last district in Nepal not yet connected to the country’s road network, and the remote Himalayan district remains economically behind its neighbours.After many years of delays, building of the road is speeding ahead. Construction of the 5.5m-wide road started in Gamgadi of Mugu district in January, and more than half of the 76km stretch is now motorable. At this pace, it will reach Deuli of Humla by the end of the year, ahead of the completion of the other road linking Humla, the Karnali Corridor (see adjoining article).“Our idea is not just to build a road, but create jobs during its construction and uplift the economy of the areas it is serving when completed,” explains Sunil Tandukar, field manager of the Rural Access Programme (RAP) which is supported by the British aid group, DfID.<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022110813114/636a45be9c7e80680e04d39fjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="892" height="511">Some 52% of the workforce is made up of women. This is because RAP has a policy to empower women with employment, but also because many of the villages along the way have seen an outmigration of menfolk to the cities or to India for work.Unlike the indiscriminate road-building spree elsewhere in Nepal, RAP’s other emphasis is to minimise the use of excavators and dozers so as to create more rural jobs. There are now more than 1,500 women workers on the road that is being built at a cost of Rs1.7 billion. Women of Rara Municipality and other villages along the way in Mugu have been earning up to Rs700 a day for the past six months.“Me and my mother-in-law received Rs21,000 each in the first instalment,” says a beaming Jaula Baduwal, 42, of Baam village, who explains that she finishes household chores in the morning and devotes the rest of the day to road work. The money has come in handy to buy clothes, food and school stationery for her children.<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022110813114/636a45c19c7e80680e04d3a0jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1125">The road-building work has also persuaded Ramkala Baduwal’s husband from migrating to work in India this year. Four members of her family work on the road, earning Rs80,000 since January. “Our men used to migrate to India for work due to poverty. But this year me and my husband are working and earning together. I am happy about that,” says Baduwal. “We women were confined to the kitchen, but this road has given us the chance to come out and earn an income.”Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/life-and-livelihood-in-remote-nepal/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Life and livelihood in remote Nepal</a>, Jocelyn PowelsonLocal elders are overjoyed to see rapid progress on the road. “I had never even dreamed that a road would reach my home, but now it is actually happening. And the villagers got employment too,” says Krishna Bahadur Buda, 64, of Baam. He says he will celebrate the completion of the road by getting on the first bus out to visit Kathmandu.<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022110813114/636a45c59c7e80680e04d3a1jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1125"><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022110813114/636a45c89c7e80680e04d3a2jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="997">RAP was started in 2000 with the Hile-Bhojpur road, but work stalled during the war. Resuming in 2006, it has provided employment to tens of thousands of farmers as it built roads in Bhojpur, Khotang, Sankhuwasabha and Terathum, and helped organise farmers into cooperatives. In 2011 the successful road-building model was extended to the remote mountain districts of western Nepal.Gori Khadka, 63, is convinced the road will make the lives of next generations much easier. “When we are sick, we can be taken to hospital, and we can take our produce to market,” she says.RAP has ensured that the road also provides long-term income to villagers by providing access to markets. Rara rural municipality has introduced the concept of ‘One Home, One Garden,’ helping villagers to set up apple orchards and vegetable plots.Nandalal Baduwa, elected chair of Ward 14, cannot hide his delight when he says: “Our village has a new slogan, ‘Visit Baam and eat apples for free’.”Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/the-karnali/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Karnali</a>, Ramesh Bhushal<h2>Cars in the Karnali</h2><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022110813114/636a45cb9c7e80680e04d3a3jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1400" height="663">- Prakash Singh in BajuraHumla is the only district not yet linked to Nepal’s national road network, but not for long.The Karnali Corridor and another road from Mugu district will soon bring the motor car to the Karnali. But even before the road, plastic trash and other detritus of consumerism has already arrived in this pristine yet neglected region.Construction crews are hard at work blasting through solid rock faces along the gorge of the Karnali River, opening up a region that used to take weeks of hard trekking to reach.The Nepal Army has been building the 145km Karnali Corridor stretch that connects Kalikot’s Khulalu with Salli Salla in Humla district. More than 70km of the road has already been opened to traffic even though it is still rough and unpaved.<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022110813114/636a45ce9c7e80680e04d3a4jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="640" height="425"><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022110813114/636a45d19c7e80680e04d3a5jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="640" height="425">Once a bridge is built over a river separating Bajura and Humla by October, the Corridor will have reached roadless Humla for the first time from the south. The district already has a road from Tibet in the north.Meanwhile, a 24km section from Pilichaur of Bajura to Kawadi of Humla has been opened, bypassing the trail through the notorious Rangebhir, which used to be dangerous even for those on foot.There is a great sense of excitement along the Karnali as locals await the completion of the Rs3-billion road. Previously to reach Humla, they had to walk for weeks, or travel to Bajura and Kalikot districts on flimsy buses along dangerous roads, or pay a hefty airfare.Locals were also forced to pay much higher price for goods, and many have lost their lives unable to access medical facilities on time.<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022110813114/636a45d49c7e80680e04d3a6jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="997">“For generations we struggled to bring basic needs, take our sick to hospital; those days are thankfully over — the door to development has opened,” says the jubilant chair of Himali Rural Municipality in Humla, Govinda Malla.Jeeps and tractors have already started operating on the half-completed, 50km-section of the road from Bajura’s Martadi to Pilichaur. Tourism destinations in Karnali and the Far West, such as Khaptad, Ramaroshan, Badimalika and Rara will now be easily accessible, and hopefully boost the economy and create jobs.Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/faith-to-reality/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Faith to reality</a>, Ramesh BhushalHowever, the arrival of the road has already started to impact the landscape of the Karnali, which had so far been untouched by modernity.New roadside markets have sprung up every 2-3km along the Corridor in Bajura where vehicles have started operating. Waste from these marketplaces, including plastic and liquor bottles, is being dumped on the riverbank, polluting the clear, green water of the Karnali.

In Nepal women hold up more than half the sky

<img width="3000" height="4000" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022110811114/636a2a109c7e80680e0458fdjpeg.jpg" alt=""/>On the ground floor were photos from the Karnali corridor by Nabin Baral and Ramesh Bhushal, the result of a 44-day journey from the origins of Karnali to its confluence with the Ganga which was <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/the-karnali/">featured in this newspaper</a> in February. The photos reflect the diversity of life in this far-flung region from the mountain communities in the north to the Tharu villages in the plains.Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/the-karnali-on-canvas/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Karnali on canvas</a>, Sewa Bhattarai<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022110811114/636a2a149c7e80680e0458fejpeg.jpg" alt="" width="4000" height="3000"><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022110811114/636a2a189c7e80680e0458ffjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="4000" height="3000">This exhibition reminds us that the Karnali provides sustenance to a diversity of people from salt traders and farmers in the north to Sonaha people who mine it for gold in the south. The portraits of people from different ethnicities are a testament to Nepal’s ethnic variety. The exhibition is also a reminder of how remote and dangerous Karnali still is: people still crossing raging rivers hanging on ropes and precarious roads. <img width="4000" height="3000" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022110811114/636a2a1b9c7e80680e045900jpeg.jpg" alt="">The colours are also varied: from the barren browns of northern desert to bright greens of the rivers and the multi-hued clothes and ornaments of women. The elegant pyramid of Mt Kailash reminds of why it is deemed to be sacred.One floor above, switching gears completely this week, is the artwork of the late Uttam Kharel, a senior artist and one of the founders of Srijana College of Fine Arts. The exhibition is a retrospective of the works of Kharel who passed away in 2018.<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022110811114/636a2a1f9c7e80680e045901jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="3000" height="4000"><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022110811114/636a2a239c7e80680e045902jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="3000" height="4000">Kharel’s works present a heightened environmental consciousness where human beings interact with the world of animals. Kharel’s lines are smooth and tightly packed, invoking the intimacy between human beings and nature. Deep, saturated maroons, navy blues and bottle greens fill the frames giving the paintings a solid pesence. These paintings extract notice from the viewer, there is no ignoring them.Though Kharel became known for this style, there are also many other formats on display, like black and white sketches, abstract pieces, and little sculptures. Together they represent a distinctive voice in contemporary art in Nepal, from a pioneer artist and art educator.   <img width="4000" height="3000" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022110811114/636a2a269c7e80680e045903jpeg.jpg" alt="">The Karnali: Photos from the Sacred River CorridorIn Memory of Uttam KharelNepal Art Council, Babermahal

Art and photography

The Karnali River is older than the Himalaya, having cut its path over millions of years as the mountains rose. This phenomenon has created many wild and scenic gorges with rich biodiversity along Nepal’s longest river. In Nepal, the Karnali is still largely untouched by the development. But roads and hydropower plants are being built. At present, two dams in China upstream and one barrage downstream in India disturb its flow. This is the last of a five part series on The KarnaliRead also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/the-karnali/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Karnali</a>, Ramesh Bhushal <figure><img width="1500" height="1000" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108101132/636a226c9c7e80680e04178ajpeg.jpg" alt=""/><figcaption>Mapcha Khambab River in Tibet, China. Mapcha Khambab means peacock’s mouth in Tibetan and is named after a spring which is the spiritual source of the river. The river becomes the Karnali in Nepal and the Ghaghara in India. Photo: NABIN BARAL</figcaption></figure><figure><img width="1500" height="1000" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108101132/636a226f9c7e80680e04178bjpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption>Karnali River as seen in Yangar village in Humla. Photo: NABIN BARAL</figcaption></figure><figure><img width="1500" height="1000" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108101132/636a22729c7e80680e04178cjpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption>Karnali River in Humla, the only district in Nepal yet to be connected with a road. Photo: NABIN BARAL</figcaption></figure><figure><img width="1500" height="1000" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108101132/636a22769c7e80680e04178djpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption>At the altitude of 1,500m the river surprises with alpine forests and palm trees growing together on the river banks in Humla. Photo: NABIN BARAL</figcaption></figure><figure><img width="1000" height="1500" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108101132/636a22799c7e80680e04178ejpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption>A long exposure view of Karnali River below Shreenagar village in Humla. Photo: NABIN BARAL</figcaption></figure><figure><img width="1500" height="1000" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108101132/636a227c9c7e80680e04178fjpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption>Rice terraces on the flood plain of Karnali River below Shreenagar village. Photo: NABIN BARAL</figcaption></figure><figure><img width="1500" height="1000" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108101132/636a227f9c7e80680e041790jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption>The first scientific expedition team on the Karnali River raft God's House rapids, one of the world class rapid in the world on Karnali River on the border of Achham and Surkhet districts of Nepal. Photo: NABIN BARAL</figcaption></figure><figure><img width="1500" height="1000" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108101132/636a22829c7e80680e041791jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption>The scientific expedition team camps by the side of Karnali River in Kailali district of Nepal. Photo: NABIN BARAL</figcaption></figure><figure><img width="1500" height="1000" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108101132/636a22869c7e80680e041792jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption>An old castle like structure carved into the rock along the Karnali River in Surkhet district of Nepal. Photo: NABIN BARAL</figcaption></figure><figure><img width="1500" height="1000" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108101132/636a22899c7e80680e041793jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption>Two one horned Rhinos are seen in Bardia National Park. The flood plains of the Karnali River are the source of water for endangered tigers and rhinos. The 968 square kilometres large park is the largest and the least disturbed national park in Nepal. Photo: NABIN BARAL</figcaption></figure><figure><img width="1500" height="1000" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108101132/636a228d9c7e80680e041794jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption>The Karnali/Ghaghara River, few meters before meeting the Ganga River in India, and about 100 kilometers northwest of Patna. From India the Ganga then enters Bangladesh where it meets the Brahmaputra. Both rivers then reach the Bay of Bengal in the Indian Ocean. Photo: NABIN BARAL</figcaption></figure>Part 1: <a style="background-color: #ffffff; font-size: 15px; letter-spacing: 0.01em;" href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/faith-to-reality/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Faith to reality</a>Part 2: <a style="background-color: #ffffff; font-size: 15px; letter-spacing: 0.01em;" href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/dams-and-dreams-a-journey-down-the-karnali/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Dams and dreams a journey down the Karnali</a>Part 3: <a style="background-color: #ffffff; font-size: 15px; letter-spacing: 0.01em;" href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/climate-denial-in-the-himalaya/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Climate denial in the Himalaya</a>Part 4: <a style="background-color: #ffffff; font-size: 15px; letter-spacing: 0.01em;" href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/dancing-with-the-river/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Dancing with the river</a>

A Karnali portrait

<figure><img width="1500" height="1000" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108101132/636a22149c7e80680e04176fjpeg.jpg" alt=""/><figcaption>Women and children displaced by flood seek shelter in Jogapurwa village of Bahraich district, Uttar Pradesh in India. Photo: NABIN BARAL</figcaption></figure>Parash Nath Kashyap, 62, has moved three times in two decades due to floods and erosion along the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghaghara">Ghaghara</a> River, which is what the Karnali is called after crossing the border in southwestern Nepal.“How different our life was 20 years ago,” says Kashyap, dragging a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charpai">charpai</a> under the shade of a tree along the left embankment of the Ghaghara in Jogapurwa, 30km west of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bahraich">Bahraich</a> city.In 2000, severe floods washed away his family’s land so they moved a kilometre east. Another flood in 2002 forced them to move again. In 2008, they were made homeless again and settled in a patch of government land along the flood-control levee. “It’s like hide and seek, we move as the river moves,” he says wryly. “For years we have danced with the river, but with tears in our eyes.”Read also:Part 1: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/faith-to-reality/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Faith to reality</a> Part 2: <a style="background-color: #ffffff; font-size: 15px; letter-spacing: 0.01em;" href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/dams-and-dreams-a-journey-down-the-karnali/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Dams and dreams a journey down the Karnali</a><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108101132/636a22179c7e80680e041770jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1000">Parashnath Kashyap is the leader flood victim communities in Jogapurwa in Uttar Pradesh, India. He has been fighting for rights of the affected communities in Ghaghara. Photo: NABIN BARALThe Ghaghara flows into the Ganga downstream in Bihar in one of the most flood-prone regions and most densely-populated regions of the world. Floods in the Ganga basin between 2000 and 2014 affected about 93 million people. According to a <a href="https://www.routledge.com/The-Ganges-River-Basin-Status-and-Challenges-in-Water-Environment-and/Bharati-Sharma-Smakhtin/p/book/9781138900325">2018 report</a> from the International Water Management Institute, there were 326 extreme flood events in the Ganga basin between 1980 to 2015 resulting in 67,000 casualties. Of these 212 floods were in India, 74 in Bangladesh and 40 in Nepal. China accounts for 4% of the basin, but there is almost no information about floods there. Read also:Part 3: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/climate-denial-in-the-himalaya/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Climate denial in the Himalaya</a> Part 5: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/a-karnali-portrait/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">A Karnali portrait</a> After the river-engulfed more land in Jogapurwa of Uttar Pradesh, the number of people living in temporary settlements has grown. This has led to a web of social problems in recent years. “People living far from the embankment (our relatives) don’t want to get their daughters to marry our boys as we live in a very vulnerable situation,” Kashyap adds. <img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108101132/636a221b9c7e80680e041771jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1000">Chandra Vahal , a flood victim in Jogapurwa village of Uttar Pradesh shows the level of flood that submerged their make shift houses last mosoon. Photo: NABIN BARALHe knew that problems would get worse when he was first displaced in 2000, so he married off his daughters as early as possible while he had some money left. As he lost his land, his economic condition deteriorated. “We have land certificates but we are landless because the river is flowing over where we used to live,” he said.Most of the younger generation have gone to bigger cities in Punjab or Delhi to look for work. The result of the exodus is visible: most people in the villages were women, the elderly and children.“We cultivate some vegetables on the sandy land in the dry season. You can’t imagine how big this river is in the monsoon,” said Kamlesh Kashyap, another flood refugee. This land is far from where they live, so their vegetables are often stolen or eaten by animals. “If boys were here, they could guard the land at night, but women can’t because it’s very unsafe,” he adds. <figure><img width="1500" height="1000" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108101132/636a221e9c7e80680e041772jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption>Locals collect sand from the Ghaghara river at the Ganga/Ghaghara confluence. NABIN BARAL</figcaption></figure>Displaced people who move to the cities have to do low class jobs, like dish-washing or toilet cleaning, since very few had been to school. The farming community has been devastated, children do not go to school.“They have to herd animals, so parents are reluctant to send them to school,” says Dhrub Kumar of the Panchasheel Development Trust which works with displaced communities. “Parents are forced to sell most of the milk from their cows or buffaloes, so the children do not have enough to eat.” The Uttar Pradesh government’s attempts to relocate the displaced have largely failed due to a lack of understanding of their long-term needs. A decade ago, the government provided land for people in Jogapurwa to construct houses, but the land was too far away from where they farmed. “It’s about 10-15 km from here and the land is just enough to build houses so where do we keep our animals, where do we produce food, how do we survive?” asks Parashnath Kashyap, whose family decided to stay put in the hope that Ghaghara would change course someday and they would get back to their land. Some people moved to the government provided land, but later they returned to the embankment. “We are all low caste people but the new land was dominated by higher caste people so we were afraid we would be harassed,” says Chandran Bhaal, 56. <figure><img width="1500" height="1000" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108101132/636a22219c7e80680e041773jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption>Hare Ram and his wife sow pointed gourd in the sandy soil at the confluence of the Ganges and the Ghaghara in Chhara district of Bihar. Photo: NABIN BARAL</figcaption></figure>The Karnali River traverses the mountains from Tibet through Nepal and becomes the Ghaghara in Uttar Pradesh in northern India. The Girijapuri Barrage 16km downstream from the Nepal border was built 55 years ago to divert water for irrigation to central Uttar Pradesh. Much of the water is diverted west to the Sharada River , another tributary of the Ganga. “We are killing this river by diverting most of the water for irrigation and leaving the downstream areas dry,” says Dhrub Kumar.According to the <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/279200603_River_Bank_Erosion_Induced_Human_Displacement_and_Its_Consequences">studies</a>, the Ghaghara started shifting course particularly after 1995. The Gangetic plains are relatively flat, and after the steep descent from the Himalaya, the rivers shift course in the alluvial plains, especially when they swell during the monsoon. According to the <a href="https://www.downtoearth.org.in/news/floods-in-north-and-east-india-kill-120-people-45848">National Disaster Management Authority of India</a>, about 2.7 million hectares out of 24.1 million hectares of land in the state is affected by floods every year, with an estimated loss of $57 million. Debates whether embankments are the right way to deal with floods are not new, but the problem is getting bigger as more money has been invested in flood control levees over the past decades. Experts say the heavy sediment load is raising the river beds, and although the embankments may control floods temporarily, they can cause catastrophic flooding when the levees are breached in future. <figure><img width="1500" height="1000" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108101132/636a22259c7e80680e041774jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption>An embankment to control floods in the Ghaghara river near to the Ganga/Ghaghara confluence at the border of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. NABIN BARAL</figcaption></figure>Many argue it is only corrupt contractors, bureaucrats, technocrats and politicians who have benefited, making billions from embankments despite their failure to curb the floods. “Long-term solutions are not a priority, but immediate relief and embankments have always been priority. It clearly shows that money is the motivation behind (embankment building),” said Ajit Dixit, a journalist based in Cornelganj in Gonda district.Governments are supposed to protect people but many say they are not moving in the right direction. The population grows rapidly and land encroachment near rivers is a serious problem because it leaves them vulnerable to future floods. “If we invest the amount of money we have been investing in embankments, I think it’s possible to resettle villages in safe places. But as it’s a politically motivated move it’s not going to happen,” Dhrub Kumar says.While the construction of embankments started during British rule, the majority were built after India’s independence in 1947. According to the World Banks’s 2014 <a href="http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/955751468000263739/pdf/103889-WP-Ganges-Strategic-Basin-Assessment-A-Discussion-of-Regional-Opportunities-and-Risks-PUBLIC.pdf">report</a>, about 16,200 km of embankments were constructed between 1954 and 1997 in India alone and authorities claim this has protected about 17 out of 40 million hectares of flood prone lands along the Ganga.The story is jointly published by Nepali Times and <a href="https://www.thethirdpole.net/en/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Third Pole</a>. Subsequent instalments of this five-part series will appear from 8-11 January.

Dancing with the river

<figure><img width="1500" height="1000" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108101128/636a21f99c7e80680e041767jpeg.jpg" alt=""/><figcaption>Gurla Mandhata mountain (7,700 metres) south of Mount Kailsh. Locals in Tibet say that mountains are getting less snow in recent years. Photo: NABIN BARAL</figcaption></figure>“It isn’t as cold as it used to be a few years ago at this time of year,” says our Tibetan guide Mingmar Tashi as we walk near Mt <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Kailash">Kailash</a> to the source of the Karnali, Nepal’s longest river. This is the biggest tributary of the Ganga by volume, and Nepal’s longest river. It originates in Tibet’s Burang county where in late September residents were all busy harvesting and moving livestock down valley for winter.But winters are changing. Chinese studies show the Tibetan plateau is warming <a href="https://uk.reuters.com/article/us-china-climatechange/temperatures-significantly-rise-on-chinas-qinghai-tibetan-plateau-state-media-idUKKCN1N10E5">three times faster</a> than other parts of the world. In southwestern China the mean annual temperature <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1674927813500347">increased 0.12 degrees Celsius per decade</a>from 1961 to 2010. Other <a href="http://www.icimod.org/?q=20533">studies</a> project that by 2050, the mean temperatures in the Hindu Kush Himalayas will increase by 1-2o Celsius, even 4-5o in some places. Read also:Part 1: <a style="background-color: #ffffff; font-size: 15px; letter-spacing: 0.01em;" href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/faith-to-reality/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Faith to reality</a>Part 2: <a style="background-color: #ffffff; font-size: 15px; letter-spacing: 0.01em;" href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/dams-and-dreams-a-journey-down-the-karnali/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Dams and dreams a journey down the Karnali</a>“Snow in the mountains in Tibet is declining and I can see that clearly,” says Mingmar Tashi. A recent Lanzhou University <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/312168748_Impact_of_climate_and_elevation_on_snow_cover_using_integrated_remote_sensing_snow_products_in_Tibetan_Plateau">study</a> confirms this: snow-cover in Tibet has decreased at altitudes above 2,000m above sea level, but increased at lower altitudes. <figure><img width="1500" height="1000" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108101128/636a21fd9c7e80680e041768jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption>Aitan Bhandari from Mohoti, Bajura harvests paddy. This area was hard hit by drought in last few years but due to adequate rainfall this year the production was good. Photo: NABIN BARAL </figcaption></figure>Rising temperatures will lead to more rapid snowmelt, with severe impacts on people living in the region. Flow of rivers that originate in the Tibetan Plateau will be affected, impacting agriculture and hydropower projects. Changes in hydrology in high altitude areas are poorly understood due to high meteorological variability, lack of accessibility and complex interplay between climate, glaciated areas and hydrological processes. Nevertheless, available research shows that seasonal snow cover impacts the water storage capacity of glaciers in a warming climate. Read also:Part 4: <a style="background-color: #ffffff; font-size: 15px; letter-spacing: 0.01em;" href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/dancing-with-the-river/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Dancing with the river</a>Part 5: <a style="background-color: #ffffff; font-size: 15px; letter-spacing: 0.01em;" href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/a-karnali-portrait/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">A Karnali portrait </a>“Global warming may lead to either rising or decreasing river flows, depending on the state of glacier retreat,” stated a <a href="https://www.pnas.org/content/113/33/9222">recent study</a> published in the proceedings of US National Academy of Sciences , comparing glacier melt and river flows in Nepal and Chile.<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108101128/636a22009c7e80680e041769jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1061">Map: STEFANO WROBLESKIA 2015 <a href="http://lib.icimod.org/record/32006/files/StatKraft_Review_final.pdf">report</a> by the <a href="http://www.icimod.org/">International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development</a>(ICIMOD) reviewed the impacts of climate change in the Hindu Kush Himalayan region, including Nepal: ‘The changing probabilities and magnitudes of extreme events can place additional risk on power generation infrastructure (dams and hydropower plants) as well as secondary infrastructure (roads and transmission lines). Further, hazards associated with shrinking glaciers, such as glacial lake outburst floods, can jeopardise large infrastructure investment.’  It added that since most of the agriculture in mountains is rain-fed it makes farmers highly vulnerable to rainfall variability. Devi Fadera, from Srinagar village in Nepal’s <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humla_District">Humla</a> district bordering Tibet, was in a rush in early October to harvest golden fields of ripening rice. “The weather is becoming more uncertain every year, so I have to harvest during these sunny days. Who knows what will happen tomorrow,” he says. <figure><img width="1500" height="1000" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108101128/636a22029c7e80680e04176ajpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption>A woman collects yak dung to be used as cooking fuel in Kardung village in Tibet. This is the first village on the bank of Karnali River in Tibet and is also called Mapcha Khambab. Photo: NABIN BARAL</figcaption></figure>There has been very little rainfall in the region over the last three years. The drought of 2016 was the worst in the last three decades, but there was sufficient rainfall this year. “Rain was sufficient this year, so the paddy was good,” adds Fadera, whose harvest only feeds his family for six months in a good year. From Fader’s farm, the Karnali can be seen at the bottom of a deep gorge, and there is no way to bring any of that water up for irrigation. Most of the villages along the river depend on monsoon rains. When the food runs out, mule trains bring supplies from elsewhere in the country, but that doesn’t really help much. People in this region have the <a href="http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.663.3552&amp;rep=rep1&amp;type=pdf">lowest purchasing capacity</a> in Nepal. Malnutrition is common, and only 0.9% of the land in Humla is <a href="http://bora.uib.no/bitstream/handle/1956/16997/dr-thesis-2017-Yograj-Gautam.pdf?sequence=1&amp;isAllowed=y">arable</a>. Most men migrate to cities or India to work to supplement their income.Dirgha Shahi was hurrying to Kermi in Upper Humla to get some flour transported from Tibet’s Burang county. The only way to get food from the southern plains of Nepal is via air, and that is expensive. The abundant rainfall in 2018 brought only misery to Shahi. “It was continuous from July and August. Too much water destroyed our vegetables, especially beans,” he says. <figure><img width="1500" height="1000" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108101128/636a22069c7e80680e04176bjpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption>Rangmal Thapa of Sarkegadh in Humla takes out rice stored two years ago from underground. Locals store rice by digging a hole nearby their homes for emergency use in the case of famine or other disasters. Photo: NABIN BARAL</figcaption></figure>Maheshwar Dhakal, chief of the Climate Change division at Nepal’s Ministry of Forests and Environment admits that it is difficult for the government to integrate climate change into its plans. “However, we have been providing support to several vulnerable communities through local level adaptation projects like <a href="http://www.np.undp.org/content/nepal/en/home/projects/nccsp.html">Nepal climate change support programme</a> which has its major focus in the Karnali region,” he adds. Roads construction was the most visible development activity during our 1,100 km journey down the Karnali from Tibet via Nepal to India. But in Nepal the roads are poorly planned, poorly constructed, and there is thought to the debris as it tumbles down the mountains. In Tibet there is a massive construction spree of huge embankments, highways and urban infrastructure. In Nepal, addressing environmental concerns during construction is not a priority. The government’s project to link the southern plains in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banke_District">Banke</a> district to the northern border in Humla has cut through the mountains. Dynamite blasts were a constant menace as we walked, drove and rafted for down the Karnali River. Geologist Karen Bennett who was a member of our team is shocked to see the unnecessary level of destruction.  <figure><img width="1500" height="1000" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108101128/636a22089c7e80680e04176cjpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption>Rampant road construction along the Karnali river. Karnali corridor highway which is under construction will link Nepal's Dailekh to Hilsa in Tibet border. Photo: NABIN BARAL</figcaption></figure>“Roads are necessary, but the situation is worrisome,” she says. Most of the settlements along the river corridor are built on landslide-prone areas, and people have built over previous landslides. These are inherently unstable, and improper road construction increases their vulnerability. Incremental investment during construction would have saved the billions that will be needed for future maintenance. Bennet says: “If such haphazard construction continues, villages along the Karnali will suffer badly.”Rampant road construction has already led to <a href="https://thehimalayantimes.com/nepal/haphazard-road-construction-increases-landslide-risk-in-bajura/">serious problems</a> in recent years. The Karnali Highway linking Nepal’s western border with Tibet was on the drawing board for two decades but moved forward after 2015 when the job was given to the Nepal Army. One of the biggest projects in the country, the 500-km road will link India and China. But it is being built with no attention to basic principles of road engineering in mountain regions. <figure><img width="1500" height="1000" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108101128/636a220d9c7e80680e04176djpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption>Construction of Karnali Coridor in Nepal's Bajura. Haphazard construction has increased vulnerability of the communities in the fragile landscape. Photo: NABIN BARAL</figcaption></figure>All rural municipalities in Nepal have a mission to link each village ward with roads in the next few years. “In the next three to five years we will have all the villages linked with rough roads,” boasts Devraj Devkota, mayor of Panchadeol rural municipality in Nepal’s Accham district. As the hills and mountains are excavated, most of the debris is thrown directly into the river. “This will create geological instability and will have severe impacts on aquatic species,” warns Deep Narayan Shah of the Central Department of Environmental Science, Tribhuvan University. Blacktopped highways from Tibet have reached the Nepal border, and Nepal is also focusing on enhancing road connectivity with its northern neighbour and all the main corridors are along the major rivers: Sun Kosi, Trisuli, Kali Gandaki and the Karnali. The Indian states of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh are already connected with Nepal by road. Experts say there is also a need to connect people and governments to be prepared for disasters and the impact of climate change.  <figure><img width="1500" height="1000" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108101132/636a22109c7e80680e04176ejpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption>Chudari Village in Bajura sits on the landslide debris on the bank of Karnali River. Several villages along Karnali river are on similar kind of old landslides. Photo: NABIN BARAL</figcaption></figure>Rajan Kotru, from the <a href="http://www.icimod.org/">International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development</a>, headed the <a href="http://www.icimod.org/?q=9456">Kailash Sacred Landscape</a> conservation program, the first of its kind involving all three countries in the region. Asked about what he had achieved over the last five years, his answer was diplomatic: “We were able to lay the foundation for dialogue between countries and people at local level. There is also a greater realisation that coming together will benefit all and is necessary.”  Despite this realisation cooperation between Nepal, India and China on river basins is negligible. Nepal shares a 1,400 km border with China and Nepal’s Foreign Ministry has several bilateral mechanisms to talk with China, but none of them involve water resources, even though Nepal’s rivers originate in Tibet.Nepal’s relationship with India on water issues is also sensitive. There is no real cooperation, just formalities, and even so there is no mention of the impact of climate change on shared water resources. The story is jointly published by Nepali Times and <a href="https://www.thethirdpole.net/en/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Third Pole</a>. Subsequent instalments of this five-part series will appear from 8-11 January.

Climate denial in the Himalaya

Nepal’s only international aviation gateway, at Kathmandu airport, will cut night-time operation hours to allow construction of taxiways, and airlines have been told to curtail flights. This is expected to lead to more than normal chaos during the height of peak autumn and spring tourist seasons at an airport that is congested even at the best of times. The airport will close from 10PM to 8AM from 8 November-31 March 2025. The taxiways will now connect to the thresholds at both ends of the runway, making the airport more efficient in handling higher frequencies of landings and takeoffs. The parallel taxiway extension will allow international flights to land every 4 minutes instead of the current every 7 minutes. At present planes have to wait to land until a plane taking off backtracks along the runway.&nbsp; Kathmandu is Nepal’s only airport with international operations, and it has only one runway that is only one way in from the south over the mountains. With the taxiway improvement, the airport will be able to handle 42 aircraft landings and takeoffs per hour — double the current capacity.&nbsp; The Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) has been trying to entice international airlines to also start flying to and from the other two international airports at Pokhara and Bhairawa (Lumbini) by slashing landing and handling charges. But so far only Nepal Airlines operates a weekly flight to Bhairawa from Kuala Lumpur.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20241018161016_046569e53d1d66cd445cc66c697c0ef724810aec9f54bdf827481e3cd6b80c32.jpg" data-media-id="editor_0" data-image-id="20241018161016_046569e53d1d66cd445cc66c697c0ef724810aec9f54bdf827481e3cd6b80c32" data-rendition-name="original" width="2356" height="1134" loading="lazy" alt="Kathmandu airport expansion"> <figcaption>Kathmandu Airport Expansion plan with extension of taxiways to the thresholds of runways 02 and 20 that will limit airport operations from 8 November 2024 - 31 March 2025. Areas in blue are existing structures, including the international terminal which in future will be the domestic airport, and the new international terminal near the north end of the runway,</figcaption> </figure>   <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20241018121028_6e17cc2ee87c1b02d78cb54905825b7aa15299b7a00f5eddb01a59579ab85c1a.jpg" data-media-id="editor_1" data-image-id="20241018121028_6e17cc2ee87c1b02d78cb54905825b7aa15299b7a00f5eddb01a59579ab85c1a" data-rendition-name="original" width="1353" height="1328" loading="lazy" alt="Kathmandu airport NT"> </figure>  CAAN has reportedly told international airlines to cut their flight frequency to Kathmandu citing the shorter operation hours and has told budget airlines to shift some of their flights to Pokhara or Bhairawa, or face cuts. Many airlines currently operate regular flights to and from Kathmandu between 10PM and 8AM: Air Arabia to Sharjah, Fly Dubai to Dubai, Jazeera Airways to Kuwait, Cathay Pacific to Hong Kong, Singapore Airlines, several Nepal Airlines flights, and one of four daily flights by Qatar Airways to Doha. Jazeera Airways, FlyDubai, and Thai AirAsia have applied and got permission from CAAN to begin regular flights to Bhairawa’s Gautam Buddha International Airport. Starting 9 November, FlyDubai will start making a stopover in Bhairawa before flying on to Kathmandu. Immigration, customs and security are all fully functional in Bhairawa. In Kathmandu, the next phase of the airport upgrade includes converting the current international terminal for domestic operations, the construction of a new international terminal where the domestic departure area is now, as well as moving the hangars and the Nepal Army Air Wing to the eastern side of the runway. The apron area will also double its parking space for widebody jets. This is part of a Airport Capacity Enhancement Project that was initially funded through a $80 million loan from the Asian Development Bank (ADB), and the entire masterplan is expected to cost $800 million. This project is the latest upgrade to Nepal’s only international airport since it saw its first flight in 1949. The current international and domestic terminals are too small to handle the current annual traffic volume of 8.5 million passengers a year that is growing at 20% a year.

Kathmandu airport to cut flight hours

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...”

High living below the Himalaya

When the United Nations held its Summit of the Future at its headquarters in New York in September, many world leaders, including Nepal’s Prime Minister K P Oli, highlighted the effect of climate breakdown in increasing the frequency and intensity of natural disasters. What did not get as much attention was the long term impact of the climate crisis on food production. In fact, heat stress, weather extremes and the consequences on rain-fed agriculture is already being felt worldwide, undermining the chances of the <a href="https://unstats.un.org/sdgs/">UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)</a> being met by 2030.&nbsp; The SDG’s 17 targets commit countries like Nepal to reduce poverty and inequality, end malnutrition, protect the natural environment, and ensure that citizens all enjoy health, justice and prosperity without leaving anyone behind.&nbsp; However, besides the impact of climate breakdown on agricultural production, in Nepal the area under cultivation is impacted by urban expansion, falling productivity and the need for expensive inputs like fertiliser and pesticides.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20241019041052_626413c5baf4dae407ac9579231b41daeb51510aa636b75aeb7489d94cca6a62.jpg" data-media-id="editor_1" data-image-id="20241019041052_626413c5baf4dae407ac9579231b41daeb51510aa636b75aeb7489d94cca6a62" data-rendition-name="original" width="999" height="1500" loading="lazy" alt="urban agriculture in Kathmandu"> <figcaption>Kathmandu's urban sprawl is eating into its fertile cultivable lands. Photo: TAYLOR MASON</figcaption> </figure>  Now, a new study led by Nepali researcher Prajal Pradhan at the University of Groningen in The Netherlands looks at how urban agriculture may offer a solution to falling food production and meeting SDG targets. The researchers evaluated 1,450 publications exploring the contributions of urban agriculture with both positive and negative effects, and published their findings in the journal Cells Report Sustainability. Urban agriculture can help achieve 17 SDGs, positively influencing 81 targets. However, it could also undermine 51 goals.&nbsp; Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/the-vanishing-land">The vanishing land</a>, Taylor Mason “Urban agriculture offers immense potential for sustainable development, but realising this potential depends crucially on adopting practices that minimise its adverse effects while maximising its benefits,” Pradhan explains. Urban agriculture can substantially enhance urban food security, provide employment to the urban poor, serve as ground water recharge in built-up areas, and preserve open spaces that can serve as safe havens during disasters like earthquakes. However, it also presents problems like the potential health risks from contamination and the need for expensive inputs. &nbsp; “Urban agriculture plays a definitive role in advancing the SDGs, but achieving this requires tailored, context-specific solutions that address the unique challenges of different regions,” says Yuanchao Hu of Wuhan University in China and who is a researcher at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research. “But it needs equitable access and rigorous management of environmental risks.”&nbsp; Rapid urbanisation is eating into Nepal’s most fertile agricultural land, which means farming in remaining open spaces inside cities can be a viable alternative, especially as food prices rise.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20241019041052_7b7c9413086226fbdc630d45acf772cfa1ced77a8970b9056ec5ec7e5226fdf8.jpg" data-media-id="editor_3" data-image-id="20241019041052_7b7c9413086226fbdc630d45acf772cfa1ced77a8970b9056ec5ec7e5226fdf8" data-rendition-name="original" width="1500" height="999" loading="lazy" alt="urban agriculture in Kathmandu"> <figcaption>A vegetable patch in between new houses in Thimi. Photo: TAYLOR MASON</figcaption> </figure>  “The conversion of Nepal’s most fertile land into cities is a severe problem,” Pradhan told Nepali Times. “Crop cultivation, horticulture, agroforestry, beekeeping, livestock rearing, or aquaculture can all be farming activities within and around cities.”&nbsp; The study makes recommendations for sustainable practices that build on the positive aspects of urban agriculture while mitigating the downsides, thereby promoting more resilient cities in future. Research shows that urban agriculture has been helping many countries attain SDG targets by enhancing food security and biodiversity while helping education and preservation of open spaces.&nbsp; Indeed, many farmers from the hinterland who have settled in Kathmandu Valley or other urban areas of the country have been practicing urban agriculture, leasing neighbourhood patches or cultivating roof gardens both out of necessity because of inflation and falling income to grow their own food, and also as a fulfilling hobby. Saurav Dhakal, a sustainability advocate with Story Cycle and now research fellow at the Asian Institute of Technology in Thailand, says there are socio-economic and environmental benefits of urban agriculture. “It provides benefits to all urban dwellers, regardless of their income status,” says Dhakal, “families get fresh food, and there are many other benefits like water retention, heat regulation and biodiversity. These are all public goods, so special government incentives may be needed.” It is not unusual to see vegetable patches and even paddy fields within inner city Kathmandu where an older generation of farmers are using available fertile land and <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/Nepali-Times-Buzz/rooftop-gardens-kathmandu,1415">roof gardens to produce fresh, nutritious food </a>to reduce their dependence on food items that have to be bought after being trucked in from large distances.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2024101905100_1291ce98dbbb8caed8702ac4b1d469b3e13016d7ecaaf3bfd5f91c974d3c0c77.jpg" data-media-id="editor_5" data-image-id="2024101905100_1291ce98dbbb8caed8702ac4b1d469b3e13016d7ecaaf3bfd5f91c974d3c0c77" data-rendition-name="original" width="1500" height="999" loading="lazy" alt="urban agriculture in Kathmandu"> <figcaption>An older generation of farmers are using any available fertile land to continue farming but it is getting more and more difficult. Photo: TAYLOR MASON </figcaption> </figure>  Nepal’s urban population grew rapidly from only 3.6% in 1991 to 25% today. There is large outmigration from the mountains to peri-urban areas of the Tarai, to Kathmandu Valley and Pokhara, with many young men then moving abroad for work. Kathmandu Valley’s population has swelled to nearly 3 million, and is growing at 6.5% a year. Dilip Shrestha, 71, used to work for Nepal Food Corporation, so he knew firsthand about inflation, shortages and vegetables with pesticide residue. So, when he designed his new house in Kathmandu, he built a spacious roof where he grows cucumber, ginger, garlic, coriander, onions, tomatoes, chili, beans, okra, pumpkin and lettuce. His family eats healthier, and he has reduced dependence on the market.&nbsp; The co-author of the Cell Reports Sustainability journal article, Daya Raj Subedi who is a PhD candidate at Beijing Forestry University, says urban agriculture also promotes inclusion and psycho-social wellbeing.&nbsp; He says, “A crucial finding of the study is the identification of opportunities and challenges associated with urban agriculture, it can promote sustainable transformation of society.” In Banepa, 55-year-old Bijaya Manandhar in her lifetime has watched the fertile farms of her neighbourhood that used to supply vegetables to Kathmandu, now completely built up with no open space left. The pandemic lockdown prompted her to turn to the family’s <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/rooftop-agriculture-on-the-roof-of-the-world">ancestral livelihood by growing food</a> not on terrace farms, but on the roof terrace. Manandhar is now a part of <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/rooftop-agriculture-on-the-roof-of-the-world%5C%5C">कौसी खेती र करेसाबारी क्रान्ती</a> (Rooftop Farming and Garden Revolution) which has an online membership of 52,000, and awards annual prizes to women who excel in urban agriculture.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20241019041052_7257f5def8f823f35a799fa6f6825e153f2ffa406ac11325d4fe74049b79e96d.jpg" data-media-id="editor_8" data-image-id="20241019041052_7257f5def8f823f35a799fa6f6825e153f2ffa406ac11325d4fe74049b79e96d" data-rendition-name="original" width="1600" height="736" loading="lazy" alt="urban agriculture in Kathmandu"> <figcaption>Rooftop farming is gaining popularity as a form of urban agriculture. </figcaption> </figure>   <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20241019041052_beff1a4494ce896dd8fd383ee1f518e5448bcf7ea8bb138255391c7bcb9769ed.jpg" data-media-id="editor_9" data-image-id="20241019041052_beff1a4494ce896dd8fd383ee1f518e5448bcf7ea8bb138255391c7bcb9769ed" data-rendition-name="original" width="4000" height="3000" loading="lazy" alt="urban agriculture in Kathmandu"> </figure>  Pradhan says the challenge now is to upscale such examples of successful urban agricultural practices so they support Neal’s efforts to meet SDG targets. He adds, “Crop cultivation around cities can be protected by land use plans and regulations. Promoting community-based agriculture, including rooftop gardens, requires community engagement and public-private partnerships across the food value chain.”&nbsp; Such support would accelerate the popularity of existing rooftop farming and community gardens in Kathmandu Valley, or kitchen garden initiatives in Pokhara, and building on traditional farming practices that are preserved and integrated into urban settings like in Bhaktapur and Banepa. In Lalitpur, the Women Entrepreneurship Facilitation Center promotes urban farming enhancing both sustainability and empowerment.&nbsp; Another co-author of the report, Yuanchao Hu from China says followup research of the team will aim to identify good practices in local urban agriculture practices. He adds, “There are examples of urban agriculture that optimise sustainability, ensuring that it remains a viable solution for cities globally while countries try to meet SDG targets.” Prajal Pradhan, Daya Raj Subedi, Kshitij Dahal, Yuanchao Hu, Prakriti Gurung, Sijal Pokharel, Sagar Kafle, Biplav Khatri, Sudeeksha Basyal, Monika Gurung, and Aruna Joshi. Urban Agriculture matters for sustainable development. Cell Reports Sustainability, 1:100217, 2024. [DOI: 10.1016/j.crsus.2024.100217] Prajal Pradhan (<a href="mailto:p.pradhan@rug.nl">p.pradhan@rug.nl</a>) 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_14" data-image-id="20240630110640_30c3782f9c09219bf1c249b51483a3cfb7a53a06d117d2aebd23ca7080d12758" data-rendition-name="original" width="680" height="103" loading="lazy" alt="SDG logo"> </figure>

Back to the land in the cities

The 700-year-old Lakshmi Narasingha temple in Bhaktapur houses a rare half-lion and half-human incarnation of Lord Vishnu carrying the Goddess Lakshmi. The temple was destroyed in the 1934 mega earthquake that killed 10,000 people and destroyed many monuments in Kathmandu Valley. It was rebuilt by a German project in the 1980s, but as a single-storey structure instead of its original two-tier pagoda design.&nbsp; With new findings from in-depth research, Bhaktapur municipality began re-restoring the temple in 2021, preserving its original architecture.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20241017131016_2fae38cce543ad7b1f6de632feb3e212e08ed1acedd747830e949d7b8e878f18.jpg" data-media-id="editor_0" data-image-id="20241017131016_2fae38cce543ad7b1f6de632feb3e212e08ed1acedd747830e949d7b8e878f18" data-rendition-name="original" width="2048" height="1365" loading="lazy" alt="In with the old in Nepal NT"> </figure>  “Our temples and heritage sites hold deep meaning. It is disheartening to witness how often they lose their original elements, whether by design or accident,” explains Kumar Chawal of the Consumer Committee of Bhaktapur. “There is a need to preserve our architecture and protect its historical value for future generations. Otherwise, we risk losing a vital part of our identity.” The Laksmi Narsingha restoration is similar to the Bhai Dega temple in Patan Darbar Square which also collapsed in 1934, but was rebuilt with a Moghul-style dome by the Rana government at the time. Only two months before the 2015 earthquake, heritage conservationists had started to rebuild Bhai Dega as the original three-tier based on early photographs. But priorities shifted when four other temples in the square were brought down by the 7.8M earthquake on 25 April 2015.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20241017131016_697ea707d9ad163be5de5f2efbf5b70d3cab771adcc22f0fae6bf937c6cb0130.jpg" data-media-id="editor_1" data-image-id="20241017131016_697ea707d9ad163be5de5f2efbf5b70d3cab771adcc22f0fae6bf937c6cb0130" data-rendition-name="original" width="2048" height="1365" loading="lazy" alt="In with the old in Nepal NT"> </figure>  This showed how damage to monuments in Kathmandu Valley spanned from one earthquake to the next. Bhai Dega restoration remains half-complete to this day because money for its restoration ran out.&nbsp; Whereas Bhai Dega restoration was done by the Kathmandu Valley Preservation Trust with grants from western embassies and international foundations, in Bhaktapur it is the municipality itself that allocated the Rs30.7 million needed to restore the Lakshmi Narasingha temple. The expected date of completion is early 2025. The municipality and local communities are focusing on two main aspects: preserving the past and promoting localisation. The restoration team has designed a blueprint for the temple by using historical photographs and insights from older generations.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20241017131016_182882fdc393c99e70d1d0490319e415229563666c4934e3a582426ebf00ca30.jpg" data-media-id="editor_2" data-image-id="20241017131016_182882fdc393c99e70d1d0490319e415229563666c4934e3a582426ebf00ca30" data-rendition-name="original" width="1200" height="560" loading="lazy" alt="In with the old in Nepal NT"> </figure>  “At first, the Lakshmi Narasingha temple had only one entrance, but during the demolition process, we uncovered the foundations of four doors. Now, we are restoring all of them. This is an example of how our ancient structures have changed over time, often without our knowledge,” says Chawal. “Constructing temples is not like building houses. They carry historical and spiritual values, which is why they hold a special place in our hearts,” he adds. By replicating ancient design elements and rebuilding the temple as accurately as possible to its original form, the team has stayed true to Bhaktapur’s soul. But the restoration also revived ancient techniques that were in danger of being forgotten, generating employment for woodcarvers, masons, and contractors. The community of Bhaktapur’s Gahiti neighbourhood near the famous Nyatapola Temple has also set aside specific days for locals to volunteer in the reconstruction work. This has encouraged young people to take pride in ownership of their heritage. Families have also supported the effort by donating funds for bells, the temple pinnacle, and other structural features to the temple.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20241017131016_db850ec0c084cdbe54f65bee92dad2ad8122d20fd60ec87ec086fbb9d2f72bd6.jpg" data-media-id="editor_3" data-image-id="20241017131016_db850ec0c084cdbe54f65bee92dad2ad8122d20fd60ec87ec086fbb9d2f72bd6" data-rendition-name="original" width="2048" height="1365" loading="lazy" alt="In with the old in Nepal NT"> </figure>  “I feel at peace knowing I have contributed my sweat to restoring this temple,” said one volunteer. “It is our duty to preserve our temples and heritage. The Nyatapola area will look magical once this temple is completed.” Community mobilisation is a long-standing tradition in Bhaktapur. In the past, locals have actively participated in the restoration of other temples in the city, such as Bhairav and Nyatapola fostering a strong sense of ownership. This collective engagement has not only been crucial in preserving the city's historical monuments but also in strengthening the bond between local communities and their heritage, says officials at the municipality. While securing funding is essential, and the municipality showed it values heritage conservation, the Lakshmi Narasingha restoration is proof that active involvement and sense of responsibility of the local community is as important, if not more. Local involvement also means that the monuments will be cared for into the future, When locals take ownership of these efforts, the restored monuments are not only protected in the present but are also cared for in the future.