original

674x448

610x380

500x500

400x266

400x240

400x203

301x200

1250x600

1084x550

Hiding their head in the sand

<figure><img width="1000" height="666" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022111410114/6372052b9c7e80680e0b28a0jpeg.jpg" alt=""/><figcaption>Photo: SHAURYA CEMENTS</figcaption></figure>Nepal’s economic planners are proud of the fact that Nepal is now self-sufficient in cement. Indeed, domestic production has expanded greatly to meet <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/A-concrete-future,2251" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">demand that has sky-rocketed since the 2015 earthquake</a>.The boom is seen in any drive along Nepal’s highways — the wall of every other house is painted in glaring signs of various cement companies. Nepal’s cement market is so lucrative that two Chinese joint venture companies <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/going-is-tough-for-chinese-investor-in-nepal/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Hongshi and Huaxin are among the biggest in the sector</a>.As recently as 45 years ago there was only one cement factory, Himal Cement on the outskirts of Kathmandu. There are now some 72 plants operating across Nepal that can produce 15 million tonnes of cement a year.Together, 21 of these factories with mining capacity extract 12 million tonnes of limestone from 46 quarries in the country. There is so much <a style="letter-spacing: 0.01em;" href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=6674" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">limestone in these mountains</a> that geologists estimate there is enough to sustain cement production in Nepal for another 100 years at least.However, Nepal’s cement boom is coming at enormous environmental and social cost. Investors and shareholders have gotten richer while the land and people poorer. Unregulated quarrying, lack of safeguards, and overexploitation have led to <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/weve-seen-fire-and-weve-seen-rain/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">worsening floods and landslides</a>, as well as air, water and soil pollution. <figure><img width="1077" height="600" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022111410114/6372052e9c7e80680e0b28a1jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>50 years ago a Panchayat-era minister proudly said that Nepal needed more smoke stacks to develop. Today, Dhruvaraj Thapa of the Nepal Cement Manufacturers' Association echoes the same mindset.“We cannot overlook the benefits, including employment opportunities, provided by the cement industry,” says Thapa. “We will limit our possibilities if we constantly bring up environmental protection.”The government would like to think that the cement industry is helping the economy boom and earn revenue. While it is true that domestic production has reduced the need to import, what local and national governments get in terms of royalty fee is small change compared to the enormous environmental cost. Nepal’s cement companies pay only Rs60 for each tonne of limestone in royalty fee compared to Rs140 across the border in India. Yet the market price of cement is twice as high in Nepal as in India.In the past eight years, the government has collected only Rs2.84 billion in royalty from cement industries. On the other hand, the yearly turnover from the industry, says Thapa, amounts to Rs150 billion.For example, Sarbottam Cement extracted 371,000 tonnes of limestone from its quarry in Palpa district in the fiscal year 2019/2020. The company earned a profit of Rs1.17 billion, but paid royalty worth only Rs20.2 million — a mere 1.9% of its earnings.Similarly, Shivam Cement distributed Rs1.4 billion (24% of its total profit) to shareholders in the fiscal year 2020/2021, but the company paid just Rs26 million in royalty to the government.At the Department of Mines and Geology, director general Ram Prasad Ghimire advocates raising the fee for limestone extraction from quarries to a more realistic level, taking into account the environmental cost. Thapa at the Cement Manufacturers' Association counters, saying this could only make cement costlier for builders.   <figure><img width="1077" height="315" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022111410114/637205319c7e80680e0b28a2jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>Nepal’s annual per capita cement consumption is 303kg, which is higher than India (195kg), but much less than China (1,716kg) and even Bhutan (734kg). At the present rate of growth spurred by infrastructure projects and housing, domestic cement demand could reach 25.8 million tonnes by 2025.  This means an unsupervised cement industry would end up not just affecting ground water, disturb fragile mountain slopes to trigger landslides, but also increase Nepal’s carbon footprint at a time when the country has <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/post-cop26-nepals-real-work-now-begins/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">committed to net-zero emissions by 2050</a>.Environmental impact is not just something that concerns city-based activists or non-governmental organisations. Mahendra Pandey, a local in Dobhan of Palpa, knows all too well what having a cement quarry in the neighbourhood can do to agriculture.“Everyone talks about the benefits of the cement industry, but no one cares about how it affects us farmers here,” says Pandey, who has to deal with the impact on groundwater supply, soil and air pollution from the nearby Sarbottam Cement plant. “The government is no help, it does not care about what the people here on the ground face.”It is not that the government is unaware. All new cement factories have to complete an environmental impact assessment (EIA), but this can be easily circumvented, while report after report submitted to the government have been warning about the need for harm reduction in the cement industry. In a <a href="https://www.nrb.org.np/contents/uploads/2021/05/2078.01.25-Final-Draft-of-Cement.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">2021 survey</a> conducted by Nepal Rastra Bank, 92% of respondents said that cement industries caused air, water, noise and soil pollution in their communities, severely impacting their livelihoods.But in a country where an overwhelmingly high number of mayors and ward chairs are <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/from-nepali-press/Elected-contractors,4182" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">contractors</a>, and big companies have political protection, awareness is insufficient for corrective action. <figure><img width="1200" height="700" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022111410114/637205339c7e80680e0b28a3jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>It took two decades of <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=11399" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">relentless activism for the government to close down Himal Cement Factory</a> in Chobhar which had affected the health of Kathmandu Valley’s population. But that was because it was the capital.Since then, the government has allowed two private cement factories to operate in Dhading’s Naubise which is situated in a narrow Valley that traps suspended particles.Locals living near mining sites in Palpa and Dang have long opposed the operation of cement factories in the districts due to increased pollution in the region. Residents in Makwanpur have also held protests against the limestone mines operated by Shivam Cement, citing environmental pollution.In fact, not even World Heritage Sites like Lumbini are protected: there are now a dozen cement factories within the 10km-radius from the birthplace of the Buddha.  Just last week, the Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) filed a case against nine cement companies, their operators as well as officials of the Department of Mines and Geology. They have been accused of exploiting more limestone than permitted without considering the environmental consequences and for evading royalty fees.There is no government monitoring on place to check the amount of limestone being extracted. The royalties are determined based on the documents submitted by the companies themselves. As such, there is every possibility that more limestone is being extracted than permitted.Cement factories transporting limestone and raw materials from quarry to factory have also destroyed road surfaces in many parts of the country. Ironically, an industry that is supposed to be the backbone of infrastructure is ending up destroying infrastructure.In a <a href="https://www.karmaquest.org/journal/index.php/ILGDI/article/view/85/59" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">research article</a> on waste management of limestone quarrying in Nepal published in the Journal of Development Innovations in July 2021, authors Birendra Sapkota and Kumar Khadka directly link soil erosion to poor management and monitoring of Nepal’s limestone mines and harmful excavation practices.Shivam Hongshi, one of the largest cement companies in Nepal, obtained the EIA approval in 2017 after the project was already half-completed. Huaxin Cement Industry was up and running in 2019 without EIA approval, concerns over which were even raised in Parliament. Moreover, in May 2021, the Ministry of Forests and Environment made amendments to the Environmental Protection Regulations 2020 such that development projects will now be allowed to use up to 25 hectares of forest land after conducting only a preliminary environmental assessment. Previously, an EIA was mandatory for all projects requiring more than five hectares.  <figure><img width="1200" height="700" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022111410114/637205379c7e80680e0b28a4jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>Read also:  <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/drawing-a-line-in-the-sand/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Drawing a line in sand</a>, Bhrikuti Rai <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/drowning-in-sorrow/">Drowning in Sorrow</a>, Mukesh Pokhrel Meanwhile, even as Nepalis living and working in proximity to mining sites and cement industries bear the brunt of resulting environmental and health crises, they receive few financial benefits. Ghimire of the Department of Mines says that the government has not yet tried to ensure that the benefits of the industry are more equitably distributed, as is the case with investments in hydroelectric schemes. “Stone, gravel and sand mining are controlled by a select few Nepali companies who reap the financial benefits while the locals incur damages to their livelihoods and the environment,” says former finance secretary Rameshore Khanal. Indeed, the excavation and sale of aggregates, boulders and sand from riverbeds have become so lucrative that local governments depend on them for revenue for development work. An estimated Rs100 billion worth of riverine products are traded annually in Nepal, with at least 600 ‘crusher’ industries converting them to raw materials for infrastructure. Meanwhile, the contribution to local governments is negligible compared to the huge profits made by the contractors who usually have local political leaders as partners or in their payroll.  Nepal’s <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/who-now-owns-nepals-forests/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">community forestry</a> program is internationally acclaimed, and it doubled the country’s tree cover in 25 years to nearly 45%. This is mainly because the responsibility of <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/mini-forests-to-make-kathmandu-more-liveable/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">forest management</a> was handed over to local consumer groups which have expanded to over 22,000 all over the country.  At <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/copout-at-cop26/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">COP26 in Glasgow</a>, Nepal pledged to increase its <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/nepal-can-up-forest-cover-to-45-by-2030/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">forest cover to 45%</a> of land area. But the overexploitation of natural resources, such as the government-owned forest areas and vacant lands for infrastructure, with hotels, cable car ventures, hydropower plants, haphazard housing colonies now threaten these gains.   Economist Pushkar Bajracharya is studying how benefits of natural resource exploitation accrues to Nepalis. He says: "When natural resources are managed in a way that benefits the people, it can reduce poverty and increase income." But Nepal clearly has not found that balance as it hurtles headlong down an unsustainable growth path. Translated from the <a href="https://www.himalkhabar.com/news/127559" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Nepali original</a> in the December 2021-January 2022 issue of Himal Khabarpatrika.

Nepal struggles to balance nature and industry

<figure><img width="1300" height="745" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108131144/636a4f839c7e80680e04fd0fjpeg.jpg" alt=""/><figcaption>REMOTE SENSING: A NASA satellite image of Nepal taken in 2002 at the height of the conflict shows extent of green cover.</figcaption></figure>The advent of peace in four countries that experienced wars hasn’t been kind to the environment, with a new study showing greater rates of deforestation during peacetime than during conflict.The paper, published in the journal Land Use Policy, shows how Nepal, Sri Lanka, Peru and Ivory Coast experienced ‘alarming forest loss’ in the years immediately after the end of their wars. The study analysed satellite forest-cover data to show that even though the <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=17226#.XTBFK_IzaUk" target="_blank" rel="noopener">deforestation</a> rates were not as high in Nepal as in the other three countries, there were higher levels of erosion, <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/flood-of-recrimination/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">flooding</a> and landslides after the war ended in 2006.“Rates of deforestation in war zones show a dramatic increase once peace is declared, and except for Nepal, it is significantly high for the other three countries we studied,” said coauthor Nelson Grima of the <a href="https://www.uvm.edu/rsenr" target="_blank" rel="noopener">University of the Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources</a> in the US.Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/who-now-owns-nepals-forests/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Who now owns Nepal's forests?</a>, Sonia Awale<a style="background-color: #ffffff; font-size: 15px; letter-spacing: 0.01em;" href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=12526#.XTBIHfIzaUk" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Conflict vs conservation</a>, Sophia TamotThe nature and duration of the conflict in each country differed, from two brief civil wars fought between 2002 and 2011 in Ivory Coast, to two simultaneous conflicts in the north and south of Sri Lanka that lasted 25 years. In Nepal and Peru, <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=10616#.XTBHzfIzaUk" target="_blank" rel="noopener">communist uprisings ran for 10</a> and 30 years respectively.What the four countries do share, however, is loss of forest cover. The average rate of <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=19811#.XTBExPIzaUk" target="_blank" rel="noopener">deforestation</a> in the five years after the end of the respective conflicts was 68% higher than in the last five years of the conflicts, according to the study. The data, based on analysis of Landsat satellite imagery, gave the global average rate of increase in deforestation as 7.2%.“We don’t want people to think we support armed violence in any way. But our findings show that when the fighting stops, a number of factors lead to an increased rate of deforestation,” said Simron Singh, co-author and a researcher at the University of Waterloo, Canada.Read also:<a style="background-color: #ffffff; font-size: 15px; letter-spacing: 0.01em;" href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/act-globally-think-locally/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Act globally, think locally</a>, Editorial<a style="background-color: #ffffff; font-size: 15px; letter-spacing: 0.01em;" href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/weather-warning-for-climate-meeting/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Weather warning for climate meeting</a>, Sonia Awale <figure><img width="1304" height="781" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108131144/636a4f869c7e80680e04fd10jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>Forests are used as cover for guerrilla warfare, and as such, they become danger zones that few people are likely to enter. This often means the forests are less likely to be logged or hunted in. Once the fighting ends, the forests are no longer seen as dangerous.Often post-war reconstruction demand resources, and forests offer the raw material to help rebuild an economy and society. The period is usually marked by political instability and weak policy implementation, allowing rampant <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/naturally-nepal/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">exploitation of natural resources</a>.The researchers say the negative effects are derived from a mixture of reduction or suspension of conservation activities due to security concerns and diversion of international aid resources to peacekeeping. But they also note positive effects, such as release of pressure on ecosystems and on natural resources due to settlement changes, creation of buffer zones, and reduction or suppression of certain economic activities.For Sri Lanka, which boasts the highest biodiversity density in Asia and high endemism, the post-war forest cover loss has been dramatic. Nepal's showcase <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/who-now-owns-nepals-forests/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">success with community forestry</a> saw a gain in canopy cover in the mountains, but <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/east-west-city/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">pressure on forests increased in the Tarai plains</a> where 52% of the population lives.Nepal saw 33% post-war <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/page/crushing-tale-of-Chure" target="_blank" rel="noopener">deforestation</a> and Sri Lanka 32%, although the respective duration of the conflicts was 10 years and 26 years. There were also similarities in the problems experienced in the two countries: higher levels of erosion, flooding, landslides and other natural disasters post-war, due to increased deforestation.Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/fixing-what-aint-broke/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Fixing what ain't broke</a>, Editorial“The issues for all surveyed countries are similar: corruption at different scales, lack of funding for the entities in charge of forest and environmental management, inadequate policies and their poor implementation,” Grima said.Peru’s conflict ran for more than 30 years, with the rate of deforestation in the five years after the end of major fighting in 2011 up 58% from the five years before. Ivory Coast’s post-war deforestation rate was 82% higher than in the last five years of conflict.For all four countries, Grima said the solution is community-based forest management to get around the limitations of the central government.The study concludes that former war zones need support for ecosystem services, which in turn could reduce the probability of areas becoming the focus of future conflict.This article originally appeared in <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2019/07/casualty-of-peace-study-shows-rise-in-deforestation-after-conflicts/?n3wsletter" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Mongabay</a>.

The cost of peace in post-conflict countries: forest cover

<figure><img width="1500" height="1617" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108101148/636a26539c7e80680e043a0cjpeg.jpg" alt=""/><figcaption>Illustration: BHANU BHATTARAI</figcaption></figure>Nepal’s Constitutional Council recently recommended candidates to chair a number of constitutional bodies. This week, Parliamentary hearings will commence for the confirmation of each these candidates, and subsequent appointment by the President.  Perhaps the most pivotal of these constitutional bodies for federalism’s survival and success is the <a href="https://www.nnrfc.gov.np/acting-secretary" target="_blank" rel="noopener">National Natural Resources and Fiscal Commission</a> (NNRFC) as it will serve as the constitutionally-mandated authority (under Section 26) forsetting guidelines for federal fiscal transfer to subnational governments, and developing formulas for distributing <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/who-now-owns-nepals-forests/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">natural resource</a> royalties, among others. NNRFC’s ability to deliver on its constitutional mandate will critically depend on the quality of data and evidence-based decision making. Globally, governments are increasingly employing evidence-based policymaking, data science, and analytics to solve policy challenges. Data analytics can help understand, simplify, and predict trends to improve public policy. The NNRFC is strategically positioned to adopt and deliver a risk-tested, contextual, and adaptable template of data and evidence-based policymaking that other Nepali government entities can benefit from in delivering public goods and services.Uniform policies will not suit Nepal’s diversity which is why the NNFRC will have to deliver a nuanced and context-specific model of allocation decisions. Evidence-driven analytics will enable NNRFC to contextualise and adopt existing fiscal <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/federalisms-birth-pangs-or-death-rattle/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">federalism</a> into an implementable inter-governmental architecture. NNRFC’s role naturally transcends the remedying of fiscal and horizontal imbalances across the three types of government, and extends to analysing related issues of <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/regular-columns/guest-editorial/function-without-finance-federalism-debate,954" target="_blank" rel="noopener">fiscal federalisation</a> such as potential intergovernmental spillovers, fiscal mobility, and fiscal discipline. These tasks will need a new domain of data and accompanying analytical capability which will authorise a detailed examination of existing reality to ensure that the recommendations are not just implementable but will in fact produce the desired results for each of <a href="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://www.nepalitimes.com/article/Nation/trial-error-democracy,3713&amp;sa=U&amp;ved=0ahUKEwiig9C7hbjgAhUHLo8KHYDqDA8QFggNMAM&amp;client=internal-uds-cse&amp;cx=011870630917993763279:opm7uqsat-4&amp;usg=AOvVaw1XmF1U33saMWVLLxJBMs8a" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Nepal’s 761 governments</a>.Researchers have argued that public sector reform will germinate and sustain only in a space characterised by acceptance of reform by the political and bureaucratic order, an authority who champions the reform, and technical ability to absorb the reform. The NNRFC is uniquely positioned to serve as such a reform space if its broad acceptance as a mission-critical commission and the reputation of its candidate for chairperson are built upon to drive the technical ability for data and evidence-based analytics.The magnitude of data requirement for NNRFC is unprecedented and the deficiency of such data compels the Commission to be not just a user, but also a producer of data. As a strategically-positioned adopter and champion of evidence-based policymaking in federal Nepal, the NNRFC will most likely face challenges as well as risks associated with testing new practices/technology. The lack of reliable data coupled with generally low levels of research and analytical literacy in government entities are major constraints in effective data-driven policy making. For example, accessing revenue and expenditure data at all levels of the government is a tremendous challenge. The secretariat of the NNRFC currently gets development data from line ministries for financial data and the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS), but they are hard pressed to provide the data. Thus, in light of NNRFC’s constitutional mandate to determine the distribution of revenues between the federal, state and local governments, a new domain of data is needed.  Another data challenge in Nepal is the presence of diverse data related initiatives, which are not inter-linked, triangulated and tested for internal and external validity. Government entities that own and use data remain isolated, for the most part, with weak inter-governmental data linkages. The NNRFC has a constitutionally-grounded basis for championing inter-governmental data consolidation and facilitating data linkages among ministries and departments across federal, provincial, and local governments. A consolidation initiative of this sort is overdue, since many subnational governments are exploring and even embarking on data-related initiatives that are unrelated and potentially incoherent for whole of government. Finally, the challenge of data requisitioning in government can be addressed to a great extent by a constitutional body such as the NNRFC, if the appropriate rules and regulations are enacted and practiced. India’s Finance Commission functions as a quasi-judicial body and has the powers of civil court for summoning and enforcing attendance as well as requisitioning any public record from any court or office. The long wait for the appointment of the NNRFC chairperson will soon be over. More importantly, this appointment should drive the NNRFC’s delivery of a constitutionally-grounded framework for fiscal transfers and royalty distribution that uses evidence generated by data science and analytics. The moment is here to support the NNRFC as a reform space that is strategically positioned to champion a risk-tested, contextual, and implementable model of data and evidence-based policymaking in Nepal.Yanki Ukyab and George Varughese are associated with Niti Foundation.

Nepal’s new National Natural Resources and Fiscal Commission

<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108101128/636a218d9c7e80680e041748jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1400" height="1052"/><figcaption>Photo: KUNDA DIXIT</figcaption></figure>After degraded forests were leased out to local communities to protect and manage 40 years ago, <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=7116#.XC7zVFUzaUk" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Nepal’s community forestry program</a> has won international praise for restoring the country’s tree cover.Barren hillsides have been replaced by thick forests, wildlife has returned, and farmers have prospered because of ample fuelwood and fodder. The 2015 Forest Resource Assessment showed that Nepal’s canopy cover increased from 29% in the 1990s to 45%, representing more than 1 billion tons of carbon stock.Although depopulation of rural Nepal due to migration played a part in reducing the pressure on forests, much of the credit goes to the 22,000 or more Community Forest User Groups across the country.“Community forestry under the 1993 Forest Act was an exemplary participatory model and a highly democratic exercise that gave villagers a clear mandate to protect, manage and utilise their forests,” says Bharat Gotame of WWF Nepal. “This gave local communities a sense of ownership, and they put in a lot of effort to protect and expand Nepal’s forest cover.”Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/?p=19200&amp;preview=true" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Fixing what ain't broke</a>, Editorial<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/?p=19252&amp;preview=true" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Nepal's silent emergency: springs going dry</a>, Ajay DixitNow, as the trees mature into commercially valuable timber, the emphasis has shifted from forest protection to its management. The question is: who should manage the forests in Nepal’s federal structure?<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108101128/636a21909c7e80680e041749jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="2544" height="1222"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>Some forestry experts believe not enough was done to train local communities in the scientific management of trees to prevent degradation and fires, and picking suitable tree species.“We focused solely on preservation, and as a result forest coverage increased without contributing to the economy,” says Krishna Acharya, joint secretary at the Ministry of Forests and Environment. “Our next step should be to see how natural resources can yield economic benefit for local communities.”However, environmentalists argue that nature should be protected for its own sake, and to look for narrow economic returns from conservation is myopic. If the contribution of new growth forests to eco-system services for water supply, tourism and as a carbon sink are calculated, they say the economic contribution of Nepal’s community forestry is vast.Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/municipalities-want-to-manage-annapurna/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Municipalities want to manage Annapurna</a>, Yuvaraj Shrestha<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/?p=19229&amp;preview=true" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Hiking up the benefits of tourism</a>, Sangmin KimThey also add that forest management works well in countries with greater transparency. Given the level of corruption in Nepal, especially after many <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/from-nepali-press/Elected-contractors,4182" target="_blank" rel="noopener">contractors got themselves elected</a> mayors, rural municipalities have been exploiting natural resources. Allowing community forests to be ‘managed’ would destroy the forests.The 2015 Constitution placed national forests under the authority of the provincial governments, but it also listed national forests as the common right of federal, provincial and local governments. Then the Local Government Operation Act of 2017 provided rural municipalities the right to protect, use, manage, monitor, regulate as well as formulate and implement laws. These contradictory provisions have created confusion about who now owns forests.To make matters worse, the recently drafted Forest Bill curtails the rights of Community Forest User Groups, the very elected local committees that were responsible for protecting the forests under the 1993 Forest Act.For example, the new bill purposes that local user groups cannot sell extra forest products without permission of the government, unlike in the past when they could independently fix prices, sell timber and other products from their protected forests.“Greater accountability at the local level helped us save the forests, but the new bill attempts to undermine that very foundation of our success,” says Bharati Pathak, chair of the Federation of Community Forestry Users Nepal (FECOFUN). She warns that the bill will result in widespread deforestation, with negative impact on the environment, biodiversity, tourism and local livelihoods.Community forests have been threatened ever since local and provincial elections last year. Many contractors, loggers and quarry owners got themselves elected to local councils, and cases of poaching, <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=17226#.XC7zVlUzaUk" target="_blank" rel="noopener">illegal logging</a> and encroachment into community forests have shot up.Back in Singha Darbar, joint secretary Krishna Acharya says forests will actually thrive under federalism because elected governments will be closer to community forests, and thus have better oversight over its protection.In theory, that makes sense. But activists argue that stricter laws have never translated into conservation. Federalism has decentralised corruption, and the forests do not stand a chance.The reason Nepal’s community forestry program worked was because of local user committees. Transferring ownership and management to municipal or provincial councils, or interference from Kathmandu, will invite corruption and destruction of forests.Activists say such confusion over jurisdiction could wreck Nepal’s achievements in community-based forest conservation, and add that some things ought to be left alone.“Whoever ends up managing the forests, the functional modality of the community forestry program that transcended political and administrative boundaries should not be dismantled,” states the former Director General of the Department of Forests, Bijaya Paudel. “If we do, all our efforts and investment will come to naught, and the very thing we take pride in, our green forests, will be lost once again.”Paudel recommends that the government include local communities for consultation in decision making, because without user groups there will be no preservation, let alone sustainable management for economic benefits.The advice of the WWF’s Bharat Gotame is similar: “Give credit to local people for the protection of forests for the last four decades, and build on that with better management and ensure communities are accountable.”Read also: <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/editorial/climate-climax,3651" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Climate climax</a>, Editorial<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/climate-for-change/the-great-himalayan-thaw/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The great Himalayan thaw</a>, Ajay Dixit

Sonia Awale

Who now owns Nepal's forests?

<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108101128/636a21969c7e80680e04174ajpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1400" height="280"/><figcaption>DRYING UP: Toni Hagen's famous panorama of Pokhara taken in 1955, and last week from near the same spot at Pokhara airport (below). Snow cover on Machapuchre and the Annapurnas are dramatically depleted. Photo: TONI HAGEN</figcaption></figure><figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108101128/636a21979c7e80680e04174bjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1400" height="1050"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>On a recent domestic flight to western Nepal, our ATR-72 broke through the thick smog at about 3,000m after takeoff from Kathmandu. The ocean of grey-brown pollution blanketed the Tarai , and stretched right across to the southern horizon. Out of the right-hand window, the Annapurnas rose above the carpet of smog, with Mt Machapuchre appearing like a black pyramid devoid of snow.Even though it is nearly 7,000m high, and in the height of winter, Mt Machapuchre’s snow has melted away. The Himalaya has seen unprecedented melting due to rising average global temperatures, and soot particles from pollution that reduces the reflective power of the snow.Climate change has also brought changes in weather patterns. On this trip to Bajhang, I was told winter rain and snow have been deficient for ten years in a row. Snow, when it does fall in the higher mountain settlements, is only ankle deep, and is already leading to seasonal water shortages. Rainfall comes in bursts, is erratic, and the steady, relentless rain of the past is a fading memory. Natural ecosystems and biodiversity, water resources, and agriculture have been heavily impacted.Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/?p=19200&amp;preview=true" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Fixing what ain't broke</a>, Editorial<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/?p=19245&amp;preview=true" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Who now owns Nepal's forests?</a>, Sonia AwaleOngoing land-use changes brought by demographic shifts as well as haphazard excavation of the mountains for roads and other infrastructure have taken their toll. Across Nepal spring sources are depleting. Of the 1,115 springs investigated in Tanahun district, 63% had reduced flow by an average of 21% between 2004-2014. A preliminary analysis of 693 springs over ten districts of the Far West showed 187 had their average discharge decline by 60% between 2013-2016.Linking spring depletion to changing rainfall patterns and climate change is difficult because of inadequate rainfall measuring stations in Nepal and the lack of focused scientific studies. Nepal needs at least 1,400 rain gauges all over the country to provide accurate rainfall data, we have little over 500. But lack of data does not mean there is no impact -- water scarcity is forcing hill families to abandon their homes.As this crisis unfolds in the Himalaya, 6,000km away in Katowice of Poland last month leaders and scientists from 196 countries agreed on guidelines, known as the ‘Paris Rulebook’, to begin operationalising the 2015 Paris Agreement on climate change. The Rulebook lays out methods for how countries can develop and communicate their plans to reduce carbon emissions, how they adapt, track finance they provide and receive for climate action, and how they can review progress and set targets.Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/municipalities-want-to-manage-annapurna/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Municipalities want to manage Annapurna</a>, Yuvaraj Shrestha<a style="background-color: #ffffff; font-size: 15px; letter-spacing: 0.01em;" href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/?p=19229&amp;preview=true" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Hiking up the benefits of tourism</a>, Sangmin KimClimate politics is hard, driven primarily by the current US administration’s decision to exit from the Paris Agreement. The final declaration in Katowice did not welcome the IPCC’s Special Report on 1.50 which had concluded that warming beyond 1.50 Celsius in the next 30 years could bring catastrophic and irreversible change to life on the planet.The Rulebook also specifies which gas to measure, which methodology to use and the kind of information required in a country’s report to be submitted to the UN climate body every two years. It did not, unfortunately, raise collective ambitions, and as emission reduction pledges currently stand, average global temperatures will probably rise by 2 degree Celsius by 2050.For its part, Nepal lacks the foundation to translate the Paris Rulebook to action. Creating these mechanisms could demonstrate the country’s collective climate ambition, but judging from our past, we are likely to provide only lip service. Nepal’s elected leadership shows little interest in creating a scientific base for improved understanding of local climatic and natural dynamics, which is key to adapting to the changing climate.Read also: <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/editorial/climate-climax,3651" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Climate climax</a>, Editorial<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/climate-for-change/the-great-himalayan-thaw/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The great Himalayan thaw</a>, Ajay DixitOur current preoccupation is to excavate hill slopes with non-engineered roads as the harbingers of progress. Roads do improve connectivity and mobility, but without a well thought through strategy supported by robust safeguards in our geologically fragile landscape, upkeep as well as social and environmental costs will simply keep rising.In 2016, Nepal imported 8,328 excavators, bulldozers, cranes and trucks. The number jumped to 12,712 in 2017. During this same period, diesel imports increased 1.4 times. Nepal’s emissions of greenhouse gases maybe small, but its annual growth rate is already the highest in South Asia. Despite official rhetoric of a green economy, Nepal is turning brown.The link between the Paris Rulebook and the snowless Machapuchre massif is closer than we think. But just as devastating is the silent emergency of our springs going dry. Given the entrenched interests dominating global climate politics, it is hard to envision dramatic systemic shifts needed to keep the destruction of global climate in check.Yet, the Rulebook is the first step on a new global journey to implement the Paris Agreement and avert the catastrophe of a more than 2 degree warming by 2050. We must increase our collective ambitions, and turn back the curve of global carbon emissions by 2030.Ajaya Dixit is Executive Director of Kathmandu based ISET-Nepal. His monthly column Climate for Change in Nepali Times deals with the impact of global warming in Nepal.Read also:<a style="background-color: #ffffff; font-size: 15px; letter-spacing: 0.01em;" href="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://archive.nepalitimes.com/page/Recharging-the-mountains-kavre&amp;sa=U&amp;ved=0ahUKEwirn7nxt9PfAhUmTI8KHRLgD5IQFggEMAA&amp;client=internal-uds-cse&amp;cx=011870630917993763279:opm7uqsat-4&amp;usg=AOvVaw0rf46SIax25966utcPt0zy" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Recharging the mountains</a>, Sonia Awale<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/on-thin-ice-in-the-khumbu/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">On thin ice in the Khumbu</a>, Kunda Dixit <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/melting-mountains-shake,3073" target="_blank" rel="noopener">When melting mountains shake</a>, Kunda Dixit

Nepal's silent emergency: springs going dry

mainNavigation

footerNavigation