The Nepal government is all set to launch a Rs25 billion project to build a dam inside Shivapuri National Park to flush the Bagmati, wash away its waste and stanch its stench as it flows through Kathmandu. However, critics say it is an extravagant undertaking that carries financial, seismic and environmental risks, and that the Bagmati can be more effectively cleaned with a sewage network, water treatment plant and better <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/where-to-take-a-dump">urban solid waste management</a>. &nbsp; The Department of Water Resources and Irrigation is planning to build the 95m high dam on the Nagmati stream to also augment Kathmandu Valley’s drinking water supply and generate some electricity. The scheme is an extension of a project funded by the Asian Development Bank (ADB).&nbsp; Engineer Nishchal Chhatkuli of the ADB-supported <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/kathmandu-gets-first-pump-track">Bagmati River Basin Improvement Project </a>says the environmental impact assessment is awaiting approval and clearing trees and construction of an access road will begin soon. The project is expected to be completed by 2032 by when the reservoir will be capable of storing 9.4 billion litres of monsoon runoff and releasing 450 l/s into the Bagmati River as it starts to flow through Kathmandu 18km downstream.&nbsp; The primary purpose of the dam is said to be to flush out the polluted Bagmati River, although some of the water will also be added to the mains connected to the Melamchi tunnel, as well as generate 1.86MW of electricity.&nbsp; The Project started in 2013 to improve Kathmandu’s river system under which another 24m high dam has already been built at Dhap, upstream from the proposed dam.&nbsp; But the Dhap reservoir was deemed to have insufficient storage to flush the Bagmati all year round, and the ADB supported a detailed feasibility study completed by an Australian company in 2017 that endorsed a<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/kathmandu-creeps-up-surrounding-mountains"> higher dam downstream </a>near Mulkharka, 3km above the confluence of the Nagmati and Bagmati.&nbsp; “Since water cannot be brought from elsewhere, stored rainwater drained from this lake is the only way to deliver it to Bagmati during winter and take the river back to how it was three decades ago,” Chhatkuli explains.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2024020301024_c7f7c1a0165e10d96afa0244389de367da0c24c99b5e864a9a275e455ecf20cc.png" data-media-id="editor_3" data-image-id="2024020301024_c7f7c1a0165e10d96afa0244389de367da0c24c99b5e864a9a275e455ecf20cc" data-rendition-name="original" width="761" height="403" loading="lazy" alt="Nagmati NT"> <figcaption>Shivapuri-Nagarjun National Park showing Dhap Dam and the proposed Nagmati Reservoir.</figcaption> </figure>  The dam construction itself will cost Rs19 billion, and additional money will be spent on protecting the watershed, construction of the power house, drinking water use and building tourism facilities. &nbsp; Although the Nagmati project’s stated aim is to protect the river basin, critics say it will come at significant <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/editorial/development-destruction-yt3t1yhu?amp=1">ecological cost</a> to the national park. The environment impact assessment itself says more than 80,000 trees will have to be cut, and the access road will add to human disturbance in the wilderness area.&nbsp; ‘Permanent effects of the project include loss of local biodiversity, destruction of wildlife habitat, and construction activities that will alter local topography, increase soil erosion, and increase turbidity in the river,’ the report states.&nbsp; Nature activist Shrawan Sharma argues that impounding a reservoir of this size will harm the already fragile ecosystem of the <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/frozen-shivapuri">Shivapuri- Nagarjun National Park</a> and the Bagmati watershed.&nbsp; The current government policy is to replace every tree cut with 10 saplings, which would mean that 800,000 saplings would need to be planted. But there is no land area for so many trees in Shivapuri. D P Jaisi, an engineer formerly with the Department of Irrigation says the construction of a big dam in an area with high seismic risk directly upstream from a densely populated city is a bad idea. Climate change adds to the risk.&nbsp; “Large infrastructure projects need to be future-proofed to withstand major disasters, but such structures are always a risk,” says Jaisi. “If the Nagmati Dam were to collapse, it would be catastrophic for Kathmandu.” The project’s detailed report does look at a potential dam collapse, and shows that 3.47 million litres per second would rush down to Kathmandu, reaching Sundarijal in 15 minutes and Pashupati within 90 minutes. “The debris flow in the event of a Nagmati Dam collapse will affect 500,000 people all the way down to Chobhar and even change the course of the Bagmati as it flows through Kathmandu,” Jaisi warns. Water resources professor at Pulchok Engineering Campus Hari Pandit says the damage would be large-scale and long-lasting. “We simply cannot rely on dam design in a country like ours with its weak governance and weak construction,” he adds. &nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2024020301024_b34372ab9e8091db5abbd59d604d01b5a3bc566616e3951b3fb0f77db895ec93.jpg" data-media-id="editor_6" data-image-id="2024020301024_b34372ab9e8091db5abbd59d604d01b5a3bc566616e3951b3fb0f77db895ec93" data-rendition-name="original" width="2500" height="3333" loading="lazy" alt="Nagmati NT"> <figcaption>The Nagmati inside the national park near the proposed dam site is a boulder-strewn stream. Photo: KUNDA DIXIT</figcaption> </figure>  Project officials like Chhatkuli say all this is scare-mongering and there is no reason to be alarmed because the dam is designed with the worst-case scenario for seismic and cloudburst risk in mind. But critics are not assuaged, especially considering the <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/the-monsoon-mess-in-melamchi">disaster that struck the Melamchi water supply scheme</a> in 2021, Nepal’s biggest infrastructure project so far. An investigation showed that Melamchi headworks and tunnels did not take into account clear and present danger from climate change in the river's headwaters. Hydraulic structures expert Ravi Rajbhandari with Cemat Consultants says the dam, which will have concrete slabs on one side and rock-fill on the other, will be "like a sword hanging over Kathmandu’s head". He says we should learn lessons from last year’s catastrophic dam breaches in Libya and Sikkim. Experts also question why the Department of Irrigation is involved when the project has nothing to do with agriculture, and when the Rs25 billion lavished on another big project in Kathmandu could have been spent to irrigate rain-fed farms in rural areas and increase harvests.&nbsp; Some experts say the Nagmati project will mire Nepal in another <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/soaring-debt">debt trap</a>. The country’s public debt has reached Rs2.38 trillion and now accounts for more than 44% of the country’s GDP. Pouring money into a low-return project like Nagmati will push generations of Nepalis into indebtedness. Ravi Rajbhandari and Hari Pandit also doubt whether water released from the dam will actually make the Bagmati cleaner if sewage and garbage continue to be dumped into the river. The money could have been spent on extending the Melamchi tunnel to Larke and Yangri to increase water volume. But the project’s Nishchal Chhatkuli argues that the return on investment from the Nagmati Dam should not be measured only from an economic standpoint. “The price that locals have had to pay for living and being in proximity to the polluted Bagmati is incalculable,” he says. “The advantage of a cleaner Bagmati goes beyond purely financial benefit.”

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Dam dangerous

<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221114131156/63723b5c9c7e80680e0c95b7jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1510" height="1000"/><figcaption>Conservationist Rajendra N Suwal with president Jimmy Carter and ambassador Peter Burleigh. All photos: RAJENDRA N SUWAL</figcaption></figure>As a bird watcher and naturalist, I have had opportunities to host many guests and dignitaries but birding with former president <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/jimmy-carters-nepal-vest-auctioned-for-10000/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Jimmy Carter</a> is the most memorable.Carter, who has visited Nepal often on election monitoring, is known for his passionate support for human rights and democracy. Less well known is his passion for bird watching.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221114131156/63723b5f9c7e80680e0c95b8jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1521" height="1000"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>The Carter Center in Nepal was housed in Naxal at the residence of tourism entrepreneur Karna Sakya. As luck would have it, my office Nepal Nature dot Com that specialises in birds and biodiversity exploration was also in the same compound.Moreover, Sakya and Ambassador Peter Burleigh who was Carter’s adviser were friends in the eighties and recommended me, a pupil of the late ornithologist Hari Sharan Nepali ‘Kazi Dai’ to lead the trip. Everything was fixed following a confirmation from conservationist Hemanta Mishra.Sakya who founded the Nepal Bird Watching Club now known as <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/bird-counting-in-nepal-made-easy/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Bird Conservation Nepal</a> was my mentor in my early teen days, and Mishra when I was working as a naturalist in Chitwan.Together they vouched for me and Kazi Dai, assuring Peter of our expertise. And a day before the trip in 2007, Kazi Dai and I did a final recce of the route, and coordinated with Shivapuri National Park (SNP) officials.Read also:<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/decline-in-wintering-water-fowl">Decline in wintering water fowl</a><a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/bat-caves-and-edible-bird-nests/">Bat caves and edible bird nests</a>, Lisa Choegyal<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221114131156/63723b629c7e80680e0c95b9jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="994"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>On 16 June I reached Hotel Soaltee to receive President Carter. A special agent in his security team introduced me.“Raj is here to guide you for your birding trip Mr President,” he said. Carter replied, “Great, Raj means royal, treat him as a royal.” It served to put me at ease.On the way to the SNP, I gave President Carter a brief introduction to <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/the-great-trans-himalayan-bird-migration/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Nepal’s biodiversity</a>. After the Chief Warden and Nepal Army officials received him, we were joined by Kazi Dai, and began our trip.First, we visited the Pani Muhan, a small creek where as expected we spotted a Plumbeous redstart, and a flashy White-capped river redstart. On our 1.5km walk following a hill tract leading to Danda Gaun above Tokha, we saw 20 different bird species, a good number for the monsoon. We even spotted the showy Red-billed blue magpie.Before ending the trip, I requested Carter for an autograph, I had brought his book with me. All in all, I was with him for three hours but in that time I found out that he had great respect for nature, as did his wife Rosalynn.Back in the US the Carters recorded all the birds that visit their feeder. He also shared that a green laser pointer helps to spot a bird’s location better in a dense forest.I was thrilled when asked to guide them both once again in 2013 when Carter came to consult on the second Constituent Assembly election.This time we went to Nagajung sector of Shivapuri Nagarjun National Park and were accompanied by the Chief Warden who was a great help in locating birds. I also carried a green laser pointer with me remembering our last birding trip five years previously.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221114131156/63723b669c7e80680e0c95bajpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1000"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/eurasian-curlew-visits-kathmandu-after-50-years/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Eurasian Curlew visits Kathmandu after 50 years</a>, Kamal Maden<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/a-pheasant-uprising-in-nepal/">A pheasant uprising in Nepal</a>, Sushila BudathokiOne of the highlights of that trip was seeing a Rufous woodpecker on a bamboo clump. They looked vibrant and particularly chirpy that spring morning. Gray-hooded warbler and Gray-headed canary flycatcher on the other hand were busy feeding on a canopy.Towards the end of the trip, President Carter softly put his Carter Center cap on my head. My family including wife Sharmila, 87-year-old mother Indra Kumari and son Ayush were invited to Dwarika’s for a family photograph.The next birding trip happened in November 2013 in Godavari, this time joined by his friend Ambassador Peter Burleigh and the then Nepal Army Chief General Gaurav Rana.While we drove from Hotel Radisson to our site, I showed him a video about the migration of the Demoiselle crane filmed by BBC in 2004 for Discovery Channel in which I was a consultant.It was still dark when we reached Godavari. As dawn was breaking, we heard the call of the Collared owlet and immediately followed by that of a barking deer. I briefed Carter about Nepal Army’s role in conserving our protected areas, their efforts in discouraging poachers and recent achievements including zero rhino poaching years.Before we knew it, five hours had passed. President Carter shared with us about his hobby of beekeeping, his expedition to Mongolia for trout fishing and his love for a jeep safari in South Africa’s Kruger National Park.We saw several birds on that trip including Mountain bulbul, Striated laughing thrush and Maroon oriole. On the way back, President Carter invited me to join him for breakfast.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221114131156/63723b699c7e80680e0c95bbjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1510" height="1000"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>The next evening, coincidentally we were both on the same Cathay Pacific flight KA 191, him back home to the US via Hong Kong and me to Fiji for ecotourism training.Carter looked relaxed. The second Constituent Assembly election had gone off peacefully, a mission accomplished.Quietly, I went to take my seat and started reminiscing about all of our birding trips and conversations.Over the years, we kept in touch via letters. When my mother passed away in 2014, I received a letter of condolence from Madam Rosalynn.My prayers to President Carter as he celebrates his 98th birthday this 1 October.Rajendra N Suwal is the Head of Partnerships Development at WWF Nepal.Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/saving-nepals-flyway-for-migrating-cranes/">Saving Nepal’s flyway for migrating cranes</a>, Rajendra N Suwal<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/protecting-lumbinis-rare-cranes/">Protecting Lumbini’s rare cranes</a>, Rajendra N Suwal

Birding with Jimmy Carter in Nepal

<img width="960" height="443" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110101152/636cc9e39c7e80680e08bb36jpeg.jpg" alt=""/>As Kathmandu reaches the limits to its growth with nearly every square metre now built up, developers are <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/from-nowhere-to-nowhere/">moving to the slopes</a> on the Valley’s rim to set up housing colonies. This is affecting the aquifers, and increasing risk of landslides for residents.Gokarneswar is located directly below the forests of Shivapuri National Park and nearby is Sundarijal, the source of fresh water for much of Kathmandu. These villages had perennial springs that fed household taps and irrigated fields. In the past year, the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/nepals-silent-emergency-springs-going-dry/">springs have all gone dry</a>. Residents blame it on real estate developers moving in with heavy machinery and carving up the slopes into plots for new housing colonies.“I am 60, and I have never seen the springs go dry, even if there is a trickle, it is all muddy,” says Ramsharan Bhandari. More than 200 families of Wards 2 and 3 of Gokarneswar face water shortages, and many are thinking of <a href="https://nepalitimes.atavist.com/recharging-the-mountains-">moving out</a>. Locals say the developers have bought up terrace farms, and encroached on dry streams and community-owned land. After the trees were cut and excavators tore up the slopes, the last monsoon saw destructive landslides. This has affected the groundwater that used to replenish the springs at the base of the Shivapuri. <img width="800" height="369" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110101152/636cc9e69c7e80680e08bb37jpeg.jpg" alt="">When a team from Nepali Times visited the village of Sultakhana last week, excavators belonging to real estate developer Dipak Bista were gouging out the slopes. After buying the land, the contractor first mines the sand and quarries stones to sell to construction companies in the city, and then plots out the property to sell to individual buyers.“Till two years ago these slopes were all green,” says another local Ramkumar Bista. “It was after the dozers tore up the slopes above us that the springs went dry.”The steep slopes are made up of sand on top of bedrock, both of which are valuable for contractors. Once the terrace farms are levelled, the slope is shored up with sand bags and sold, even though it is still too steep and unstable to build houses on.“So far, we have mostly suffered from springs going dry, but the mountain above us is now so unstable, we dread the landslides that are sure to happen in the monsoon,” says Madhusudhan Bista, a resident of the neighbouring village of Baluwa. <img width="640" height="295" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110101152/636cc9e89c7e80680e08bb38jpeg.jpg" alt=""><img width="960" height="443" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110101152/636cc9ea9c7e80680e08bb39jpeg.jpg" alt="">Even in the 2020 monsoon, the Suryamati River burst its banks after moderate rains led to slope failure. Shankar Bista, 65, says a pasty mixture of sand and water flowed down the mountain and washed away everything in its path.“We see increased sediment load in rivers, and without tree cover the water does not seep into the ground but runs off, causing a lot of damage,” says Basanta Raj Adhikari, a professor at Pulchok Engineering Campus, who has been researching landslides on the valley rim for the past 20 years.Along with Gokarneswar, the phenomenon of contractors mining and quarrying the mountains and then selling the property for houses is going on at the base of mountains all around the valley—in Chandragiri, Budanilkantha, Godavari, Lele, Nagarkot, and elsewhere.“This rampant destruction is affecting the nature and ecosystem, making slopes unstable and reducing the recharge of the Valley’s underground aquifers,” says researcher Adhikari.There has not been a comprehensive study of Kathmandu Valley’s groundwater, but a Japanese research project in 1994 concluded that the northern end of the Valley was critical for groundwater recharge. The study showed Kathmandu Valley could sustainably pump out only 20 million litres of groundwater, but the city is already extracting 70 million litres a day through pumps and deep tubewells.  That study led to the establishment of the Shivapuri Nagarjun National Park to protect the watershed. However, the unchecked destruction now taking place at the edge of the park and in the buffer zone will reduce monsoon recharge, and lower Kathmandu Valley’s water table, which has already been depleted by over-extraction.“The northern fringes of the Valley are made up of sandy slopes and forests which absorb rainwater and let it percolate into the ground, but all this construction is affecting the seepage,” says retired Tribhuvan University professor and water management engineer Ashutosh Shukla.  Locals in Gokarneswar say they have taken up the water shortage issue with their mayor Santosh Chalise many times, but nothing has been done. In fact, they suspect the mayor himself is in <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/from-nepali-press/Elected-contractors,4182">partnership with real estate developers</a>. <figure><img width="640" height="295" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110101152/636cc9ec9c7e80680e08bb3ajpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>“The contractors get permission to flatten slopes for housing, and do whatever they like,” says Buddhi Bista, a local. “If the mayor wanted, he could have stopped them then and there. It is hard to believe that he is not hand in glove with the developers.”Chair of Ward 3 Rajendra Bhandari is also frustrated that whenever he takes the complaints to the municipality, there is no one willing to listen. “I have written to the ministry in Kathmandu, to the municipality, to the national park, I raise the issue in meetings, but no one listens,” says Bhandari.We asked Mayor Chalise why all this was happening during his watch, but he instead blamed locals for selling off property to real estate speculators for quick cash. “If I try to stop them selling their land, they oppose me. If I let them sell their property, they blame me. None of the contractors have encroached on any community land,” Chalise said. “The locals sell the land, they are the ones driving the dozers, they are responsible.”Last week, a team made up of the Kathmandu CDO, District Coordination Committee, the National Park conservation chief made an inspection visit. CDO Kali Parajuli ordered an immediate stop to the excavation of the slopes. When no one took heed, the Home Ministry stepped in and the excavation has stopped for now. Locals suspect the encroachment will resume as soon as the gaze of officials turns elsewhere. “We do not just want the destruction to stop, we want the perpetrators to be punished,” says Buddhi Bista.Laxman Poudel of the National Park says: “The slopes do not fall within the park boundary, but because of the impact on the watershed, we have written to the local government to immediately stop this destruction. It is now up to them.”<h2>Flushing the Bagmati</h2>Even with the imminent arrival at Sundarijal of water through a 26 km tunnel from Melamchi, Kathmandu Valley’s population has grown so rapidly that it will not be enough to meet demand.Which is why the government has started building two reservoirs on the Bagmati tributary of Nangmati within the Shivapuri Nagarjun National Park. The construction activity can be clearly seen in recent Google images (pictured). <img width="3360" height="1439" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110101152/636cc9f09c7e80680e08bb3bjpeg.jpg" alt=""><img width="2830" height="1801" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110101152/636cc9f39c7e80680e08bb3cjpeg.jpg" alt=""><figure><img width="3360" height="1746" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110101152/636cc9f69c7e80680e08bb3djpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>The reservoir at Dhap has a 25m high rock and concrete dam that can store up to 850,000 cubic metres of water. When construction is complete later this year, the reservoirs will discharge up to 400litres per second of water to replenish and flush the Bagmati.The Bagmati Civilization Integrated Development Committee will then build another reservoir 4 km downstream on the Nagmati. Project engineer Nischal Chhatkuli says the environment impact assessment of the NRs.510 million project with support from the Asian Development Bank is nearly complete.Also read:<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/drawing-a-line-in-the-sand/">Drawing a line in the sand</a>, Bhrikuti Rai<a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/editorial/trickledown-corruption,4176">Trickledown corruption</a>, Editorial<a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/bulldozing-democracy-in-nepal,4184">Bulldozing democracy</a>, Om Astha Rai

Kathmandu creeps up surrounding mountains

<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109101156/636b79d39c7e80680e064724jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1400" height="1050"/><figcaption>Chitlang, Makwanpur. Photo: KUNDA DIXIT</figcaption></figure>While humans all over the planet are being challenged by the COVID-19 pandemic, it has given nature everywhere a respite.Carbon emissions have dipped, there is almost no carbon monoxide in the air over large parts of India and China because vehicles are off the roads, NOx and sulphur dioxide concentrations in the air have dropped. The concentration of particulate matter like soot given off by industries and diesel trucks have also decreased, improving air quality over Asia’s most-polluted cities.Here in Nepal, Mt Everest and Himalayan peaks have got a much-needed respite after the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepals-economy-already-weak-takes-direct-hit/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">government cancelled all expeditions and treks from the mountains for the spring climbing season</a>. There has been an <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/most-days-its-not-so-crowded-on-mt-everest/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">international uproar last year after photos of a traffic jam</a> on the summit ridge of Mt Everest went viral. Garbage and corpses on the mountain have gotten a lot of media attention.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109101156/636b79d69c7e80680e064725jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="960" height="720"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>The sunny spring sky in Kathmandu was brilliantly clear on Tuesday, the first day of a week-long nationwide lockdown. With no traffic, and flights all grounded, there is no noise pollution in the street or the sky.But the happiest must be wild animals in Nepal’s national parks, including those popular with tourists like Chitwan, Bardia, Langtang and Shivapuri-Nagarjun, where visitors have not been allowed since Sunday.After the government closed schools and offices last week, Kathmandu’s residents had started arriving at Shivapuri and Chitwan by the busloads for picnics during weekend, prompting park officials to close entry on Monday.“We had to close the parks because there was an increase in visitor numbers, but with the announcement of the nationwide lockdown from Tuesday, visitors will not be coming anyway,” said chief of Bardia National park Ananath Baral.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109101156/636b79d99c7e80680e064726jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1125"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>On Sunday, there were more than 400 visitors -- about four times the daily average -- at Shivapuri-Nagarjun, the national park on Kathmandu Valley’s northern and western rim.Conservationists say the drop in human activity will be a relief to the park’s wildlife, since any extra noise can disturb their habitat and movement. Naturalist Mukesh Chalise recalls how there was an increase in wildlife in <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepals-economy-already-weak-takes-direct-hit/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Langtang National Park </a>after trekkers stopped coming due to the 2015 earthquake.Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/between-existence-and-extinction-in-nepal/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Between existence and extinction in Nepal</a>, Sonia Awale“It used to be difficult to see resident fauna and birds, now there are herds and flocks of them out in the open in Langtang,” Chalise says.Due to its terrain and topographic range, Nepal has some of the richest biodiversity in a country with such a small area. There are 876 species of birds, 185 species of mammals and 651 species of butterflies in Nepal, some of them are only found here and nowhere else. National parks and protected areas cover 27% of Nepal’s area.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109101156/636b79dc9c7e80680e064727jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="250" height="166"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>There has been a big increase in park visitors in the past few years. Nepal’s national parks and conservation areas registered 510,000 foreign visitors five years ago, and this grew to 701,000 last year.  There is no count of the number of Nepali visitors, and if this is added it would take the numbers to nearly 1.5 million per year.Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/nature-without-borders/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Nature without borders</a>, Sewa BhattaraiThere has also been little attempt to regulate the entry of sightseeing vehicles into national parks. In Chitwan alone, the national park issued 35 jeep permits every day for jungle safari into the core area. Bardia issued 22 jeep permits per day, with each vehicle carrying 10-14 visitors. Besides this, both Chitwan and Bardia also issue dozens of elephant safari permits.All this has now come to a halt, and has eliminated human disturbance. Chalise says this will allow wild animals and birds to be left alone for a while which will be good for nature to rebound.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109101156/636b79dd9c7e80680e064728jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1000"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>“We had already started seeing rhinos interacting more and more with humans, and acting tame. It is very dangerous for the rhino to lose its fear of humans because this may<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/what-drives-wildlife-poaching/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"> expose them to poachers</a>,” adds Chalise, who says there should be a permanent ban on human entry into national parks. Tourists should be allowed only into the buffer zone.Sindhu Dhungana at the Ministry of Forests and Environment, however, says that if local people do not see any advantage of eco-tourism they may not help in conservation, and visitors should be allowed but in a regulated numbers.“The main criteria should be how much <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/what-drives-wildlife-poaching/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">human activity is disturbing wildlife</a>, and if it is serious numbers should be regulated,” Dhungana explains.Lessening human entry into national parks will also prevent the spread of human diseases like tuberculosis to rhinos and elephants, and also stop viruses from wild animals infecting humans.Chalise also warns that the nationals parks should be vigilant about <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/in-conservation-nepal-is-not-out-of-the-woods-yet/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">increased activity of poachers </a>taking advantage of the national shutdown to hunt wild animals either for meat or tusks, horns and pelts.

Coronavirus shutdown gives Nepal’s nature a respite

<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108101148/636a25f79c7e80680e0439f0jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1000"/>For the first time after it snowed on Valentine's Day in 2008, the snow has come down to the foothills of the hills on the Valley rim.These are photographs of Shivapuri National Park from Budanilkantha on Saturday morning.Photos: Min Bajracharya<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108101148/636a25fa9c7e80680e0439f1jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1000"><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108101148/636a25fd9c7e80680e0439f2jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1000"><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108101148/636a26019c7e80680e0439f3jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1544" height="2038"><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108101148/636a26049c7e80680e0439f4jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="2563" height="1745"><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108101148/636a26089c7e80680e0439f5jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="4368" height="2912"><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108101148/636a260b9c7e80680e0439f6jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1000">

Frozen Shivapuri

<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221107171144/636936a29c7e80680e03fdefjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1090"/><figcaption>GOING GOING GONE: A female of the new dragonfly species Microgomphus phewataali discovered last year in Pokhara by naturalists Karen Conniff and Mahendra Singh Limbu. But the species may not survive at the current rate of habitat destruction. Photo: KAREN CONNIFF</figcaption></figure>The morning was warming up in late spring last year when entomologist Karen Conniff took a boat across Phewa Lake in <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=19301#.XAj3DdszaUk" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Pokhara </a>for one of her regular walks to look for rare dragonflies. She was in search of a rare damselfly species called Philoganga montana which had been spotted in the same location before. After reaching the far shore of the lake, Conniff tied her boat and climbed through the humid forest, paying special attention to springs in the undergrowth. But no sign of the elusive insect.Just then, crossing a small stream she spotted a black-green dragonfly sitting on a leaf spotlit by a ray of sunlight filtering through the forest canopy. She managed to take a few photographs before the dragonfly flew off, and she headed back down to the boat.Back in her room in Pokhara later that day, she downloaded the images in her computer and noticed that the dragonfly had peculiar-looking anal appendages, quite different from the ones previously found in 11 other known Microgomphus dragonflies found throughout Asia. Immediately, she knew it was a species not recorded in Nepal before.Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/pokharas-shrinking-lakes/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Pokhara's shrinking lakes</a>, Yuvaraj Shrestha<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221107171144/636936a59c7e80680e03fdf0jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1000"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>The process of publishing any new finding of a new species is a labourious one. It has to go through peer reviews and strict scientific scrutiny. Finally last week, Conniff’s paper was published in the German journal, <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=19301#.XAj3DdszaUk" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Odonatologica</a>. It is now official: Microgomphus phewataali is a new species of dragonfly endemic to Nepal.Although she should be elated, Conniff is worried that the new dragonfly species and others may not survive at the current rate of destruction and pollution of Nepal’s springs and rivers.“The habitat of the dragonfly faces extreme stress from water overdraft for Pokhara’s rapidly growing tourism centre,” Conniff told Nepali Times. “The habitat could vanish in few years if people do not stop drawing water from there.”Dragonflies have survived for 325 million years on Earth, and the early ones used to have wingspans of up to 2 metres. But never have these creatures faced a threat to their survival as serious as they do today <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=19301#.XAj3DdszaUk" target="_blank" rel="noopener">from human-induced habitat destruction</a> pesticide use and <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=19301#.XAj3DdszaUk" target="_blank" rel="noopener">climate change</a>. These agile and brightly coloured living fossils are now hovering on the brink of extinction.<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221107171144/636936a89c7e80680e03fdf1jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="385" height="400"><figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221107171144/636936aa9c7e80680e03fdf2jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="534" height="500"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>Scientists call dragonflies ‘bio-indicator species’, meaning their very presence is proof of a healthy ecosystem. But when dragonflies start disappearing, it also shows that streams and ponds are going dry or polluted with toxins.“Dragonflies are very sensitive, most of them require an absolute pristine habitat and as soon as humans mess that up, they are gone,” explains Conniff, who has been living in Nepal for more than a decade.Conniff co-authored the paper on the new dragonfly with noted Nepali butterfly expert Mahendra Singh Limbu, and the two often go exploring for butterflies and dragonflies on Pulchoki Hill, or in other parts of Nepal. They decided to name the new species Microgomphus phewataali after Pokhara’s Phewa Lake.Says Limbu, “With the disappearance of every dragonfly, you know that nature is being disturbed. We humans cannot afford to disturb the ecosystem balance.”Besides toxins, the other looming threat to insects is climate change. Europe has lost nearly 90% of its insects in the last 30 years, and in America, the population of migrating monarch butterflies has dropped by 90% in 20 years. Climate models estimate a loss of 45-99% of the suitable habitat for various species of dragonflies and damselflies by 2080 in north-eastern US. When Britain found that one-third of its dragonfly species were endangered, it opened the first ever dragonfly centre to protect what was left.Of more than 5,000 species of dragonflies found worldwide, 140 species are found in Nepal of which a few are found nowhere else. Pulchoki on Kathmandu Valley’s southeastern rim is a hotspot for dragonflies and there has been a steady decline in butterfly and dragonfly populations there. The reason is mainly due to the pumping out of water by tankers to meet the city’s needs, the damming of the Nagmati in Shivapuri and pollution at picnic spots and riverside garbage dumps.Rare species like the Epiophelebia, an intermediate between the dragonflies and the damselflies that used to be found only in Shivapuri National Park have probably disappeared after its stream habitat was tapped for water supply downstream.Dragonflies begin their lifecycle as eggs and spend much of their life underwater as larvae, some for as many as seven years. Once they mature into winged adults, time is limited. Most live only up to few weeks, and since water is their primary location for eating and mating, they do not survive if ponds and springs dry up or are polluted. Dragonflies are even known to control <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=19301#.XAj3DdszaUk" target="_blank" rel="noopener">malaria </a>and <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=19301#.XAj3DdszaUk" target="_blank" rel="noopener">dengue</a>, since they feed on mosquitoes.“In addition to cleaning up mosquitoes, dragonfly also preys on other insects that infect paddy fields, effectively increasing agricultural productivity,” explains Conniff.Dragonflies also undertake astounding migrations: some species found in Nepal have travelled across the Himalaya from Japan and Taiwan. Others fly on, riding prevailing winds across the Indian Ocean from India to Africa. But climate change has thrown off their migratory patterns and disturbed their natural lifecycles.Nepal has been internationally recognised for its conservation efforts. It is all set to be the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/its-a-jungle-out-there/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">first country to double its tiger population by 2022</a>, and <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/blogs/thebrief/2017/01/29/1000-days-of-the-rhino/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">rhino poaching has been stopped</a>. But while the focus is on charismatic mammals, Nepal is losing the battle to protect its valuable trove of insect species. Dragonflies are in direct peril because of the destruction of aquatic habitats.Says Conniff: “It is important to educate people about wetland conservation and watershed management. Getting more people interested in nature and finding innovative ways to manage water is an effective approach.”Read also:<a href="https://nepalitimes.atavist.com/whats-the-buzz" target="_blank" rel="noopener">What's the buzz</a>, Sonia Awale<a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=18976#.XAj1ltszaUk" target="_blank" rel="noopener">"Wetlands are not wastelands"</a>, Bhrikuti Rai<a style="background-color: #ffffff; font-size: 15px; letter-spacing: 0.01em;" href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/page/decline-in-birds-of-migration-nepal" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Kathmandu's silent spring</a>, Sonia Awale

Sonia Awale

Project Dragonfly

Earlier this month, Nepal received Rs1.6 billion from the World Bank as part of its <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/will-nepal-ever-be-paid-for-saving-trees">Forest Carbon Partnership Facility (FCPF)</a>, rewarding the country for increasing its carbon sink capacity. Nepal is the first in South Asia to benefit from this facility, and it is specifically to recompense the country for increasing forest cover in 13 Tarai districts between 2018-2024. “We are also trying to get another Rs13 billion from the facility while also preparing for free market-based carbon trading in the international market,” says Nabaraj Pudasaini of the REDD (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation in Developing Countries) Implementation Centre. Big emitters of greenhouse gases are under pressure to reduce their carbon emissions, and many have signed agreements to do so by investing in decarbonisation projects in developing countries. Countries that emit more than a specified amount of carbon would be able to buy emission rights from countries that emit less. Nepal is internationally known for its community forestry program which has been largely credited for <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/tree-mendous">increasing tree cover to over 45%</a> in less than three decades. But this achievement had not been adequately recognised or rewarded internationally before. Forests, especially in the tropics, absorb and store large amounts of carbon while releasing oxygen in a process known as photosynthesis. <a href="https://www.fao.org/forest-resources-assessment/en/">Preventing deforestation</a> and increasing canopy cover is considered a much more achievable goal than reducing emission in the scale necessary to limit global average temperature to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels. COP11 in Montreal in 2005 first proposed reducing carbon emissions by improving forest quality by halting degradation. By 2015, a new mechanism of financial assistance was created to help less developed countries with sustainable management of forests <a href="https://www.un-redd.org/">(called REDD+)</a>. Under this new mechanism, countries receive aid based on their efforts to prevent forest degradation and increase carbon sink, and in 2021 the World Bank was entrusted with implementing it. Nepal’s FCPF receipt this month was calculated on the basis of 2.4 million tons of carbon stored at a rate of $5 per ton. In the second phase, Nepal will receive more than Rs4 billion within the next year for storing an additional 7 million tons of carbon. Eighty per cent of this amount obtained from carbon trading needs to be spent on local beneficiaries and indigenous communities.&nbsp; But carbon trading is not easy, Nepal needs to prove that protected forests will not be destroyed in future.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20241121091132_c8a381c9a95aa86fec558951650d97bb87914741f01766982ba2b086af001f16.jpg" data-media-id="editor_4" data-image-id="20241121091132_c8a381c9a95aa86fec558951650d97bb87914741f01766982ba2b086af001f16" data-rendition-name="original" width="1500" height="999" loading="lazy" alt="Greenbacks for greenery NT "> <figcaption>Photo: KUNDA DIXIT</figcaption> </figure>  Explains carbon trading expert Yugan Manandhar. “Forests should be handed over to the community and shown that they are managed sustainably. Proving this will be particularly challenging; forest encroachment and degradation is rife in the Tarai.” <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/multimedia/nepal-is-going-up-in-smoke">Deliberate forest fires</a> have also added to the challenge because they increase carbon emissions and reduce the sink capacity of forests. The basis for the amount that Nepal received was set five years ago by calculating the carbon reserves of forests in the 13 Tarai districts. In the meantime, sustainable forest management, tree plantation, forest destruction and erosion control were prioritised to increase carbon reserves in those forests. Nepal is signing another carbon trading agreement during the ongoing Baku climate conference. The <a href="https://www.leafcoalition.org/">Lowering Emissions by Accelerating Forest finance (LEAF Coalition) </a>proposes to sell the carbon stored in the forests of Bagmati, Gandaki and Lumbini provinces. For this, Nepal signed the letter of intent three years ago at COP26 in Glasgow. The target is to store 70 million tons of carbon in 32 million hectares of forest in the three provinces per which Nepal will receive Rs13 billion in four years at $10 per ton with provisions to increase the rate if various conditions are met. However, the agreement in itself doesn’t guarantee the amount. According to the targets set by Nepal, forest degradation should be stopped and carbon reserves increased by protecting tree cover. Preparations are also underway for clean air carbon trade because it has offset fossil fuel use by introducing 30,000 electric vehicles. Nepal has been selected for the first round to receive $40 million within one and a half years through the Clean Air System of the World Bank. Given that most of Nepal’s energy mix is from biomass, replacing them with electric stoves can significantly improve health by reducing indoor pollution as well as strengthen the country’s capacity for carbon trade. “Nepal's goal now is to sell carbon in the free market where carbon credits are bought and sold based on supply and demand in an open and transparent manner,” adds Pudasaini of the REDD Implementation Centre. “Nepal can now set its own price and bargain with interested buyer countries and organisations.” Lately, India has been discussing setting up a carbon market. Nepal has exported Rs12.72 billion worth of electricity to India so far this fiscal year, which can be traded under Nepal’s carbon market. “Carbon trading can create significant economic benefits for Nepal, which will help reinvest in development and environmental protection projects,” says Manandhar. “But we must prioritise sustainable management of forests, cutting older trees and allowing regrowth as well as promoting electric stoves and electric vehicles.”

Greenbacks for greenery

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

Khukri goes premium with new rum

Turkish Airlines has introduced a new amenity kit collection designed in collaboration with French fashion house Lanvin for international business class passengers on flights more than five hours. It consists of five pieces designed for sustainability and elegance. Bags are reusable and will consist of Lanvin cosmetic products like hand and body lotions and lip balm. Eye masks and socks are made from recycled materials, earplugs are packaged in paper and the toothbrush is bamboo.

Turkish amenity kit

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