Ghana S Gurung had to <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/11-day-trek-is-now-a-day-s-drive-in-nepal">walk 11 days</a> from the tiny village of Dhee in Mustang to Pokhara to give his high school exam in 1983. He wanted fervently to be a medical doctor, and took biology in college in the hope of selection for a medical seat under the Mustang king’s quota. While in Amrit Science College in Kathmandu, he was offered a scholarship to study Parks, Recreation and Tourism in New Zealand. He did not even know the meaning of the English word ‘recreation’, and failed a mandatory English test.&nbsp; Ever resourceful, Gurung convinced Edmund Hillary, New Zealand’s ambassador to Nepal at the time, that he would take English lessons when he got to Victoria University Wellington. He graduated from <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/remembering-pat-guru">Lincoln University</a> in Christchurch, and went on to do his PhD in natural science from University of Zürich, Switzerland.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20240721050716_955ba8ed7169900be32bd9996d58f245b38fdc8f142c91571604fbc0d1db3636.jpg" data-media-id="editor_2" data-image-id="20240721050716_955ba8ed7169900be32bd9996d58f245b38fdc8f142c91571604fbc0d1db3636" data-rendition-name="original" width="3498" height="2360" loading="lazy" alt="Ghana Gurung"> <figcaption>Young Ghana Gurung with Sir Edmund Hillary before he left for college in New Zealand.</figcaption> </figure>  “I was born for conservation,” says Gurung, who is now WWF Nepal Country Director and was recently honoured with the <a href="https://www.lincoln.ac.nz/">Lincoln University</a> Alumni International Medal by his New Zealand alma mater. He adds, “As a child I studied Buddhism which is all about doing good for people and nature. It taught me about sentient brings, about interconnectedness, interdependence between all living and non-living things.” As a boy in Dhee, Gurung herded sheep and yaks and recalls that snow leopards were the main threat to the family livestock. “Snow leopards were then my biggest enemy,” he says, “<a href="https://medium.com/wwftogetherpossible/fighting-for-the-survival-of-an-old-foe-b517c4f04034">now they are my best friends</a>.” Gurung has been hailed as a <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepal-leads-in-snow-leopard-study">pioneer of snow leopard conservation</a> in Nepal and globally. In 2022, he was named one of <a href="https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/meet-12-incredible-conservation-heroes-saving-our-wildlife-from-extinction.html">12 most incredible conservation heroes</a> in the world by World Atlas for his work.&nbsp; Today, snow leopard numbers are on the rise across the Nepal Himalaya, although the elusive endangered cats are threatened by the impact of climate breakdown. In fact, Gurung’s home village of <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/05/world/asia/nepal-himalayas-glacier-climate.html">Dhee has been nearly abandoned</a> because springs in the area have gone dry due to chronic winter drought. Growing up in Dhee, Gurung says he had a strong urge to excel in studies to dispel the entrenched notion that people from the mountains were not very smart. One of his biggest inspirations was his school teacher Man Bahadur Biswokarma of Marpha, who urged him to aim high and get a PhD someday.&nbsp; “I think I have made Man Bahadur Sir proud,” he says.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20240721050716_e578bfa9bbdf3d6bad3e383971adffa46e099c26f024b1fb1eb1b4e6209fdafc.jpg" data-media-id="editor_8" data-image-id="20240721050716_e578bfa9bbdf3d6bad3e383971adffa46e099c26f024b1fb1eb1b4e6209fdafc" data-rendition-name="original" width="405" height="405" loading="lazy" alt="Ghana Gurung"> <figcaption>Gurung at age 16 in Mustang before going off to college.</figcaption> </figure>  At WWF, Gurung was closely involved in the creation and handover of the Kangchenjunga Conservation Area, a 2,030 sq km zone in eastern Nepal patterned after similar nature reserves in Annapurna and Manaslu.&nbsp; The Maoist conflict was at its peak, yet Gurung managed to do the groundwork with local officials and mother’s groups for the <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/participating-to-save-kangchenjunga">Kangchenjunga Conservation Area</a> under the ladership of the government. Many of Nepal’s top conservationists arrived in Ghunsa for the official handover in September 2006, including his mentors <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=18587">Harka Gurung, Chandra Gurung, Mingma Norbu Sherpa and Tirtha Man Maskey</a>. After the ceremony, Ghana was supposed to join them for the helicopter ride back to Kathmandu but had to stay behind in Taplejung to prepare a press statement. Soon after takeoff in pouring rain, the Mi17 helicopter hit a mountain at 4,000m, <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=12536">killing all 24 people on board</a>.&nbsp; Ghana Gurung was involved in the search and rescue, and was determined with others to turn the tragedy into a long term effort to nurture a new generation of conservation leaders. Since then, the <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/remembering-nepal-s-conservation-heroes">Mingma Norbu Sherpa Memorial Scholarships</a> has been sending <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=17700">two Nepalis to Lincoln University</a> in New Zealand every year , and WWF Nepal provides five memorial scholarships every year. &nbsp; At <a href="https://www.wwfnepal.org/">WWF Nepal</a>, Gurung is a proponent of an integrated approach to development that involves local communities in conservation, not the fortress model of fencing off wilderness areas championed in the West.&nbsp; He says: “In Nepal, unless you protect people, they will not protect wildlife. All these years I thought we were working for nature. Now I realise we were working for people. Human beings are a part of the living world, and it has to be a symbiotic relationship.”&nbsp; Indeed, indigenous communities living near the conservation areas and in buffer zones have been crucial to Nepal’s successes in conservation including tripling the tiger population in 12 years, doubling forest cover in 30 years, recording 752 days of zero poaching of rhinos putting Nepal in the global conservation map.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20240721050716_b912a449e02f873bf636aaf699c9c09b35838d027813fc6aa4f8cec5e1d418f8.jpg" data-media-id="editor_15" data-image-id="20240721050716_b912a449e02f873bf636aaf699c9c09b35838d027813fc6aa4f8cec5e1d418f8" data-rendition-name="original" width="1667" height="2500" loading="lazy" alt="Ghana Gurung"> <figcaption>Photo: LINCOLN UNIVERSITY</figcaption> </figure>  However, more tigers mean prey density is declining and the animals are entering human settlements in search of food and water, leading to <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/human-animal-interface-in-nepal-wildlife-corridor">increased human-wildlife contact</a>. “We are trying to convince people in the buffer zone about precautions they have to take near the park,” says Gurung, who has got WWF to help local people manage homestays for ecotourism benefits. While <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gkSpWxxNX10&amp;t=2s">Nepal’s success in tripling its tiger population</a> has increased attacks on people, the media magnifies tiger attacks even though many more people in Nepal are killed every year by snake bites. Gurung says, “Animal will not change their behaviour as they are wild, whereas we humans need to change our behaviour to live and thrive with wildlife which is one of biggest tourism assets and economic pillars of Nepal”. The increase in forest cover coupled with outmigration of local people has also meant that the undergrowth in buffer zones is now loaded with deadwood that is fuel for forest fires. Climate change-induced droughts have also meant that grasslands are tinder dry. Ghana Gurung says the answer to Nepal’s new conservation challenges lies in <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/climate-breakdown-magnifies-western-nepal-s-woes">protecting water sources</a> in the catchment area, watersheds, wetlands, groundwater and controlling the river pollution. “Being climate-smart automatically means water resilience,” says Gurung, noting how natural springs across Nepal are going dry while in the Tarai, over-extraction of groundwater has led to ponds inside national parks drying up. Prolonged heat waves are making the water crisis worse. <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/in-conservation-nepal-is-not-out-of-the-woods-yet">Unplanned infrastructure</a> is also adding to the challenge, Gurung says, and one of WWF’s focus areas is in ensuring that protected areas are not disturbed by <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/protecting-protected-areas-from-infrastructure">highways, transmission lines and irrigation canals</a> bifurcating them. Climate smart and wildlife friendly infrastructure development is the way forward. The climate crisis has caused Gurung’s community to abandon Dhee and Samjong villages in Upper Mustang, the village where he was born. He says, “Climate breakdown is already happening, we have spent enough time talking about how bad it is. It is time to start doing something about it ourselves with nature-based solutions to protect our water sources.”

Sonia Awale

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Conversation with Mr Conservation

<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20230112100128/63bfd3209c7e80680e0d304ajpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1000"/><figcaption>All photos: TASHI R GHALE</figcaption></figure>Brown eyes meet green eyes in the icy crags of Upper-Manang. Tashi R Ghale is camouflaged like a commando, and keeps perfectly still, just 4m from the mother snow leopard and her two cubs as they feast on a Himalayan thar.Ghale knows that even though <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/trekking-to-save-nepals-snow-leopards/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">snow leopards are shy creatures</a> and do not attack humans, a provoked mother can defend her cubs. Imperceptibly, he raises his camera and takes a burst of shots, the clicks muffled by the wind and din of Griffon vultures wheeling overhead.Growing up in Manang, Ghale found it difficult to discern the panje (as snow leopards are known in his mother tongue)because their spotted pelt blended so well with the cliffs they climbed.<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20230112100128/63bfd3279c7e80680e0d304bjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1000">It is still difficult to catch a glimpse of the endangered Himalayan big cats, but Ghale has since trained himself to track them. He has had close encounters at least 30 times since first photographing them in 2006 and this has earned him the moniker, Snow Leopard Whisperer.<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20230112100128/63bfd32b9c7e80680e0d304cjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="200" height="109">“I know the terrain in Manang like the back of my hand,” says Ghale, showing us around his exhibition, ‘Melting Paradise’ that uses his photographs of snow leopards over the years to highlight how <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/satellite-tracking-snow-leopards-in-nepal-to-study-climate-impact/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">climate change is impacting the Himalayan habitat</a>.In Manang, like elsewhere in the Himalaya, the glaciers that drain the north slopes of the Annapurnas are shrinking and the snowline is receding. The Gangapurna glacial lake was expanding until it got swallowed up in sediment after a flood last year -- also depicted in Ghale's photographs.Snow leopard photography got some bad press recently with photoshopped images by an American trekker ostensibly taken in the Everest region.But genuine Nepali field biologists like Tashi R Ghale know how difficult it is to get a good shot, and the reward in terms of personal fulfilment.The careful patience of a wildlife photographer shows through Ghale’s work. In Lone Tree II he combines six shots to create an expansive panorama that immerses the viewers in the wilderness habitat of the snow leopard.<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20230112100128/63bfd32d9c7e80680e0d304djpeg.jpg" alt="" width="2167" height="1000"><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20230112100128/63bfd3329c7e80680e0d304ejpeg.jpg" alt="" width="2156" height="1000"><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20230112100128/63bfd3369c7e80680e0d304fjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="3600" height="2400">Ujen Norbu Gurung, the curator of Windhorse Gallery that is exhibiting ‘Melting Paradise’ says he immediately recognised the importance of Ghale’s work: “To talk is one thing, but to show is another. Tashi’s exhibit does just that.”The exhibition includes photographs of snow leopard prey from Dolpo and Humla as well as the predator in the wilds of Manang and Mustang.The Snow Leopard (Panthera uncia) is in the IUCN’s global Endangered C1 red list with only 300 to 500 left in the wild in Nepal. Globally, there may be up to 7,000 left, but these populations are threatened by poaching and habitat decline due to climate change.<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20230112100128/63bfd33a9c7e80680e0d3050jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="2492" height="1800"><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20230112100128/63bfd33f9c7e80680e0d3051jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1667" height="1000"><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20230112100128/63bfd3439c7e80680e0d3052jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1000">“Being the top predator, the snow leopard is an indicator species of the health of the Himalayan ecosystem,” says Ghale, and that is the biologist in him speaking.With global warming, he says, the tree line is creeping up the mountains, and this means the snow leopard habitat is slowly being encroached upon by competing common leopards of the lower valleys. Human disturbance with new roads and settlements are also driving away the snow leopard.“A snow leopard is needed for every 150 blue sheep to cull their wild population and reduce pressure on the grasslands,” explains Ghale. A decline in snow leopard population will also affect Himalayan vultures which clean up the carcass that the cats leave behind.<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20230112100128/63bfd3489c7e80680e0d3053jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1071" height="1500"><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20230112100128/63bfd34c9c7e80680e0d3054jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1000">Tashi Ghale and his team employed his award-winning camera-trapping techniques to conduct a census of predators and prey, as well as employ a team of observers to calculate the population in blocks. Ghale reckons there are approximately 2,200 blue sheep in Manang alone. Snow leopards are studied <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepal-leads-in-snow-leopard-study/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">most intensively in Nepal</a> and there are signs cat numbers are increasing in some pockets despite the threats.Besides snow leopards, Ghale’s camera traps have led him to discover new and lost Himalayan species like the Pallas Cat and the Himalayan Grey Wolf of which there are said to be only 50 remaining in Nepal. In fact, the Pallas Cat has been renamed Tashi Cat to honour his discovery. Ghale founded the Third Pole Conservancy and has contributed to the Destination Manang eco-tourism campaign.Tashi Ghale's father had taught him to fear the panje, which would often kill livestock and leave paw prints near the family home. Today, rather than fear the animal, Ghale is in awe of them.He teaches secondary students in Manang to set up camera traps and <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/Nepali-Times-Buzz/Studying-Cat-Scat,3559" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">recognise snow leopard droppings</a>. He says: “Just like we have distinctive fingerprints, snow leopards have individual spots. Recognising individual snow leopards is the first step in co-existing with them.”

Snow leopard redux

<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109121148/636b93a29c7e80680e06f1b6jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1918" height="1265"/><figcaption></figcaption></figure>A new generation of Nepali environmental activists is filling the void left by <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/remembering-nepals-conservation-heroes/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">the tragic 2006 Ghunsa crash</a> that saw the loss of many pioneering conservationists including Harka Gurung and Chandra Gurung.Rinzin Phunkjok Lama, the first graduate in environmental science from Humla district, is one of them. In an announcement on Monday, Lama was named among five laureates of <a href="https://www.rolex.org/rolex-awards/latest-laureates" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">this year’s Rolex Awards for Enterprise</a> for his role in promoting local initiatives for biodiversity conservation in Nepal’s trans-Himalayan region.<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109121148/636b93a59c7e80680e06f1b7jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="640" height="346">Born and raised in one of Nepal’s remotest regions, Lama was inspired and mentored by 1981 Rolex Laureate, wildlife biologist Rodney Jackson, who spent four decades of his life protecting <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepal-leads-in-snow-leopard-study/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">the threatened snow leopard</a>, and initiated the first-ever radio collar study on the big cats in western Nepal 40 years ago.But Lama has taken a step further making it his life’s mission to protect not only the snow leopard, but other threatened high-altitude species like <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/crying-wolf/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">the Himalayan wolf</a>, Himalayan black bear, wild yak, Tibetan argali, musk deer that live at altitudes from 3-5,000m.“The trans-Himalayan ecosystem which includes most of Nepal’s highland is very fragile and increasing human activities are threatening it constantly. Thus, there is an urgent need for a conservation project which addresses an integrated approach to conservation and livelihood,” says Lama.<a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/Nepali-Times-Buzz/northwestern-tip-of-nepal-Humla,3430" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Humla district in Nepal’s northwestern corner</a> bordering China and India has long suffered from state negligence, and is one of the least developed parts of the country. Only 1% of its land is suitable for farming, leading to one of the highest rate of food insecurity in Nepal. Economic opportunities are hard to come by.Now, <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/human-face-of-a-himalayan-climate-crisis/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">the climate crisis</a> has added to the challenge. Lama’s long-term solution to overcome the threats to this biodiversity is to engage local people from Humla, particularly young environment graduates and empower communities to become the stewards of the land.The young scientist plans to enhance and enlarge current conservation activities to promote local leadership in conservation. One of the priority areas is educating and training people in law enforcement to discourage illegal hunting, logging and forest fires. Lama’s other focus is developing livelihood for communities.Lama is collaborating with a herbal and agricultural products company in Humla to develop a model for technical support to local residents who want to establish small businesses. He is also conducting a feasibility study of potential trekking trails to promote <a href="https://www.google.com/url?client=internal-element-cse&amp;cx=bead8272edd0f2143&amp;q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/model-for-post-covid-ecotourism/&amp;sa=U&amp;ved=2ahUKEwiAl6yO0KjxAhVFgOYKHd-jC7YQFjAAegQIAhAC&amp;usg=AOvVaw3XvLNZTTvO9b1MTDj1KKN1" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">ecotourism</a> and working with local women skilled in making the traditional attire to generate jobs.Lama’s project is science-based and uses field surveys and camera trapping techniques to establish the baseline number of mammal species, while supporting the development of new enterprises that will expand the possibilities for local people’s source of income. At the same time, Lama will combine science with <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/bon-voyage/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">traditional knowledge and indigenous Buddhist philosophy</a> to educate the citizens of Humla in environmental conservation.“I want to show that, if given opportunities, local people can lead exceptionally and are capable of managing large-scale conservation projects and community engagement as real stewards of the land.”Since 2014, Lama has been actively involved in research and conservation of high altitude wildlife in Nepal. In 2015, he won a Wildlife Conservation Network scholarship and was the recipient of the WWF Nepal Conservation Award in 2020.Lama obtained a master’s degree in International Nature Conservation from the University of Göttingen, Germany, and Lincoln University, New Zealand. Currently, he is a conservation biologist and Conservation Program Director at <a href="https://www.thirdpoleconservancy.org" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Third Pole Conservancy</a> and an environmental adviser to Humla’s elected representative.Other recipients of the Rolex Awards this year are American Felix Brooks-church, working on malnutrition in Tanzania, Chad’s Hindou Oumarou Ibrahim, linking indigenous knowledge to prevent climate conflicts in the Sahel, Gina Moseley from the United Kingdom who is looking into climate change in the Arctic and Brazilian Luiz Rocha who is exploring mesophotic coral reefs and their biodiversity in the Indian Ocean.The five laureates will receive funding for their projects, and a virtual event celebrating the awards will be held at the end of year.The Rolex Awards were set up 45 years ago to mark the 50th anniversary of the world’s first waterproof wristwatch, the Oyster. It supports exceptional individuals with innovative projects that expand the knowledge of the world, protect the environment – helping to preserve habitats and species – and improve human well-being.

Nepali conservationist among Rolex awardees

<div class="embed-block"><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109171156/636bdbb99c7e80680e0802dcjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="640" height="416"></div> <div class="embed-block"><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109171156/636bdbbc9c7e80680e0802ddjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="640" height="412"></div> It is morning here at 4,000m, and an overnight blizzard has left everything white. All around us, the outlines of the <a href="https://nepalitimes.atavist.com/stairway-to-heaven">mountains of Dolpo</a> have been softened by new snow. Below, Phoksundo Lake is partly ice-covered. The snow has made it easier for us to look for snow leopard tracks. These cats are elusive enough, but their fluffy camouflage makes them hard to see even if they are nearby. ‘That the Snow Leopard is, that it is here, that its frosty eyes watch us from the mountain -- that is enough. And in the not-seeing, I am content.’ These lines from <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/science/elements/peter-matthiessens-the-snow-leopard-in-the-age-of-climate-change">Peter Matthiessen’s classic The Snow Leopard</a> echo in my mind, and make me curious: what does this creature that is so hard to see look like? <div class="embed-block"><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109171152/636bdb9f9c7e80680e0802d4jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1000"> </div> <div class="embed-block"><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109171156/636bdba29c7e80680e0802d5jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1502" height="1000"> </div> It is the philosophical Zen-like idea of the ‘not-seeing’ that holds such symbolism in Matthiessen’s book. Its powerful description of the animal that is there but not there, that you look for but cannot see. It reminds us of our own ephemeral presence in the eternity of nature, of being here today, gone tomorrow. Like the tracks on the snow that indicate that the being is nearby, its proof will be erased soon enough with the warmth of the sun. All that will remain is the memory of our presence, and the flash of fur on an icy crag. <div class="embed-block"><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109171156/636bdba69c7e80680e0802d6jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1000"> </div> <div class="embed-block"><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109171156/636bdba99c7e80680e0802d7jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1001"> </div> <div class="embed-block"><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109171156/636bdbac9c7e80680e0802d8jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1503" height="1000"> </div> The snow leopard is one of the world’s most elusive and rare cats. It is sparsely distributed across 12 countries in Central Asia and the Himalaya, admirably adapted to its high and rugged range at elevations of 3,000-4,500m. The snow leopard has become not just a professional quest for my sister <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/regular-columns/GUEST-COLUMN/Shey-Phoksundo-national-park-may-soon-become-a-bus-park,1036">Tshiring Lhamu Lama</a>, but also a personal journey. She is a Snow leopard researcher and conservationist, and founder of <a href="http://www.snowleopardjourneys.com/" target="_blank">Snow Leopard Journeys</a>. As luck would have it, she invited me to join her to spend three winter months earlier this year in our birthplace of <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/Nepali-Times-Buzz/saving-shey-phoksundo-in-nepal,3596">Phoksundo</a> to document her research, and to plan for a Snow Leopard Conservation Trek next year. <div class="embed-block"><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109171156/636bdbaf9c7e80680e0802d9jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1000"> </div> There is an easier way to see a snow leopard: through camera traps that we installed. But there is nothing to beat the sight of a snow leopard in the flesh. It was after a month of stalking and tracking that I had my first encounter on 28 February. The coronavirus pandemic had spread from China to Europe by then, but up here in remote Dolpo, we had no idea. I was alone, scanning the ridges and checking up on the motion-detection camera inside a small cave. It was 6pm and already getting dark when, right at the entrance to the cave, was a large cat that looked like a furry cloud trailing a long curly tail. We were face-to-face. The leopard was as surprised to see me as I was. My happiness at seeing this apparition overcame my fear. Was it real? Was it an illusion? Did I really see it? In slow motion, I stretched my hand to grab my camera. The leopard noticed my movement, and leapt away noiselessly, disappearing up into the cliffs above. I did manage a grainy photo as it bolted off – visual proof to myself that I had actually seen what I had just seen. We sighted snow leopards four more times this winter. I will never forget its haunting yowl echoing from the cliffs overlooking Phoksundo Lake. Even when we did not hear it, the leopard’s ghostly presence was all around us. It would pass through our village, marking and depositing scat, but it would disappear before we noticed it was there. “It looks like he is challenging us, teasing us, playing hide and seek,” Tshiring said. <div class="embed-block"><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109171156/636bdbb39c7e80680e0802dajpeg.jpg" alt="" width="2962" height="1500"> </div> <div class="embed-block"><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109171156/636bdbb69c7e80680e0802dbjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1516" height="1000"> </div> <div class="embed-block"><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109171156/636bdbb99c7e80680e0802dcjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="640" height="416"></div> <div class="embed-block"><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109171156/636bdbbc9c7e80680e0802ddjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="640" height="412"></div> My sister has been to every corner of Dolpo, where even our locals have not yet been, to research snow leopards. We were all inspired by <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/Nepali-Times-Buzz/saving-shey-phoksundo-in-nepal,3596" target="_blank">George Schaller</a> and Peter Matthiessen, who passed through our village of Phoksundo in 1973, long before either of us were born. Schaller’s study of the blue sheep and Matthiessen’s The Snow Leopard have been the inspiration for Tshiring’s conservation work. In 2016, she joined Schaller’s team which was retracing his 1973 trip, and had a chance to carry forward her study into snow leopards. “Throughout my research in Dolpo, our people would ask me why we need to save these predators that kill our yaks and sheep, and which do not give us any milk or food,” Tshiring tells me. She tried to explain to the herders the importance of maintaining the ecological balance of these mountains, and how the snow leopard is at the top of the food chain. She has seen two snow leopard cubs being dragged out of the lair and killed, and we have a camera shot of another snow leopard trailing a nylon rope from a trap around its waist. This has given her work even more of a sense of urgency, and she is convinced that snow leopard conservation can only happen if the local communities are involved in protecting the animal. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kiIwR3LeEtM&amp;feature=youtu.be&amp;fbclid=IwAR0EVujKi0ZU2XHo32PDtpnVTm9jr3MwVK0WjFt2OLbfd4ZHvFKgNN9l1So They may be convinced about helping protecting the animals if they see benefits from its conservation through <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/bon-voyage/" target="_blank">wildlife tourism</a>. &nbsp;Trekking is becoming the mainstay of Dolpo’s economy now, even though this year there have been no tourists and no income because of the Covid-19 crisis. But for next year and beyond, Tshiring is convinced that the Snow Leopard Conservation Trek to Phoksundo Lake can <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/dazzling-dolpo/" target="_blank">attract premium tourists</a> from all over the world, bringing jobs and income to locals. This, in turn, will convince them of the value of protecting the habitat of the snow leopard in Nepal’s <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/new-high-way-to-dolpo/" target="_blank">largest district bordering the Tibet Plateau</a>. Last winter, our main aim was to engage and involve local herders through employment opportunities which might change their perception about snow leopards into the protection of these magnificent cats. Snow Leopard Journeys will not just create jobs, but also plough 10% of its income for further snow leopard conservation work by sustaining herder livelihoods. <div class="embed-block"><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109171156/636bdbbf9c7e80680e0802dejpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1000"> </div> <a href="http://snowleopardjourney.com/" target="_blank">snowleopardjourney.com</a>&nbsp; <a href="mailto:snowleopardjourney.dolpo@gmail.com" target="_blank">snowleopardjourney.dolpo@gmail.com</a> +977-98 51 32 96 09

Trekking to save Nepal's snow leopards

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6jws9QjVvgQIn another conservation milestone for Nepal, two <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/The-comeback,836">snow leopards</a> were successfully collared recently in Shey Phoksundo National Park of Western Nepal which will help scientists study the impact of the climate crisis on the habitat of the <a href="https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/22732/50664030">endangered big cats</a>.One of the elusive leopards were captured at 4,171m in Bhijer, and fitted with satellite GPS collar, and released into the wild an hour later. Zoologists are already tracking the leopards through satellite telemetry. This is the first time the snow leopard is being tracked via satellite, earlier efforts were by wildlife biologist <a style="background-color: #ffffff; letter-spacing: 0.01em;" href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=5913#.XeXXWIMza70">Rodney Jackson</a> who radio-collared the animals in the 1980s.Read Also: <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/The-comeback,836" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The comeback cats,</a> Kashish Das Shrestha“The Western Himalaya is a priority landscape, with Dolpo having the largest snow leopard population in Nepal. And collaring them will help in research and monitoring to conserve this iconic species in the wild,” said Bishwanath Oli, Secretary at Nepal’s Ministry of Forests and Environment.The first snow leopard weighing 38kg was named Zeborong after the local Snow Leopard Conservation Committee in the region. Locals named the second snow leopard Samling after dolpo’s oldest monastery,  Samling weighed 33kg and was captured at 3,885m in Ngyong.Said Gopal Prakash Bhattarai, Director General of the Department of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation: “Data generated from these collars will be crucial in understanding the spatial <a style="background-color: #ffffff; letter-spacing: 0.01em;" href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/page/studying-snow-leopards-in-Nepal">ecology of snow leopards</a> in Dolpo and bridging the existing information gap in the Western Himalayan Landscape.”		
										<img width="405" height="649" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108151112/636a640e9c7e80680e0598b5jpeg.jpg" alt=""/>Zeborong and Shyamling will be closely monitored by conservation biologists who are hoping that comparing their movement with Jackson’s study from nearly 40 years ago will enable them to study the impact of climate change on the leopards’ movement patterns, prey preference, home ranges and trans-boundary corridors. “With growing infrastructure development across the country, information received from the collaring will be key in identifying implications of linear infrastructure in snow leopard habitats, human-snow leopard interface and mitigation measures,” said Ghana S Gurung, Country Representative of WWF Nepal. “Besides contributing towards the Global Snow Leopard and Ecosystem Protection Program (GSLEP), the data will also help determine how snow leopard conservation moves ahead in Nepal in the face of climate change.”The collaring expedition was led by the Government of Nepal in partnership with WWF Nepal, National Trust for Nature Conservation, and citizen scientists from the local Snow Leopard Conservation Committees. WWF-UK, WWF Belgium, WWF Canada and WWF Australia, WWF Nepal provided financial support for the collaring.

Satellite tracking snow leopards in Nepal to study climate impact

<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108131136/636a4e149c7e80680e04fc98jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="2400" height="1621"/><figcaption>PHOTO: JOANNA VAN GRUISEN</figcaption></figure>After walking to Jomsom in 1974, my next foray was to Langtang. I went better prepared this time, remembering to bring a hat and wear socks inside my humble canvas shoes.The path was precipitous, and packed by centuries of human and animal footprints. It wound through the towering forests of Nepal’s mid-mountains, taking detours into the hillside for stony stream crossings and traversing upwards into the thinning air with tantalising glimpses of rocky outcrops and soaring white peaks.In late spring, the woods were heavy with red rhododendrons, white daphne and yellow bamboo. The pervasive calls of Himalayan ravens and crows, kag, haunted the landscape. Tangled creepers and buttressed tree roots reminiscent of Tolkien’s Hobbit sent my mind skidding off into a trekkers’ trance, a flight of fancy involving mythical monsters and waning moons.But mostly I was just concentrating on putting one foot in front of another, and gasping for air.“These people must be stupid,” observed Pertemba, as we passed more men bent under the weight of bulky loads secured by a woven canvas strap across their foreheads, driving their shaggy ponies ahead of them down the trail. “Why don’t they use the horses to carry those sacks of grain?”He shook his head, smiling a wide Sherpa smile, dark eyes shining beneath a red baseball cap. Stones dislodged by the horses’ hooves spun noisily and invisibly into the void below, the sound ricocheting across the valley walls. The pungent steam of pony droppings mingled with the scent of warm pine needles and the sound of my laboured breath.It was late that afternoon that I encountered the red panda. It was definitely an encounter, not just any old sighting. Pertemba had gone ahead up the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Langtang_National_Park">Langtang Valley</a> to find us a spot for the night, so I was wandering alone on a friendly stretch of hillside, the last of the fading sunlight filtering through the trees. Startled by a rustle beside the trail, I first noticed a rich orange coat and furry banded tail amidst the dead leaves of the forest floor, followed by a white snout, black nose, striped face and a pair of curious beady eyes. A current of communication passed between us, a taut pause, and he flashed away into the undergrowth.Pertemba and the locals had no idea. It took me some time to identify the creature as a <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/Nepali-Times-Buzz/red-panda-conservation-nepal,1668">red panda</a>, as they are rare, highly threatened and seldom seen in the wild.Even today, wildlife viewing and bird watching in Nepal’s mountain circuits remain a lost opportunity for tourism. There is little overlap between the knowledgeable naturalists of the Tarai national parks and the sherpas (with a small ‘s) who guide our 200,000 or so trekkers with such world-renown capability.Trek guides are adept at getting their clients safely through the day, avoiding altitude sickness, cheerfully cajoling up the inevitable steep climbs, and delivering them in one piece to a lodge or teahouse for the night. On more un-serviced trails, they are super-skilled at setting up camp, wrestling with tents, packing sleeping bags and producing elaborate meals in the middle of nowhere.But few of Nepal’s 16,000 licensed trekking guides know the names of the <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/blogs/kundadixit/2018/02/07/no-tiger-no-mountain/">birds</a>, animals, <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/Nepali-Times-Buzz/years-of-botanical-art,3222">plants and trees</a> along the route, striding past a whole dimension of potential enchantment for their clients.  The opportunity to advocate for conservation, and explain changing lifestyles forged by modern life and climate change, is lost too.Circling eagles and vultures, flashes of woodland birds, and dozens of species of fascinating ferns, mosses and trees are passed unnoticed and unremarked. Trek itineraries disregard adjustments to maximise sightings of the hidden natural world. During my years of addiction to Himalayan trekking, flogging high and low, east and west, that red panda was the first of some of my most intense and unforgettable moments.Enduring an icy January, my brother Nick and I were braving a winter trek high in the Sagarmatha region. Iridescent pheasants and wheeling flocks of doves foraged in the naked fields, and long-tailed magpies scolded us for our intrusion. We spotted shaggy tahr and skittish musk deer driven to lower altitudes by snow and cold.Late one bright night, the eerie call of wolves dragged us from our warm sleeping bags, alerted by the shouts of villagers protecting their stone-corralled yaks. In the full moonlight, I can still see that black outline of two <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/crying-wolf/">Himalayan wolves</a> racing across a white snowfield high above the grey stone houses of Pheriche.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108131136/636a4e189c7e80680e04fc99jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1400" height="844"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>Snow leopards lend their ethereal beauty and spiritual mystery to the high Himalaya, a shadowy powerful presence lurking in undisturbed valleys, though sightings are a precious few. Ghana Shyam Gurung is the WWF network’s global champion for this elusive endangered cat, working with the government on research efforts that ensure Nepal’s snow leopard populations are flourishing, by tracking four individuals in Kangchenjunga to better understand their habits. The closest I came was a glimpse of a pair of snow leopards on a distant rock-strewn ridge during a 2008 trek to Mustang – or so the excited local horsemen assured us.<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108131136/636a4e1c9c7e80680e04fc9ajpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1440" height="1080"><figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108131136/636a4e1f9c7e80680e04fc9bjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1440" height="906"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure><a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/page/studying-snow-leopards-in-Nepal">Snow leopards</a> are never going to be a sure thing for mountain visitors, but viewing red pandas and even wolves could become an exciting feature of Himalayan tourism as their numbers recover, boosting the income of mountain village guides and adding new iconic wildlife attractions to our #VNY2020 lexicon.

Lisa Choegyal

Ever gone wildlife trekking in Nepal?

The daily 10-hour curfew at Tribhuvan International Airport from 8 November that will last five months has affected tourism during Nepal’s peak season, with some hotels and trekking agencies here reporting cancellations into spring next year. The reduced hours at Nepal’s main aviation gateway till 31 March means that a third of all flights have been cut. This has also caused ticket prices to surge by up to eight times of normal fares. For example a Kathmandu-Delhi ticket that used to cost Rs12,000 is now listed at Rs50,000, and even then seats are not available.&nbsp; “Especially if they are here to trek, change in flight dates can cause tourists to miss their connections,” says Jagan Timilsina, who runs a trail running and outdoor education business. &nbsp; Pokhara is feeling the brunt as hotels report last-minute cancellations for November because of flight disorders. Some hoteliers also say although there have been some cancelled trips, most itineraries have been rescheduled.&nbsp; Hari Prasad Sharma Gaire of the local chapter of the Hotel Association of Nepal says the Kathmandu airport closure should have been timed for the off-season. He told us: “Starting construction during the peak tourist season was a mistake and will cause the tourism industry to lose a lot of business. The upgrade could have been spread out over a longer time but closed for fewer hours at night so that disruption was minimal.”&nbsp; Nearly a third of the 1.2 million tourists who visit Nepal annually come to Pokhara, which is also the gateway to Mustang, the Annapurna treks and pilgrimage tourism to Muktinath. Located by scenic lakes with a range of adventure sports like hot air ballooning, paragliding, canyoning, bungee and ziplines, Pokhara is also popular among diaspora Nepalis. “Besides its own attractions, Pokhara is really the hub for central Nepal, and we have been trying to get visitors to extend their stay here,” says Timilsina, who started out as a trekking porter and rose up the ranks to be an expedition guide and entrepreneur. &nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2024111603114_0e071ce63ea9b0a9a7ee76f8c3cea0ff08c6767c41dd09f6bc4413d2db067a60.jpg" data-media-id="editor_0" data-image-id="2024111603114_0e071ce63ea9b0a9a7ee76f8c3cea0ff08c6767c41dd09f6bc4413d2db067a60" data-rendition-name="original" width="3500" height="2333" loading="lazy" alt="Pokhara's tourism woes NT"> <figcaption>Tourist arrivals in Pokhara have slumped since the disruptions at Kathmandu airport due to upgrading work. Photo: KRISHNA MANI BARAL/NEPALI TIMES ARCHIVE</figcaption> </figure>  Even without the Kathmandu airport closure affecting tourist arrivals, Pokhara was already suffering from a decline due to many factors like the poor state of the Prithvi Highway, the shortage of luxury accommodation for high-end tourists, and the reluctance of international airlines to start direct flights to Pokhara despite an expensive new airport that was inaugurated two years ago.&nbsp; “There was a lot of initial excitement on the construction of the international airport,” says Timilsina, “but it hasn’t delivered as expected due to politics. People have invested in nearby businesses, and have faced losses.” India has blocked direct flights from its cities to Pokhara because the facility was built by a Chinese company. Although tourists and pilgrims from India hit record levels this year, the poor state of the highways and the Indian bus accident on the highway to Kathmandu in July that killed 27 pilgrims from Maharashtra state dampened arrival figures. Gaire says, “While tourist arrivals to Pokhara are now approaching pre-Covid levels, we haven’t seen the improvement we were expecting. We need a better marketing strategy. What are our embassies abroad doing?”&nbsp; Indeed, Pokhara used to be a favourite destination for Chinese tourists. There was a boom in arrivals from China before Covid, especially after a popular Chinese tv serial was shot on location here. But arrivals from China have not really recovered since the pandemic because of the economic slowdown there. Promoting Pokhara airport to handle direct flights from Chengdu or Kunming could revive Chinese arrivals.&nbsp; Nepal’s Civil Aviation Authority (CAAN) has used the Kathmandu airport closure as an excuse to arm-twist international airlines to start flying to Bhairawa, which has barely been in operation for two years since it was inaugurated. So far, Fly Dubai, Thai AirAsia, Jazeera and Qatar are flying to Bhairawa, but most use it as a hop before flying on to Kathmandu, which does not reduce congestion at Kathmandu.&nbsp; An ideal situation could have been to get Pokhara to run to full capacity while Kathmandu is partially out of action. Pokhara entrepreneurs are puzzled why the CAAN and the national government have not taken more interest in promoting Pokhara as an alternative to reduce the congestion in Kathmandu. Nepal’s football team that was flying to Dushanbe this week couldn’t get tickets via Delhi, and took a domestic flight to Bhadrapur, crossed over to Bagdogra and flew on to Delhi to catch their flight to Tajikistan.

Pokhara’s tourism woes

An excerpt of a conversation between an anthropologist and linguist Mark Turin, PhD and Lava Deo Awasthi, PhD, the first Chairperson of the Language Commission of Nepal. Nepali Times: What is the role of Nepal’s Language Commission and when was it formed? Lava Deo Awasthi: The Constitution of Nepal (2015) created a Language Commission (LC) with the following four core mandates: (a) to develop eligibility criteria for gaining status as an official language and offer recommendations to the Government of Nepal about the official language(s) in each province; (b) to offer recommendations to the Government about measures to be taken for the conservation, promotion, and development of languages; (c) to suggest possible ways of using mother tongues in education by assessing their stage of development; and, (d) to conduct studies, carry out research and perform monitoring functions about the response to the constitutional provisions for the federalisation of languages in Nepal. The Commission was founded in 2016 and I was appointed as the Chairperson of the Commission in September of the same year by the Cabinet of Ministers. What in your own professional and educational background helped to prepare you for the role? I have worked with the Government of Nepal for about 30 years, alongside holding teaching appointments at universities in Nepal. Prior to assuming the role of the Chairperson of the Commission, I served as permanent Secretary to the Government of Nepal and worked as the Chief Administrator of the Central Development Region. I was appointed as Director General of the Department of Education and completed my assignments as Joint Secretary at the Planning, Monitoring and Educational Administration Divisions of the Ministry of Education.&nbsp; In addition, I have taught courses as a visiting professor at Tribhuvan University and Kathmandu University for more than three decades. Later, I also started supervising MPhil and PhD students at the Far Western University in Mahendranagar, Kanchanpur. My PhD project from the Danish University of Education was dedicated to making sense of Nepal’s social construct and commitment to multilingualism, exploring the persistence of monolingual school practices in the face of constitutional promises and state commitments to multilingualism. I conducted a survey of Nepal’s languages and carried out a qualitative study of the Tharu language in the district of Bardia. I analysed language policy statements and explored classroom pedagogies in schools. I documented how teachers showed a tendency to resist change and maintain the status quo because they were not consulted when new educational language policies were introduced. Teachers also exhibited a deeply-held adherence to the Gurukul education system which appears to have been harnessed as a way to resist newer pedagogical ideologies imported from the West. Recognising how engrained these rich traditions of knowledge transmission are, I wanted to know how students’ engagement in the learning process appeared to have dwindled, creating a gap between children’s home languages and the language(s) of the school. Whilst statutory provisions for education in the mother tongue were oriented towards promotion, classroom pedagogies remained resolutely monolingual and exclusionary. The result was that multilingual education policies that had been introduced in Nepal did not result in meaningful changes in classroom practices. My research was also a reflection of childhood traumas I had experienced at the earliest stage of formal education. My home language, Baitadeli, has a strong oral tradition and no written literature. English is my fifth language in terms of exposure and competence, and my home district of Baitadi is well-known for its loyalty to the local language. I had to drop out of school after completing my sixth grade. Staying at home, I received much attention from my family and had much greater exposure to my native language, culture and environment. My overall impression is that dropping out of school had a surprisingly positive impact on my life. The opportunity offered a surprising dividend for me as I gained mastery in my mother tongue and received extensive exposure to folk literature and Indigenous knowledge and survival skills, cultivating my interest in language, culture, literature and local cosmologies.&nbsp; Now that I reflect on it, I appreciate how language has always played a key role in my life. I grew up in a multilingual environment: brought up with Baitadeli, Hindi, Sanskrit, Nepali and English. Language played a major part in my decision to leave school and my later success is closely linked to my competence in several languages. It was rewarding to be at home with my family as I deepened my understanding of native language and culture, which in turn helped me to harness and refine my art of living. Languages matter so much to me because they are both software and hardware. Later, when I was in secondary school, I realised that my command of my home language contributed significantly to enhancing my Nepali and English. I used my mother tongue as a form of linguistic capital to strengthen my competence in both English and Nepali.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2024111811110_5400ba54792bf9e4854e1c1effde8bf09804e99647f23513700b450cc49adc4a.jpg" data-media-id="editor_0" data-image-id="2024111811110_5400ba54792bf9e4854e1c1effde8bf09804e99647f23513700b450cc49adc4a" data-rendition-name="original" width="1000" height="1500" loading="lazy" alt="Dr Lava Deo Awasthi"> </figure>  In your term as the Commission’s first Chairperson, what were your strategic goals and objectives? My first strategic goal was to create an environment conducive to implementing the provisions of the Constitution of Nepal in relation to language. My priority was to prepare a detailed action plan for my six-year tenure in consultation with language stakeholders, including language experts, professionals, activists, Indigenous community members and representatives of relevant national and local-level institutions. The Commission formed a body of high-level advisors to ensure that the Chairperson’s work was well-informed and credible. The advisors to the committee had highly visible professional and social reputations in Nepal and had much experience in the field of language conservation, promotion, research and development. Another strategy we adopted was to establish close institutional linkages with federal, provincial, and local level governments for collecting opinions and disseminating information widely.&nbsp; What critical issues did you have to consider while discharging your duty? When Nepal’s new Constitution was drafted, a number of concerns could not be adequately addressed. These related to the conservation of languages, the recognition of official languages at the provincial level, and the use of mother tongues at federal, provincial, and local levels. These unresolved issues and matters pertaining to the federalizsation of Nepal’s languages were passed on to the Language Commission to address and resolve.&nbsp; Regarding the recommendations for official languages, a five-year timeline had been set by the Constitution. With great effort, we succeeded in having all provinces agree to recognise their official languages as per the recommendations of the Commission.&nbsp; What were your greatest achievements during your term? One of the greatest achievements was that we succeeded in setting a language agenda at all levels. Nepal’s language communities and other stakeholders expressed the view that this was the first time their languages were recognised and their voices heard by the state. People participated in debates and discussed issues relating to language that in all likelihood had never before happened in their lifetimes, at least not in ways that were supported by the state. We encouraged people to speak in their own language(s) and provided translators during plenary sessions and group discussions. Another major achievement was developing criteria for the status planning of languages at federal, provincial, and local levels, and to recommend 11 province-level official languages, in addition to the Nepali language. Similarly, a notable achievement was recognising Indigenous languages spoken by smaller communities, all of whom faced ongoing marginalisation and high levels of endangerment. The Commission identified 9 new languages that had not been reported in the 2011 census, and provided a framework for recognising official languages within a municipality. The commission emphasised the need for documentation and digitisation of languages for developing corpora and archives at national and sub-national levels.&nbsp; Languages of historical importance as well as classical languages were given recognition for their protection, growth, and development. Recommendations were made for the conservation, promotion and development of Nepal’s marginalised languages that are threatened by majority languages and for those languages that hold particular power at local and global levels. Recommendations were also made for how best to safeguard Nepal’s languages from the ever-growing spread of English and other powerful, globalising languages.&nbsp; A further important aspect of the Commission’s work was to emphasise mother tongue medium instruction in schools across the nation. Recognising the role of language in children’s cognitive, socio-emotional and academic development, the Commission suggested strategies for linking schools with ward-level language clusters for use in the classroom. The importance of nurturing and respecting a child’s first language was reiterated in the Commission’s recommendations for children’s learning and all-round development. By the end of my term, a remarkable change could be observed in terms of building trust within and across Nepal’s diverse language communities. A network of language groups and stakeholders across the country proved to be a powerful way of bringing all language communities under one roof for a collective review of and response to the process of federalising language policy. The many language stakeholders across Nepal appreciated the opportunity to work within a coordinated framework, and—feeling empowered by this—seemed genuinely enthusiastic about the initiatives taken by the Commission.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2024111811114_b45297fdd2fedf17bdb6313e495a1062c0d87f1a19fa5349f871f220b75f93ab.jpg" data-media-id="editor_1" data-image-id="2024111811114_b45297fdd2fedf17bdb6313e495a1062c0d87f1a19fa5349f871f220b75f93ab" data-rendition-name="original" width="1500" height="1000" loading="lazy" alt="Dr Lava Deo Awasthi NT"> </figure>  What were the most significant challenges for you as Chairperson? One of the major challenges was winning people’s trust in advocating for the mission of the Language Commission. I faced considerable resistance as I sought to emphasise the use of native languages in families and communities. While the Commission advocated for multilingualism and promoted linguistic diversity, the prevailing policy circles and central level institutions had been deeply influenced by a one-language discourse and ideology of Nepali only. The spread of English also poses a huge threat to Nepal’s languages. However, people in power do not seem to see this as a problem. They tend to abandon their own languages in preference for English. The way that Nepal’s municipalities are increasingly introducing English as a medium of instruction at the earliest stage of a child’s school-based education has proven to be detrimental to their cognitive development, socio-emotional wellbeing and academic success. Most of Nepal’s elites have been heavily influenced by the spread of English and remain unaware about its impact on their home languages as well as on the inter-generational transmission of Indigenous languages in the country. I wish that we could have produced more compelling evidence to show the consequences of making poor policy choices for our children’s education. Demystification calls for a collective response. To make change happen across this entire, complex and federalising country was daunting work and left like a race against time. I feel that I could have done more to offer concrete examples in favour of using the mother tongue as a medium of children’s education at the earliest stages of a child’s education. What do you see the Language Commission achieving in the next 5-10 years? The Language Commission will have to ensure that all of its key recommendations are implemented at all levels of government. In 10 years’ time, all seven of Nepal’s provinces will have their official languages in place. These languages will also be recognised as languages of federal business, alongside Nepali. I anticipate that all official languages in the federal and provincial systems will have a national portal for inter-language corpora using machine translation to fulfil their federal, provincial and local level language functions, and that all languages spoken in Nepal will be represented through a digital database in the national archive. The Office of Statistics will monitor the status of Nepal’s languages over time. By the end of the next decade, each municipality in the country will have recognised one or two official languages at the local level, based on speech populations. Other local languages will have received community-level legal recognition and official status to fulfil their functional roles. Languages that are highly endangered or at risk will be entitled to receive state grants for enhancing local level capabilities to encourage families and young learners to speak the language. Incentive schemes will be introduced in municipalities that promote language within the family and at home. Inter-generational transmission of languages will have received welcome and timely attention across Nepal. It is my hope that all schools—public and private—will have introduced mother tongue medium instruction at the earliest stage of school education, at least up to class five. Nepali, English and other national as well as classical and foreign languages will be taught as subjects. The existing policy of English medium education at the early stage of education will be abolished. The Government of Nepal will be held accountable if the number of speakers of any language decreases or if local communities face language loss and greater endangerment. Under the aegis of the Language Commission, a Centre for Language Research and Innovation will be created with world-class facilities for language documentation and archiving in collaboration with Tribhuvan University’s Central Department of Linguistics and other relevant institutions. Harnessing the vastness of Nepal’s linguistic diversity, the Language Commission will morph into a centre of excellence for national and international communities to engage in collaborative language research, to share experiences and document best practices at in service of global linguistic diversity and Nepal’s many Indigenous languages.

Languages are both software and hardware

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

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.”