Khumjung Secondary School became the the top-performing school in Solukhumbu district last week in the 2024 Secondary Education Examination (SEE), achieving a 100% pass rate with exceptionally high personal scores.&nbsp; Khumjung’s 27 students, comprising 15 girls and 12 boys, had two pupils scoring A+, 12 scoring A, 11 scoring B+, and two scoring a B. Khamsu Wongdu Sherpa’s A+ score of 3.9 Grade Point Average (GPA) was the highest for a boy in the district. Solukhumbu topped the 14 districts of Kosi Province with a pass rate of 87%. Nationwide, 47.86% of students who took the SEE in 2024 passed the examinations.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2024070303070_d6f4bcc95050bcf73f068b2c73ef879add678ec64af5ecd90f7c865c7f454a8e.jpg" data-media-id="editor_0" data-image-id="2024070303070_d6f4bcc95050bcf73f068b2c73ef879add678ec64af5ecd90f7c865c7f454a8e" data-rendition-name="original" width="1453" height="1312" loading="lazy" alt="Khumjung Secondary School NT"> <figcaption>Khumjung Secondary School achieved a 100% pass rate to become the the top-performing school in Solukhumbu district in the 2024 SEE.</figcaption> </figure>   <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2024070303070_c4d952395ab2709918d2d58fdb3d65afb0e289f4898485524bfa680de61501c9.jpg" data-media-id="editor_1" data-image-id="2024070303070_c4d952395ab2709918d2d58fdb3d65afb0e289f4898485524bfa680de61501c9" data-rendition-name="original" width="2048" height="1536" loading="lazy" alt="Khumjung Secondary School NT"> <figcaption>Teachers attend a school based training programme at a computer lab.</figcaption> </figure>  Much credit for the results have gone to former Headmaster Ngawang Dorjee Rai, and the new incumbent, Kancha Nuru Sherpa and his team. Unlike other community schools in Nepal, the students of Khumbu Pasang Lhamu Rural Municipality take the exams in English. “We are very proud of our exemplary Quality Educational Programme, which is supported by the New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade,” said Alexander Hillary, grandson of Edmund Hillary who runs Himalayan Trust in New Zealand that supports the school. “We aspire for the best, we listen to what is needed, we discuss with local leaders, and we rigorously monitor and evaluate in order to get the best results.” It would have been the great grandfathers of today’s high-achieving Khumjung students who long ago answered Edmund Hillary’s request of what he could do to help the Sherpas. Their answer was: “Our children have eyes but they cannot see. We would like you to open their eyes by building a school in our village.”  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2024070303070_3dc812d4e33a67e9fcd51768ef8f0ac833eaeeb487997909d153785d7fb40fc0.jpg" data-media-id="editor_2" data-image-id="2024070303070_3dc812d4e33a67e9fcd51768ef8f0ac833eaeeb487997909d153785d7fb40fc0" data-rendition-name="original" width="1000" height="1052" loading="lazy" alt="Khumjung Secondary School NT"> <figcaption>Edmund Hillary, his family, and friends took a hands-on approach to the school's construction.</figcaption> </figure>  Last year during the Everest 70th Anniversary celebrations, pupils of Khumjung Secondary School took time out from their study schedule to welcome local dignitaries. Thronging their sprawling school compound in the Everest region were descendants of Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay, who together first scaled the world’s highest mountain in 1953. Also attending was former New Zealand prime minister, former head of UNDP and patron of Himalayan Trust, Helen Clark. “I am so impressed by the wonderful results in national examinations by Solukhumbu students,” Clark said this week. “I am pleased that the Himalayan Trust has long supported schools in the region so that young people can develop to their full potential.” The Khumjung School started as a two-room ‘schoolhouse in the clouds’ -- the very first classroom in the Khumbu Edmund Hillary built with his own hands, with family and friends in 1961. Reimagined as a New Zealand-designed Visitor Centre, the modest tin building’s colourful displays feature the legacy of the Sherpas and the history of Mt Everest.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2024070303070_0af6c86bcab6cd9d98b936e38e15e8895b5cd26ba8384c7074d075e25cbd3ff0.jpg" data-media-id="editor_3" data-image-id="2024070303070_0af6c86bcab6cd9d98b936e38e15e8895b5cd26ba8384c7074d075e25cbd3ff0" data-rendition-name="original" width="2000" height="1125" loading="lazy" alt="Khumjung Secondary School NT"> <figcaption>The aluminium building of the school built in 1961 and the school today (below).</figcaption> </figure>   <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2024070303070_88a9424100084ebaff1cebd6723c683f4b331cfda1ed812639684efec226197a.jpg" data-media-id="editor_4" data-image-id="2024070303070_88a9424100084ebaff1cebd6723c683f4b331cfda1ed812639684efec226197a" data-rendition-name="original" width="4032" height="2268" loading="lazy" alt="Khumjung Secondary School NT"> </figure>  The Himalayan Trust supports 108 schools in five rural municipalities of Solukhumbu with resources and equipment, training and salary support for teachers and scholarships for students to pursue higher studies. Pasang Dawa Sherpa, Chair of Himalayan Trust Nepal says: “We are delighted that Sir Ed’s humble beginnings have reached such impressive heights. Our schools can easily match the standard of Kathmandu-based schools with their overall achievements.” In Chaurikharka below Lukla, the Mahendra Jyoti Secondary School came second after Khumjung. Of their 52 pupils, 12 passed with an A grade, 36 with B+, and four with B.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2024070303070_ded0fbd4147eb45bb389080989a79432f41662b39308b1ca38f458a92af784e4.jpg" data-media-id="editor_5" data-image-id="2024070303070_ded0fbd4147eb45bb389080989a79432f41662b39308b1ca38f458a92af784e4" data-rendition-name="original" width="1275" height="867" loading="lazy" alt="Khumjung Secondary School NT"> <figcaption>The first batch of students ofKhumju Secondary School.</figcaption> </figure>  Deputy Mayor Tashi Lhamu Sherpa says: “We are so pleased with these overall results. High standards of education give our people options for their future.”&nbsp; With the support of the New Zealand-based EduTech Nepal, 43 computer labs have been set up in Solukhumbu schools, integrating technology with teaching and learning. Says founder Mike Chisholm: “The EduTech mission is to transform education with technology. We are thrilled with the recent SEE results, particularly the encouraging marks for ICT and computer courses.” The Himalayan Trust is the Nepali NGO that implements these projects, navigating within the national school system. Although aware of its limitations, flaws and curriculum controversies, the accomplishments of Solukhumbu students are being recognised whilst hoping for reform and future improvements.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2024070303070_81a5127a570cca236c77338e01fffbb2214fc18c58b5c8838472f0f117871f21.jpg" data-media-id="editor_6" data-image-id="2024070303070_81a5127a570cca236c77338e01fffbb2214fc18c58b5c8838472f0f117871f21" data-rendition-name="original" width="1000" height="1467" loading="lazy" alt="Khumjung Secondary School NT"> <figcaption>Peter Hillary and his son Alexander Hillary are Chairman and CEO of Himalayan Trust New Zealand, raising funds for Nepal including from the NZ government. Photo LISA CHOEGYAL</figcaption> </figure>  Besides the ones in Khumjung and Chaurikharka, Himalayan Trust has built 42 schools in Solukhumbu including in Kharikhola, Nunthala, Junbesi, Loding, Bhakanje, and Thame. It has also supported the establishment of Solukhumbu Multiple Campus, says Mingma Norbu Sherpa, CEO of Himalayan Trust Nepal. Nepal’s first female warden conservation officer Sushma Rana Magar manages Sagarmatha National Park from her headquarters above Namche, and says: “I hope pupils will study conservation, I would love to see more Sherpas becoming wardens and district forest officers in future.” In a very different world today, and education has given Sherpas options and confidence to lead in many fields beyond mountaineering and trekking. Graduates have excelled as teachers, nurses, doctors, dentists, physiotherapists, hoteliers, engineers, scientists, singers, and professors. They serve as government ministers, ambassadors, honorary consuls and political leaders. Sherpas own airlines, operate helicopters and fly jets.&nbsp; Says Edmund Hillary’s son Peter: “My father’s vision was to deliver a strong education program to the Everest region of Nepal and secure a brighter future for as many children and young people as possible. I think he would be immensely pleased with these results, as are we.’&nbsp;

Lisa Choegyal

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Hillary school attains Himalayan heights

Just as the winter off-season begins, the pristine beauty of the <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepal-s-other-attraction-the-night-sky">Gokyo</a> trek is even more apparent because of the absence of crowds. But there is also another absence: of ice and snow.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2023121603120_1f2b8c6351ec9473789a76ebb3d4e8cb13d0eb6d1bd6a0bd6dfaae2b464ab29c.jpg" data-media-id="editor_1" data-image-id="2023121603120_1f2b8c6351ec9473789a76ebb3d4e8cb13d0eb6d1bd6a0bd6dfaae2b464ab29c" data-rendition-name="original" width="1500" height="1000" loading="lazy" alt="Go Gokyo"> <figcaption>1. The view from Gokyo Ri (5,357m) looking north towards Mt Cho Oyu (8,188m, partly hidden) and Mt Ghyachung Kang (7,952m) at sunset. </figcaption> </figure>  Gokyo is always less crowded than the Everest Base Camp Trail, but it is completely deserted in winter. A trek last week that coincided with the <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/editorial/unabated-greenwashing-at-cop28">COP28 Climate Summit in Dubai </a>was also a stark reminder of what the inability of world economies to completely and immediately phase out fossil fuels is doing to the Himalaya. Read also: <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=15649">Winter Wonderland</a>, by Katy Elliott  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2023121603120_52ba7329a12c405e93c17a01b123af514b11958b326ac687f1220843b6e1c542.png" data-media-id="editor_4" data-image-id="2023121603120_52ba7329a12c405e93c17a01b123af514b11958b326ac687f1220843b6e1c542" data-rendition-name="original" width="862" height="676" loading="lazy" alt="Go Gokyo"> </figure>  Often overlooked due to the popularity of the Everest trek, the Gokyo trail deserves a status beyond a hidden gem. Following a flight to <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/more-than-luck-in-lukla">Lukla</a>, trekkers can witness the diverse beauty of the Khumbu region in this 11-day trek. The route takes visitors across the famed ‘Hillary Bridge’, through the town of Namche, past roadside shrines, the shores of the five picturesque Gokyo lakes, and finally the peak of Gokyo Ri (5,357m) from where an almost absurdly cinematic panorama of Cho Oyu, Ghyachung Kang and Everest glow in the orange light of a setting sun.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2023121603124_9f0509eda7b017f5c91f2af62098c07b946551239e5e5c3b7290c5022993fc64.jpg" data-media-id="editor_6" data-image-id="2023121603124_9f0509eda7b017f5c91f2af62098c07b946551239e5e5c3b7290c5022993fc64" data-rendition-name="original" width="1500" height="1000" loading="lazy" alt="Go Gokyo"> <figcaption>2. Mt Kangtega (6,782m) and Mt Thamserku (6,608m) looking south from the moraine of the Ngzumba Glacier in Gokyo. </figcaption> </figure>  Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/if-the-ice-is-gone-we-are-done">"If the ice is gone, we are done"</a> by Nepali Times At 5,000m the five Gokyo Lakes are the world’s highest freshwater lake system and are considered sacred by both Hindus and Buddhists alike with the waters believed to be the residence of Naag Devata, the Serpent God. The lakes are astride the <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/global-heating-melts-mountains">Ngozumba Glacier</a>, Nepal’s longest, which has receded and shrunk dramatically in the past 25 years due to global warming.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2023121603124_18c30d4ff4fa38627610cbb69357ae6209c3ac89decbc42e65f3eabcf32621ce.jpg" data-media-id="editor_9" data-image-id="2023121603124_18c30d4ff4fa38627610cbb69357ae6209c3ac89decbc42e65f3eabcf32621ce" data-rendition-name="original" width="600" height="900" loading="lazy" alt="Go Gokyo"> <figcaption>3. Namche Bazar, the gateway to the Upper Khumbu and Gokyo is nestled in an amphitheater below Mt Thamserku.</figcaption> </figure>  Like other glaciers in the Himalaya, Ngozumba is now debris-covered as it thaws, and dotted with ice caverns and ponds. The Himalaya is dubbed the ‘Third Pole’ because it has the third largest storage of water as ice after the polar regions. But at present rates of temperature increase, climate scientists say these mountains will lose two-thirds of their remaining ice during this century.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2023121603128_a333e27e26ba44b5745195bec07f88440e7e09bcff71b1efe6b651e8729ad33b.jpg" data-media-id="editor_10" data-image-id="2023121603128_a333e27e26ba44b5745195bec07f88440e7e09bcff71b1efe6b651e8729ad33b" data-rendition-name="original" width="600" height="900" loading="lazy" alt="Go Gokyo"> <figcaption>4. Hotels have sprouted on the shores of Gokyo's main lake, replacing the yak herder's summer huts. This is one of the highest settlements in the world, occupied for two-thirds of the year with residents moving to lower villages during the winter off-season. Mt Taboche (6000m) and Mt Cholatse (6440m) loom over the glacier. </figcaption> </figure>  &nbsp;Over two billion people across Asia are dependent on the Himalaya and Tibetan Plateau for water that flow down rivers that originate here. The tangible impact of the climate emergency is readily apparent all along the Gokyo trek, not just in the melting of the permanent ice, but also the lack of precipitation.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20231215151216_83417ded1111fd19aaa2b321625681fedd3a1c7aa47f28c44444a343d691e3d2.jpg" data-media-id="editor_11" data-image-id="20231215151216_83417ded1111fd19aaa2b321625681fedd3a1c7aa47f28c44444a343d691e3d2" data-rendition-name="original" width="1500" height="1000" loading="lazy" alt="Go Gokyo"> <figcaption>5. The last light of the day highlighting Mt Everest, Nuptse and Lhotse 20km away, captured from the Gokyo Ri last week. </figcaption> </figure>

Go Gokyo

<img title="" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110121144/636ce4569c7e80680e0966a4png.png" alt=""/>Namche Bazar, the gateway to Mt Everest, is currently abuzz with climbers and trekkers as they prepare to head towards Base Camp after the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/didnt-visit-nepal-year-2020/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">pandemic closed Nepal’s tourism for a year</a>.The narrow stone-paved streets of this township at 3,500m are once more filled with trekkers and climbers from all over the world, spending a day or two acclimatising before they head up the trail.The start of the season has not been very lucky. <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/nepal-is-going-up-in-smoke/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Thick smoke from forest fires</a> have disrupted flights to Lukla, and the haze has blown up to Pheriche at 4,300m, blurring views of Ama Dablam and Everest along the way.Many spend their day hiking up to the Everest View Hotel in Syangboche and back to their lodgings to get used to the altitude.The Khumbu region <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/nepal-open-for-trekking-from-17-october/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">opened to international trekkers</a> only in October 2020 after <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/unlimited-flights-to-nepal-from-17-october/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">international flights resumed</a>, but there were few who ventured here till now.<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepals-smoky-mountains/">Nepal's smoky mountains</a>, Nepali TimesTotal <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/survive-revive-thrive/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">tourist numbers in Nepal dropped</a> from over 1.1 million in 2019 to fewer than 230,000 last year --- and most of them arrived before the lockdown January-March. This year, the last three months have seen only 35,000 tourists.But with the start of the spring climbing season, there has been an uptick in the number of climbers and trekkers to the Khumbu.So far, 167 international climbers have got permits to climb Everest, with 39 climbers on Lhotse and 23 on Nuptse. All of them, as well as high altitude guides and support staff, will be sharing Base Camp on the Khumbu Glacier, which is bustling with activity again as it prepares to host 700 people.Despite the slow start to the season, <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/capital-of-sherpaland-gets-a-makeover/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Namche Bazar</a> is emerging from its enforced closure. Sonam Norbu runs a shop for climbers and trekkers in one of the stone-paved alleys of the town."It has been only 20 days since we opened up. Most people here actually closed their shops and went down to Kathmandu during the Covid crisis," he says.<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/nepal-tourism-may-take-5-years-to-recover/">Nepal tourism may take 5 years to recover</a>, Nepali TimesBecause of the amenities it provides, Namche is a resting destination for most climbers and trekkers on the Everest Trail. Even as some climbers head up the Khumbu Icefall, other climbers who are booked on the mountains are still arriving.This has been attributed to the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepal-should-now-allow-visa-on-arrival/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">massive confusion around Nepal’s Covid-19 quarantine and testing rules</a>  Last month, the Ministry of Tourism finally <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/tourist-visas-now-open-for-nepal/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">allowed visa on arrival</a>, and <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/nepal-relaxes-entry-for-tourists/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">lifted quarantine restrictions</a> for those who had been vaccinated.Even though the numbers of trekkers is picking up, Namche locals say it is much quieter than previous years. Lodge and restaurant owners here are worried about the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/nepal-braces-for-its-2nd-covid-wave/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">second wave</a> as well as the wildfire affecting arrivals.Nepal has been recording its worst-ever pollution levels in history, with the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/wildfires-in-nepal-cause-air-quality-to-plummet/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">AQI index constantly hitting the 'hazardous' mark </a>for consecutive weeks now.For those like Sonam Norbu, the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/nepal-hopes-for-tourism-rebound-in-2021/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">resurgence of tourism</a> is hope of a revival of the region’s paralysed economy.Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/survive-2020-revive-in-2021-and-thrive-in-2022/">“Survive 2020, revive in 2021 and thrive in 2022”</a>, Alisha Sijapati

Despite Covid-19, climbers are back on Everest

<img width="640" height="360" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109181112/636bdfe69c7e80680e083dc6jpeg.jpg" alt=""/><img width="640" height="360" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109181112/636bdfe89c7e80680e083dc7jpeg.jpg" alt="">Excavators at work on Thamdada, 24km south of Lukla, despite the fact that the Khumbu Municipality has run out of money to complete the Phaplu-Chaurikharka road. All photos: SURENDRA PHUYALExcavators are clawing through sheer cliff faces, rocks tumble down to the Dudh Kosi below, and once in a while the sound of dynamite echoes in the gorge. A new road linking the town of Chaurikharka just below Lukla to the rest of the country is due to open by December 2022, and work is going on despite the pandemic.Although the road will not enter the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/more-trekkers-more-trees/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/more-trekkers-more-trees/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1604554544964000&amp;usg=AFQjCNHgDnPyoWm5s33cFYmGv67Emd96qQ">Sagarmatha National Park</a> which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, it will make trekking and climbing in the Everest region more accessible. But it will turn Lukla airfield largely redundant, while locals fear an erosion of the region’s Sherpa culture, architecture and lifestyle.On the Chinese side of Mt Everest, there is a <a href="https://www.nationalgeographic.com/adventure/adventure-blog/2016/05/04/how-the-everest-experience-is-different-in-china-versus-nepal/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nationalgeographic.com/adventure/adventure-blog/2016/05/04/how-the-everest-experience-is-different-in-china-versus-nepal/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1604554544964000&amp;usg=AFQjCNEvh2A0em2QlpaKZ1Fq-HEk8HTALA">highway from Lhasa</a> right up to North Base Camp below the Rongbuk Glacier at 5,200m. Since 2016, it has become vital to transport goods and people for expeditions to the world’s highest mountain from the north. <a href="https://www.google.com/maps/dir/kathmandu/Phaplu+Airport,+Dudhakunda+56000/@27.5934293,85.6401045,9z/data=!4m13!4m12!1m5!1m1!1s0x39eb198a307baabf:0xb5137c1bf18db1ea!2m2!1d85.3239605!2d27.7172453!1m5!1m1!1s0x39e9155220d2b169:0xc7417bae421f2ebb!2m2!" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.google.com/maps/dir/kathmandu/Phaplu%2BAirport,%2BDudhakunda%2B56000/@27.5934293,85.6401045,9z/data%3D!4m13!4m12!1m5!1m1!1s0x39eb198a307baabf:0xb5137c1bf18db1ea!2m2!1d85.3239605!2d27.7172453!1m5!1m1!1s0x39e9155220d2b169:0xc7417bae421f2ebb!2m2!&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1604554544964000&amp;usg=AFQjCNFvCx5N59ljf6npdsMGi8vaV1RIww">Kathmandu is already linked through a 277km highway to Phaplu</a> of Solukhumbu district, which is a two-day trek below Lukla. Work started on the 77km road linking Phaplu to Chaurikharka six years ago, but progress has been slow due to difficult terrain, delays due to the 2015 earthquake and Blockade, and lack of money.This means that for at least the next two years, trekkers, climbers and local people will either have to trek from the nearest roadhead near Phaplu or Jiri-Shivalaya-Bamti Bhandar in Ramechhap district, or as many do, take a 30-minute flight to Lukla from Kathmandu. <img width="640" height="480" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109181112/636bdfea9c7e80680e083dc8jpeg.jpg" alt=""><img width="640" height="480" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109181112/636bdfec9c7e80680e083dc9jpeg.jpg" alt="">Sunkoshi Bridge at Harkapur on the highway from Kathmandu to Phaplu. Like all infrastructure projects in Nepal, completion of this road is delayed. Khumbu municipality has run out of money for the remaining 24km dirt track to Chaurikharka from Thamdada. The completion of the road was the pet project of the former Chair of Khumbu Rural Municipality, late Nim Dorje Sherpa who died in June. He believed that connecting Phaplu to Lukla would further <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/Nepali-Times-Buzz/khumbu-then-and-now-global-warming-climate-change,4017" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/Nepali-Times-Buzz/khumbu-then-and-now-global-warming-climate-change,4017&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1604554544964000&amp;usg=AFQjCNHaP0o9BgraYJw55E9-sqlD8hMiSw">lift living standards</a>, bring down prices, and reduce the drudgery of his Sherpa people.  “It’s still our top priority project,” says Lhakpa Tsheri Sherpa of Khumbu Municpality, adding that the construction has been delayed somewhat by the Covid-19 crisis which has also devastated the region’s trekking and climbing income this year. Khumbu used to earn Rs200 million a year just from trekking and climbing fees, not counting the what visitors paid for lodging, food and portering. This year, the income is down to Rs60 million.“It is because of this loss of income that the construction of this last 24km stretch slowed down,” explained Binod Bhattarai, Chief Administrative Officer of Khumbu Municipality. “Now there is hardly any money to complete the project. We are struggling.”The Municipality has decided to <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/everest-trail-reopens-but-cautiously/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/everest-trail-reopens-but-cautiously/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1604554544964000&amp;usg=AFQjCNHIPb7onJEzgigD7Fidduui2e5d4w">open Khumbu for trekking and climbing</a> even though <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/everest-trek-closed-open-closed-open-again/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/everest-trek-closed-open-closed-open-again/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1604554544964000&amp;usg=AFQjCNGd0Y4ezsvNNewMfGjSwlz6S-chMw">nine Covid-19 cases</a> were detected in Namche Bazar last month, and it could have spread. Local people have stopped trekkers from going above Pangboche on the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/everest-trail-reopens-but-cautiously/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/everest-trail-reopens-but-cautiously/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1604554544964000&amp;usg=AFQjCNHIPb7onJEzgigD7Fidduui2e5d4w">Everest Trail.</a>South of Lukla on Thamdada, bulldozers are at work on the track, while flights to and from Lukla buzz overhead all morning. The road alignment then drops precipitously to the river and Surke helipad below Lukla, before a final ascent to Chaurikharka.   <img width="640" height="541" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109181112/636bdfee9c7e80680e083dcajpeg.jpg" alt=""><img width="640" height="405" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109181112/636bdff29c7e80680e083dcbjpeg.jpg" alt="">Bhattarai is not giving up, he says: “The Province 1 government has assured financial support for this project, and other officials and MPs, too, have said that the work need not stop. So, we are hoping that we can make up for lost time.”  Not everyone in Khumbu is happy with the road. They think it will spoil the region’s pristine beauty and fragile culture, as has happened when roads have reached other parts of remote Nepal in recent years. Sonam Gyalzen Sherpa from Namche, who is chair of the Sagarmatha National Park Buffer Zone Management Committee, says the economy has to be balanced with ecology. “The Road will enter the boundary of the national park from Surke and it will surely have some adverse impact on local culture and nature,” he said. "But since the Khumbu is remote and needs a road we are trying to ensure that the EIA is carefully done and its recommendations are strictly adhered to. It will be a big challenge for sure. We are currently discussing how we can mitigate damage." However, there are also strong voices in support of the road. A cylinder of cooking gas that costs Rs1,500 in Kathmandu is Rs15,000 in Gokyo or Lobuje in Upper Khumbu. The cylinders have to be taken on a 12 hour truck ride to Phaplu, then transferred to mule trains that take several days to get up to Namche. Sugar, salt and other food items cost several times more than in Kathmandu. <figure><img width="640" height="359" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109181112/636bdff59c7e80680e083dccjpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>“The road will surely make our life easier,” says Ang Jangmu Sherpa who runs a lodge in Debuje on the Everest Trail. “It will encourage more Nepalis to come trekking, and make certain goods such as cooking gas more affordable.” Says Ang Rita Sherpa of Lukla’s Numbur Hotel: “Even if there is a road, most foreign trekkers  are not going to travel to Lukla on a rough 14 hour road, but it will raise living standards in Khumbu.” “With careful planning to reduce environmental impact and maintain the quality of the trekking experience, tourism in Upper Khumbu can benefit from the new vehicular road access to Chaurikharka,” says Sonia Miyahara, Managing Director of Hotel Everest View. <figure><img width="640" height="359" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109181112/636bdff79c7e80680e083dcdjpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>Besides the lack of money, the road has several other terrain-related hurdles. A dozen bridges need to be built across the Dudh Kosi gorge with a big one in Orlang Ghat that will cost Rs80 million.Locals lament that despite the central government bragging about <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/from-the-nepali-press/khumbu-wants-its-share/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/from-the-nepali-press/khumbu-wants-its-share/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1604554544964000&amp;usg=AFQjCNF89s3tjIo1yI1NcPwoLO9YCjANKQ">Mt Everest and Khumbu</a> as an adventure destination and collecting revenue from fees, it has not chipped in for the road project.“The federal government has done very little to help despite us knocking on doors of various ministries,” said the Municipality’s Lhakpa Tsheri Sherpa. Locals are hoping that even if the 10m wide highway is not fully completed, the track will allow trucks and jeeps to negotiate the final stretch by 2022. <figure><img width="640" height="359" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109181112/636bdff99c7e80680e083dcejpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>In Kathmandu, Infrastructure Minister Basata Kumar Nembang told Nepali Times that the federal government was committed to the project: “The Phaplu-Lukla road is one of the plans we have given high priority even in this pandemic situation. That road project will go ahead as demanded by local representatives.”Whatever the arguments for and against the road, one thing it will do is remove the need for travellers to be stuck, <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/more-than-luck-in-lukla/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/more-than-luck-in-lukla/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1604554544964000&amp;usg=AFQjCNGf2wUGvgGL_IbTpxqvU1Q1NX-ayA">sometimes for weeks in Lukla</a>, due to bad weather.

Nepal building a highway to Everest

<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109171152/636bdaf89c7e80680e080299jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="2513" height="1674"/><figcaption>Tengboche Rinpoche arrives at Namche monastery for the Dumji festival during the summer of 2018. Photo: SUJOY DAS</figcaption></figure>In the midst of the galloping pandemic, we were recently blessed with a moment of reflective respite in the form of a beautiful date - 10102020 - rounded calm numbers to relish and harmonise in these troubled times. It was not long before sad news from the Khumbu reached the Valley. Just after midnight on this perfectly balanced date, the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/nepals-sherpas-mourn-tengboche-abbott/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/nepals-sherpas-mourn-tengboche-abbott/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1602955815629000&amp;usg=AFQjCNEawnwmHU13bX4LRdMdiAa4LowiZA">Tengboche Rinpoche passed away in Namche Bazar. </a><a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/nepals-sherpas-mourn-tengboche-abbott/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/nepals-sherpas-mourn-tengboche-abbott/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1602955815629000&amp;usg=AFQjCNEawnwmHU13bX4LRdMdiAa4LowiZA"> </a>Tengboche monastery triumphantly straddles a steep saddle overlooking Mount Sagarmatha, the heart of Sherpa heritage and religion. Its Rinpoche was born on the same day as His Holiness the Dalai Lama in 1935 to a Sherpa family in Namche – named Passang Tenzin and later ordained Ngawang Tenzin Zangbu.He was sent to study in Rongbuk monastery in Tibet, and aged five was recognised as the incarnation of Tengboche monastery’s founder in 1916, Lama Gulu. Throughout his long life, Rinpoche’s grave, quiet, compassionate demeanour was a familiar presence at all significant ceremonies, memorials and events in the Khumbu, honoured not only amongst Sherpas but by every expedition and mountaineer who would seek his mandatory blessing before attempting the high Himalayan summits.Greatly respected by all who came into his orbit, Rinpoche’s gentle guiding hand and wise serious voice were behind conservation and development decisions affecting the region, to ensure that all viewpoints were considered and every outcome brought benefits to the natural environment and Sherpa culture.For the government, he chaired the Panchayat lama and monastery management committees and for the Himalayan Trust he inaugurated the Khumjung School in 1961. Far reaching initiatives which today we take for granted, such as the gazetting of <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/more-trekkers-more-trees/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/more-trekkers-more-trees/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1602955815629000&amp;usg=AFQjCNG_-kaFBdUXSuCo2A89MJf8BjqHrg">Sagarmatha National Park</a> and UNESCO World Heritage Site and the formation of the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/everest-garbage-caravan/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/everest-garbage-caravan/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1602955815629000&amp;usg=AFQjCNFT_BcFt8HmHdeKrWkIUcVd0ZPMeg">Sagarmatha Pollution Control Committee</a>, would not have got off the ground without his unobtrusive but steely support.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109171152/636bdafc9c7e80680e08029ajpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1402" height="1072"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>Rinpoche was a constant source of saintly succour and support, presiding through periods of trekking prosperity and favourable harvests, and during times of disaster including earthquakes, floods, avalanches and accidents that have caused much weeping and grief in Sherpa households and Khumbu kitchens.Late night on 19 January 1989, his Tengboche monastery burned to the ground, blamed on an electrical fault from the new micro-hydro. Rinpoche turned to <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=3170#.X4m-tC8RoWo" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id%3D3170%23.X4m-tC8RoWo&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1602955815629000&amp;usg=AFQjCNH3Y_El-s7vJzIhLoGo4EYq49VIng">Sir Edmund Hillary</a> and other friends to contribute to the monastery’s rebuild, presiding over the meticulous reconstruction of the Sherpa’s most significant Buddhist centre.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109171152/636bdaff9c7e80680e08029bjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="2016" height="1512"></figure>In the garden outside the Himalayan Trust office in Dilli Bazar, its Chairman Mr Pasang Dawa Sherpa and HH Tengboche Rinpoche who conducted the ten year ceremony remembering the death of Sir Edmund Hillary Photo: LISA CHOEGYALOn the auspicious day of the reopening in 1993, I was invited to join the Himalayan Trust group attending the consecration ceremony. By this time Sir Ed was confined to travelling by helicopter from Kathmandu, having lost all tolerance to altitude and unable to stay long in the high places he loved.With us were Nepal’s Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala as chief guest, and Himalayan Trust supporters including Richard Blum of the American Himalayan Foundation and the indomitable Elizabeth Hawley, a rare sight in the mountains. But Sir Ed was struggling with his health and bad weather threatened as we landed in the meadow in front of the newly restored gompa.Sitting cross-legged on carpeted cushions in the enlarged prayer hall beneath the repainted murals, Rinpoche presided, monks chanted, incense wafted, drums pounded and hand bells chimed. Afterwards, colour-drenched dancers whirled in the stone flagged courtyard and conches signalled the close of the celebrations, but Ang Rita’s face was sombre with apprehension.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109171152/636bdb029c7e80680e08029cjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="2144" height="1424"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>Thick clouds had descended and a heavy silence enveloped the ridge – we had no choice but to wait in the high thin air under limp prayer flags wreathed in mist. Ed was not the only person looking grey and gaunt when the two helicopters found a gap to dive through the weather, just long enough to pick us up whilst the rotors roared, frantic farewells were waved, and rhododendrons bowed in the fierce damp gusts.Over the decades Rinpoche witnessed many cycles of Sagarmatha triumphs and catastrophes. In May 1996 my young sons ran ahead as I toiled up the Namche hill, to meet up with the retreating Everest expeditions. Their members were dazed and traumatised from the shattering events that resulted in eight people dead in one day including two experienced leaders, New Zealander Rob Hall and American Scott Fischer.Everyone along the trail was talking about the tragedy, and one lonely morning we offered lamps and katas at Tengboche monastery in the time-honoured custom. With the bleak cry of kites spiralling the thermals overhead, Guy Cotter strode towards us across the bridge below Pangboche, Rob’s Kiwi climbing colleague who had led the rescue. He was lean, drawn and exhausted in grief.The drama had unfolded over several days, so intense that it became the subject of many books and films, Hollywood made a blockbuster movie, and those of us directly involved have the events seared into our memory. Whilst attempting the summit on 10 May 1996 an unexpected storm descended, stranding climbers high on the mountain. With Guy in base camp I coordinated the rescue by radio phone from Kathmandu with help from the American Embassy, but despite everyone’s best efforts we failed to get them all back down.Some headway was made – valiant Sherpas saved members lost in the blizzard, America’s most experienced mountaineers abandoned their IMAX Everest film to help, and when the weather cleared the heroic helicopter captain Madan KC broke altitude records to pick up the worst injured climbers from above the Khumbu icefall. Later that day in the Kathmandu clinic, I held the telephone to Beck Weathers’ ear as the Texan surgeon, both frostbitten hands fully bandaged, told his wife in Dallas that he had miraculously survived having been “left for dead” - tears streamed down his ice-burned face.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109171152/636bdb069c7e80680e08029djpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1694" height="1362"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure><a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/review/not-just-another-book-on-everest/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/review/not-just-another-book-on-everest/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1602955815629000&amp;usg=AFQjCNHxncUeA7AemNf6LneR3T_bBpJOTQ">Photographer Sujoy Das</a> remembers a monsoon visit to the Dumji festival, the landscape shrouded in mist and dripping with rain. “I climbed to Namche gompa where monks were occupied making torma, exquisite flour and butter sculptures, as festival offerings. Sherpa families take turns to sponsor Dumji, and invite monks to officiate in the monasteries.On my way back down the hill, amidst great local excitement, I passed the Rinpoche of Tengboche who had arrived by helicopter to preside over the services. The festivities honour the founder saint, Guru Padmasambhava, and are said to date back to the historic times of Lama Sangwa Dorjee and his two famous tantric brothers who established the original three gompas of Pangboche, Thame and Rimijung after the Khumbu beyul (holy refuge) was first discovered by Sherpa people migrating from eastern Tibet.”On one particularly bizarre occasion in 2003, Rinpoche agreed to an unusual proposition. Sitting politely on carpets beneath a wall of thankas, I explained that some Germans wished to arrange a memorable birthday for their boss. The card would read ‘HH Rinpoche of Tengboche is pleased to welcome Dr Klaus Zumwinkel to stay in his monastery in the Everest region. This gift on the occasion of your sixtieth birthday is given by all employees of Deutsche Post World Net’.The experience involved staying in monk's quarters and taking part in prayers and monastery activities for a week, with a personal monk interpreter deputed to help him navigate real monastery life. Despite sending a generous donation, I apologised that the boss never showed up to claim his birthday present. “Never mind!” twinkled Rinpoche.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109171152/636bdb099c7e80680e08029ejpeg.jpg" alt="" width="2582" height="1953"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>Without his encompassing spiritual authority, this week the Khumbu is a different place. Every forlorn Sherpa home is conducting personal pujas. In the diamond light of autumn, Rinpoche’s loss echoes through the stone houses, the rushing rivers, the rock walls, the soaring white peaks and reforested hillsides that shelter red tragopans, iridescent impeyan pheasants, skittish musk deer and Himalayan tahr with lavish manes. A striking dawn cloud formation seems to salute his passing.Mingma Norbu told me: “Early on Monday the local Sherpa people carried his body in procession to Tengboche after a solemn blessing from Deu Rinpoche at Namche gompa. Reaching at 1145am, monks from Thame and Thamo attended for his special welcome. Rinpoche’s body will remain in Tengboche for 49 days, after which he will be cremated according to our local tradition.”

The Himalaya mourn a saintly leader

<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108121140/636a40ef9c7e80680e04a64cjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="800" height="1205"/>It is perfect that Everest: Reflections on the Solu Khumbu should come out this year, the centenary of Edmund Hillary’s birth. The book is a tribute to the contribution made by one of the first two people to climb Mt Everest to the Sherpa people who live in the sacred valleys below the world’s highest mountain.The large-format photo book has stunning images of the Solu Khumbu, by photographer and travel writer Sujoy Das, and chapters by Lisa Choegyal, who has lived and worked in Nepal since 1974, is New Zealand’s honorary consul to Nepal, and writes a fortnightly column in this paper.Both have a deep connection to the Sherpa people, and an admiration bordering on reverence of the mountains that they live amongst. Das has been visiting the Khumbu since 1978, trekking, writing and photographing. The book shows why he keeps coming back: the photographs reflect his mastery of the camera and a Tagorean ability to capture the beauty of nature in words and pictures.The portraits of mountains and people are simultaneously stark and sublime, their rugged beauty etched by the light of the Khumbu sky. Das peers beyond the usual touristy postcard images of the Khumbu to reveal faces and forests, rivers and ridges in strikingly memorable imagery.<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108121140/636a40f29c7e80680e04a64djpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1400" height="1012">Afraid of being grounded in Lukla by weather last year, he decided to walk down to Phaplu as the monsoon broke over the Himalaya. The photographs of the less-travelled trail with mule trains, school children and porters carrying enormous loads of corrugated sheets along shiny rain-soaked stone paths take us back to a pre-tourism Solu Khumbu.Das’ photography is as lyrical as his writing: ‘Waves of mist funnelled up the valley, abruptly blanketing out the entire trail. The rain was as fine as spray can be, so soft and delicate it was hardly there. The trees were ghost-like apparitions, and round a bend an unexpected mule caravan materialised out of dense fog, revealed only by tinkling bells.’Lisa Choegyal retraces the life and times of the unassuming Edmund Hillary after Everest made him a celebrity — how he transformed a potato field in Lukla into an airfield in 1964, ‘short-circuiting’ trekking and <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/everest-garbage-caravan/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">transforming the region</a>.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108121140/636a40f59c7e80680e04a64ejpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1400" height="507"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>'The people of Solu Khumbu are cited as the best example of remote communities who have not only prospered from tourism, but have grown wealthy from it. Without sacrificing their Buddhist ethos, they have been able to harness the benefits of tourism whilst modifying the worst of its influences and defending their traditional values,’ she writes, crediting Hillary’s selective and sensible approach to ensure quality health, education and infrastructure to his beloved land.The Sherpas are no strangers to <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/more-trekkers-more-trees/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">change</a>, tragedy and disasters, but a strong sense of community has provided a robust coping mechanism. They adapted an agrarian, pastoral lifestyle seamlessly into <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/Nepali-Times-Buzz/khumbu-then-and-now-global-warming-climate-change,4017" target="_blank" rel="noopener">tourism</a>. When trading routes to Tibet closed in the 1950s, they made the mountain-guide profession synonymous with their surname. And when India and China went to war in the 1960s, Sherpas switched from mountaineering to trekking. Namche today has a per capita income five times Nepal’s national average.<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108121140/636a40f89c7e80680e04a64fjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1400" height="930">Even bigger changes are coming. Nepal’s road network has reached Phaplu and it is possible to drive to Kathmandu in 12 hours. <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/on-thin-ice-in-the-khumbu/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Global warming is melting the mountains</a>, increasing the danger of glacial lake outburst floods. The Sherpas, and indeed the people of the rest of the Himalaya, will need their legendary resilience to deal with these changes.British climber Chris Bonington hints at this in his Foreword to the book: ‘This is not just one more book about Everest, but a special celebration of the haunting beauty of Solu Khumbu and its people. Civilisation depends on the health of our high places, and I wish my Sherpa friends all the best with successfully navigating their future course.’Everest: Reflections on the Solu KhumbuPhotographs by Sujoy DasText by Lisa ChoegyalVajra Books, Kathmandu 2019www.vajrabooks.com.np141 pages<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108121140/636a40fc9c7e80680e04a650jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="640" height="665">

Kunda Dixit

Not just another book on Everest

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

Nearly 750,000 Nepalis went abroad for employment in the past year, and more than 100,000 left on student visas. Most of them were young Nepali men and women, and the number has been increasing every year. As with other sections of society, Nepal’s security agencies also face a recruitment crisis. Nepal Police opened recruitment for 64 inspectors in September, and received 2,239 applications, compared to 2,718 candidates last year. Police also invited candidates for 256 assistant sub-inspectors this year for which it received 17,756 applications – down from 19,932 last year. It is the same story in the Nepal Army, the number of applicants for the post of Officer Cadet (Second Lieutenant) went down from 6,144 for 400 open seats in 2019 to 4,390 in 2020. Meanwhile, applicants in the paramilitary Armed Police Force went down from 857 applications for 75 posts in 2021 to 536 applicants for 99 posts last year. While the number of applicants appears higher than the demand, the data shows a significant decrease in applications for vacancies in Nepal’s law enforcement agencies. Security personnel are recruited on the basis of rank and age in Nepal, and the age cutoff for entry into Nepal’s security agencies is typically 25 years. Sociologist and migration expert Ganesh Gurung says that the demographic of young, physically fit Nepalis emigrating abroad in search of better opportunities has impacted recruitment into law enforcement and the military here at home. “The returns from working in Nepal’s police and army are minimal, whereas overseas job opportunities are more attractive,” Gurung says. “The work may be physically demanding abroad, but the pay is a lot higher.”  <figure><img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20241116041148_a7e477e0ee2f56acf16c2559fdb24d8f0377f7bc1f9e56138bc40108fc4fa33f.jpg" data-media-id="editor_0" data-image-id="20241116041148_a7e477e0ee2f56acf16c2559fdb24d8f0377f7bc1f9e56138bc40108fc4fa33f" data-rendition-name="original" width="800" height="534" loading="lazy" alt="Nepal Police"><figcaption>Nepal Police</figcaption></figure>  Nepal Police spokesperson DIG Dan Bahadur Karki agrees that the physical and mental demands of a law enforcement job is incomparable to the income that security personnel earn. “A young Nepali who works in Dubai earns enough to build a home in the village within four years, while a Nepali with the same qualifications and physical ability in a security agency here barely makes enough to survive,” says Karki. “Obviously the youth prefer foreign employment.” Security agencies are now worried about the quality of inducted manpower. “There is a difference in work ethic between an applicant chosen from a competitive pool of 50 candidates versus one chosen from a pool of three candidates,” explains Gurung. “Unmotivated employees hamper the overall performance of the state apparatus.” Nepal Army spokesperson Brigadier General Gaurab Kumar KC says recruitment has not been hampered by outmigration: “We have still been getting more than three times the applicants than there are open posts, so we are not yet worried.” Even so, the passing rates of aspirants have gone down for security forces after the Public Service Commission began examinations for military recruitment in 2015. In fact, the Nepal Army complained about the Commission’s involvement in recruitment. Still, the number of vacant military posts tends to exceed the number of passing candidates. Nepal Army’s KC says that the military will not compromise on intake criteria even if there are fewer passing applicants. “Unqualified persons will not be admitted even if there are less-than-required passing candidates. We will re-advertise if that is the case.” But Nepal’s security forces now also have to worry about retention of existing personnel. About 900 Nepal Army, 600 Nepal Police, and 300 Armed police personnel resign every year before the completion of their tenure.  <figure><img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20241116041148_b8cd62f70eea3aac7d3d3778615a5b70b1e20550c9bd76321f051f9c766fd2a9.jpg" data-media-id="editor_1" data-image-id="20241116041148_b8cd62f70eea3aac7d3d3778615a5b70b1e20550c9bd76321f051f9c766fd2a9" data-rendition-name="original" width="750" height="378" loading="lazy" alt="Armed police forces"><figcaption>Armed Police Force</figcaption></figure>  In 2020, Home Minister Ram Bahadur Thapa recalled almost 1,000 police personnel who had been deployed for the security of VIPs after long-standing criticism that security forces were being misused to cater to political and bureaucratic leadership. However, security personnel have continued to be assigned to high-ranking officials as glorified housekeepers. In December 2022, Rabi Lamichhane’s Home Ministry had instructed its offices to recall unauthorised security personnel assigned to high-ranking officials, following which 500 officers from Nepal Police and Armed Police Force were withdrawn from their details. But the Nepal Army does not have to follow such rules, and the practice of army personnel serving high-ranking active-duty and retired military personnel remains. Conditions here are dire enough that many active duty officers in Nepal’s military and police forces have chosen to leave their jobs to serve in the Russian Army to fight in the Ukraine war. The hierarchical culture and chain of command of politics, bureaucracy, law enforcement and military has also meant that abuse and mistreatment of subordinates is rife in Nepal’s security forces. “Feudalism is alive and well within our security institutions,” says Gurung. “When soldiers and security forces who swore to protect and serve the nation are made to be at the beck and call of politicians and bureaucrats, it is easy to understand why they are disillusioned with their jobs and why they choose to quit and find jobs abroad.”

Job insecurity in security forces

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.”

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