Parliamentary proceedings were brought to a halt on Wednesday in Kathmandu after a heated exchange between the UML and opposition MPs over the use of the word ‘violence’ to describe the Maoist conflict.&nbsp; The real peacetime violence being perpetrated on Nepalis is actually political failure to control <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/air-pollution-is-more-dangerous-than-smoking">lethal air pollution</a>. Figures from the Air Quality Life Index (AQLI) survey released this week, and the<a href="https://www.healthdata.org/sites/default/files/2024-06/soga-2024-report.pdf"> State of Global Air (SOGA)</a> in June, show just how dirty the air is. Any government accountable to the people would act, after all, the prime minister breathes this same air. Read also:<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/epicentre-of-pollution"> Epicentre of pollution</a>, Sonia Awale Summary from the reports: <ul> <li>Nepal’s 30.7 million people are exposed to air much worse than the <a href="https://www.iqair.com/nepal/central-region/kathmandu">WHO threshold</a>.&nbsp;</li> <li>19% of deaths in 2021 were due to contaminated air.</li> <li>Bad air cuts the average lifespan of Nepalis by 3.4 years. Tarai residents live 5 years less. For comparison, heavy smokers lose just 1.9 years of their life.&nbsp;</li> <li>Sooty indoor air will kill nearly 34,000 Nepalis this year, and 12,700 will die from ambient air pollution.&nbsp;</li> <li>More than 6,000 deaths, mainly in the cities, were linked to ozone exposure.&nbsp;</li> <li>75% of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) in Nepal is caused by breathing bad air. Air pollution is also the cause of 39% of all lung cancer cases.</li> </ul>  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20240829160812_081b9558dee7b656f87f5d4e5af7923780ec8455f9d33402f38844a992ce5471.jpg" data-media-id="editor_4" data-image-id="20240829160812_081b9558dee7b656f87f5d4e5af7923780ec8455f9d33402f38844a992ce5471" data-rendition-name="original" width="1376" height="729" loading="lazy" alt="AIr pollution Nepal NT"> </figure>  Air pollution is now the biggest threat to human health in Nepal, shortening lives by 3-5 years in Kathmandu Valley and the Tarai with the worst concentration of particulate matter. A new <a href="https://aqli.epic.uchicago.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Nepal-FactSheet_2024.pdf">report by Air Quality Life Index (AQLI)</a> released this week ranks Nepal as the third most polluted country in the world with its entire 30.7 million people living in areas where the annual average particulate pollution level exceeds the WHO guideline. Even where outdoor air is clean in the high mountains, families are exposed to excessive indoor pollution due to soot from burning firewood, especially in winter. The State of Global Air (SOGA) Report published in June has even more shocking figures: more than 50,000 Nepalis died from air pollution in 2021, accounting for 19% of all mortality, just behind high blood pressure. The study also linked 75% of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and 39% of lung cancer deaths to dirty air.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20240829160812_d9ccb69192498c91f4b5be762eb073dceb2c7b7cbf01a284ae21654ab1ca9041.jpg" data-media-id="editor_6" data-image-id="20240829160812_d9ccb69192498c91f4b5be762eb073dceb2c7b7cbf01a284ae21654ab1ca9041" data-rendition-name="original" width="1172" height="722" loading="lazy" alt="Air pollution in Nepal NT"> </figure>  Levels of<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/warning-breathing-is-hazardous-to-health"> surface ozone and nitrogen dioxide (NO2) </a>are also increasing due to vehicular emissions, triggering development of childhood asthma.&nbsp; Appalling as these figures are, they should come as no surprise. What is more appalling is the lack of political will to clean up. “The political apathy to prioritise action against air pollution is the crux of the problem,” states environmentalist Bhushan Tuladhar, adding that solutions like stopping open garbage burning, and cutting vehicular and brick kiln emissions are easy to implement solutions.&nbsp; Just as the media and public <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/poor-safety-to-hit-nepal-tourism">call for action against floods and landslides</a> after the monsoon starts, air pollution also becomes a topic when winter has already set in. Action on both should be a year-round effort. Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/100-101-102-hh5uvzf9">100, 101, 102</a>, Shristi Karki&nbsp; Prashant Khanal works on air pollution and climate mitigation and was recently in Paris, where the mayor is pedestrianising streets to curb emissions and improve health.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20240829160812_e11b11cdee3ed917497deefb4f624c0c3d15c5fac16359801bbc2e2aec51369b.jpg" data-media-id="editor_10" data-image-id="20240829160812_e11b11cdee3ed917497deefb4f624c0c3d15c5fac16359801bbc2e2aec51369b" data-rendition-name="original" width="1107" height="881" loading="lazy" alt="Air pollution in Nepal NT"> </figure>  He says: “We simply do not have that kind of leadership nor political will. Awareness and individual action are all well and good, but we need regulatory measures to improve air quality.” Vehicular and <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/blueprint-for-a-net-zero-nepal">industrial emissions</a>, open burning, <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/wildfires-ravage-nepal-mountains">wildfire smoke</a> and crossborder transport of pollution are the main culprits. Most can be reduced by strictly enforcing national air quality measures, while we have to wait for India and Pakistan to clean up their act for transboundary pollution to go down. Madhes and Lumbini provinces have even higher pollution levels than Kathmandu, especially when prevailing winds are from the south. This has worsened in recent years by longer-lasting winter fog. Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/how-transboundary-haze-affects-nepal">How transboundary haze affects Nepal</a>, Prabhakar Shrestha If Nepal were to reduce particulate pollution to meet the WHO guideline, residents in the Tarai would gain 4.8 years of life expectancy, Kathmandu residents would live 2.6 years longer, and tens of thousands of lives would be saved every year. The SOGA report puts deaths linked to household air pollution due to cooking with solid fuels at 33,900 compared to 12,700 by ambient suspended particulate matter less than 2.5 microns in diameter (PM2.5).&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20240829160816_5f7804d0407f8988fee6b44d8ca5e6f775b5ffcecccc53030372f27250b72385.jpg" data-media-id="editor_14" data-image-id="20240829160816_5f7804d0407f8988fee6b44d8ca5e6f775b5ffcecccc53030372f27250b72385" data-rendition-name="original" width="4000" height="2667" loading="lazy" alt="Air pollution in Nepal NT"> <figcaption>Photo: KONSTANTINOS SOFIKITIS</figcaption> </figure>  More than 6,000 other deaths have been linked to exposure to toxic ozone, mainly coming out of the tail pipes of motorcycles. Climate breakdown and biodiversity loss are now getting more media attention, but the air pollution crisis does not seem to be waking politicians to the dangers although its impact on citizens is more immediate and localised. Says Khanal, “Air pollution is not just a public health or environmental issue but has huge social and economic implications, the government needs to allocate money for its mitigation just as it is now doing for climate change.”&nbsp; Electrification of public transport and cooking are common sense solutions to improving air quality and public health in Nepal, with the country now generating <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/multimedia/rivers-be-dammed">more than 3,000MW of hydropower</a>. This is set to double in the next five years. Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/hefty-fines-fail-to-deter-polluting-vehicles">Hefty fines fail to deter polluting vehicles</a>, Sushila Budathoki Instead of prioritising export of surplus energy, increasing domestic demand in transportation and household appliances would yield greater dividends in terms of public health, and reducing the petroleum import bill.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20240829160816_e4a78b2b4d55edb805060a899cef6a9297e5bff7b54d4a7aeea7b1f78fd60d84.jpg" data-media-id="editor_17" data-image-id="20240829160816_e4a78b2b4d55edb805060a899cef6a9297e5bff7b54d4a7aeea7b1f78fd60d84" data-rendition-name="original" width="1290" height="799" loading="lazy" alt="Air pollution in Nepal NT"> </figure>  As the ongoing NADA Auto Show in Kathmandu proves, there has been a <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/evs-hybrids-and-plug-ins">spurt in the sale of electric vehicles</a>. Of the nearly 18,000 vehicles imported in Nepal last year, 12,000 were battery-powered. These are mostly private electric vehicles, but it is public transport and in electric stoves where the focus should be. Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/rev-your-car-and-charge-it-too">Rev your car (and charge it, too)</a>, Vishad Raj Onta “Air pollution ranks as a huge concern to people living in Nepal, and the country also has some of the most open data for air quality information across South Asia,” Christa A Hasenkopf of the Clean Air Program at the Energy Policy Institute at the University of Chicago told Nepali Times. But she added, “It is challenging to make progress on long term levels of air pollution when there is not a long-term goal in place, like a national annual standard for PM2.5.” Despite shortcomings, there have been notable local initiatives. Lalitpur has been promoting itself as a ‘cycle city’ while Hadigaon has been working on pedestrianisation. Changunarayan has come up with an Air Quality Management Plan while Chandragiri wants to invest in controlling wildfires to reduce pollution levels. Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/cleaner-air-with-greener-buses">Cleaner air with greener buses</a> Says Bhushan Tuladhar, "Local leadership and community ownership is what’s missing from a lot of our government initiatives. That is why pedestrianisation of Hadigaon worked and not <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/comment/kathmandu-s-balen-phenomenon">Mayor Balen</a>’s New Road expansion which was a top down directive with little community participation.” &nbsp; <h2>Transcontinental contamination</h2>  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20240829160816_e6d3a88220290318118466a3932332828f0ff89a03426175cd8bb5d8cf3a61d1.jpg" data-media-id="editor_22" data-image-id="20240829160816_e6d3a88220290318118466a3932332828f0ff89a03426175cd8bb5d8cf3a61d1" data-rendition-name="original" width="450" height="683" loading="lazy" alt="Transcontinental pollution NT"> </figure>  There is an anomaly in the new Air Quality Life Index (AQLI) report released this week. Particulate pollution in Nepal and South Asia in 2022 was 18% lower compared to 2021.&nbsp; Scientists are not sure why, but it is probably due to <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/comment/more-monstrous-monsoons">more rain that year </a>which washed down pollutants from the air. If this decline is sustained, an average Nepali could live 10 months longer than what they would have if they were exposed to the 2021 particulate pollution levels. “True progress on air pollution can’t be measured from one year to the next, it must be measured over several years,” says Christa A Hasenkopf of the Clean Air Program at the Energy Policy Institute at the University of Chicago. Read also:<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/blueprint-for-a-net-zero-nepal"> Blueprint for a net-zero Nepal</a>, Sonia Awale Indeed, longer-term pollution trends suggest that Nepal’s average annual particulate matter concentration in the air increased by 49% from 1998 to 2022. Warns Tanushree Ganguly of AQLI: “Despite the <a href="https://www.indiaspend.com/earthcheckindia/indias-air-quality-improved-in-2022-but-still-at-concerning-levels-921940">18% decline in South Asia’s PM2.5 levels relative to 2021</a>, people in South Asia are still likely to lose more than 3.5 years of their life as a result of breathing polluted air. This reinforces the need for sustained regionwide action.” In addition to vehicular and industrial emissions, farm stubble burning after autumn harvest in India and Pakistan is now emerging as a major source of suspended particulates that are carried by prevailing winds to Nepal and Bhutan.&nbsp; When deposited on ice and snow, the soot particles add to the <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/lives-on-the-line-in-the-himalaya">melting of glaciers </a>caused by global warming. Some studies suggest that 30% of glacier thaw in the Indian Himalaya is caused by pollution-related loss of albedo effect on snow. “Air pollution is a <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9224398/">transboundary issue</a>, and at least in South Asia, a coordinated regional approach can move the conversation towards joint solutions,” Pallavi Pant of the Health Effects Institute, which publishes the annual State of Global Air report, told Nepali Times. Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/editorial/polluted-politics">Polluted Politics</a> Joint efforts to strengthen local technical and scientific capacity can help countries in the region establish and run advanced air quality monitoring systems, and use the data for decision-making. Pant adds: “We can leverage available data and expertise to identify relevant solutions that can lead to cleaner air and better health. Air pollution can be related to policies addressing prevention and control of non-communicable diseases.” Back in 1998, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Iran, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka came together to sign the <a href="http://www.sacep.org/pdf/Declarations/05.Male-Declaration-on-Control-and-Prevention-of-Air-Pollution-and-its-Transboundary-Effects-for-South-Asia.pdf">Malé Declaration on Control and Prevention of Air Pollution and Its Likely Transboundary Effects for South Asia</a>. That collective is now mostly dysfunctional, but reviving it would be in the mandate of regional organisations like ICIMOD and SAARC, both headquartered in Kathmandu and working in a geopolitically volatile but seriously polluted region. Ganguly has an idea about where to start: “South Asian countries like Nepal, Bangladesh, India and Pakistan have similar PM2.5 levels, but different PM2.5 standards. Harmonisation of PM2.5 standards could be one way to foster regional collaboration.”

Sonia Awale

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Bad air and polluted politics

<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/toxic-tihar">Stubble burning in northern India and Pakistan</a> darkens the sky over the region every year in October. We cannot wait for next October to try to fix the problem — planning to resolve the problem should begin now.&nbsp;
Farmers even in the Nepal Tarai have <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/borderlines/going-up-in-smoke">started burning wheat harvest residue</a> because of the shortage of farm hands, and <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/editorial/smoke-screen">this April the haze combined with wildfire smoke</a> made people sick, blocked off mountain views forced flight cancellations.
Apart from <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/breathing-can-kill-you">Kathmandu Valley’s vehicular emissions</a>, transboundary smoke blown in by prevailing winds from India accounts for much of the pollution in the country.
“The westerly wind cannot cross over the high Himalaya, and remains trapped on the southern side in Nepal, Bangladesh and India,” explains R L Verma, a transboundary air pollution expert at the Asian Institute of Technology (AIT) in Bangkok. "The pollution cannot disperse and is especially bad during winter due to inversion where it mixes with the fog.”&nbsp;
Prabhakar Shrestha, a research scientist at Bonn University, <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/how-transboundary-haze-affects-nepal">wrote in Nepali Times in 2021</a> that the long-term average of winter Aerosol Optical Depth (AOD) from December-February over the last 20 years in the region shows that winter haze extends throughout the Indo-Gangetic plains, with higher readings for eastern Bihar, West Bengal and Bangladesh, adjoining the Nepal Tarai.
"This alarming increase in winter AOD is due to an increase in crop-residue burning, rapid urbanisation, and industrialisation in the Indo-Gangetic belt," he stated.
There are now modelling studies that can trace emissions to their source which allow atmospheric scientists to pinpoint how much of certain particulate matter is coming from within Nepal, or from across the border. These models can also be used to predict future concentrations.
“Increasingly <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6mW7YmSSnes">we now have more and more pollution data</a> which has empowered people to demand,” added Verma, who was in Kathmandu recently to train researchers here on air quality monitoring, forecasting and developing an emissions inventory.
In the 1990s, air pollution levels in China were much worse than in India, but Beijing systematically improved AQI levels. A similar clean up campaign in northern India would have downwind benefits for Nepal as well.
The <a href="http://www.sacep.org/pdf/Declarations/05.Male-Declaration-on-Control-and-Prevention-of-Air-Pollution-and-its-Transboundary-Effects-for-South-Asia.pdf">Malé Declaration on Control and Prevention of Air Pollution and Its Likely Transboundary Effects for South Asia</a>, signed between Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Iran, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka in 1998 set a precedent for regional cooperation for transboundary problems.
For the last 25 years, the group has supported national governments in policy formulation and strengthening regional cooperation as well as establishing monitoring networks. But the fact that air pollution levels in the region have got much worse means that the Malé Declaration has failed to meet its lofty goals.&nbsp;
There are now plans to revive regional cooperation in transboundary pollution control, but most policy changes have to be made and implemented within national and sub-national jurisdictions. For example, in <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/toxic-tihar">October 2023 crop residue burning was much reduced in the Indian state of Haryana</a> because of strict policy, but it increased in Punjab because of laxer controls (photo, above).
All this soot is blown up to the mountains, where it <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/dirty-snow-defrosts-nepal-s-mountains">accelerates the melting of glaciers</a> which are already shrinking due to global warming. The ‘black carbon’ particles are deposited on the ice and snow, making them melt faster.&nbsp;
<a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=19368">Black carbon</a> is also a short-lived climate pollutant along with methane, hydrofluorocarbons and tropospheric ozone which are responsible for up to 45% of current global warming.&nbsp;
They are expected to account for half the warming effect in the coming decades if emissions are not reduced, but because of their shorter shelf life, reducing them is a low-hanging fruit that also has public health benefits.&nbsp;
Two factors affect air quality: emissions and seasonal weather. We cannot control weather, but can reduce emissions by switching to cleaner alternative fuels such as hydroelectricity, <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/this-is-bullshit">Compressed Natural Gas</a> (CNG) and solar power. Similarly, farmers need incentives to adopt alternatives to open burning after harvests.
“Every scientific problem has a political solution. We need to involve the government in finding solutions,” says Verma. “Air pollution can be controlled, it just needs political will to work regionally.”&nbsp;

The politics of pollution

The natural world does not respect manmade boundaries. We demarcate rivers as the frontiers between nation states, but they change their course in open defiance of cartographers and politicians. Air pollution also <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/one-atmosphere">travels across national boundaries</a> with impunity. Industrial and vehicular emissions from the Gangetic plains are carried by prevailing winds to Nepal and the Himalaya. In November, north India and the Nepal Tarai is shrouded in a thick blanket of smoke from crop-residue burning on both sides of Punjab and other Indian states. These past weeks, the sky over Nepal has been thick with haze from <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/multimedia/nepal-is-going-up-in-smoke">wildfires fanned by winds</a>, burning out of control on mountain slopes and along the East-West Highway. But travelling along that highway this week, we saw another source of smoke, acres upon acres of wheat stalks set on fire after harvest in the fields. Those fires we photographed in Simraungad on Monday correspond to red dots at that exact spot in the NASA infrared satellite image taken from space that very morning. There is another very large patch of red in Uttar Pradesh across the border in India.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20240417090412_82b61db932d186206e9eacd57bdb277a22a9182e41e0b5b54bbffc6e0790751c.jpg" data-media-id="editor_2" data-image-id="20240417090412_82b61db932d186206e9eacd57bdb277a22a9182e41e0b5b54bbffc6e0790751c" data-rendition-name="original" width="2000" height="902" loading="lazy" alt="Wildfires in Nepal"> <figcaption>FLAME THROWERS: Groundview of stubble burning in Simraungad near Birganj on Tuesday. Photo: CHANDRA KISHORE</figcaption> </figure>  Nepal is vulnerable to <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/unthinkable-in-the-current-climate">climate breakdown</a>, and a part of the reason for the wildfires is the long winter drought and deficient rainfall this month that failed to moisten the soil enough. No major rainfall is forecast for the coming week, and the temperature in the Tarai is reaching the upper 30s Celsius. With an average per capita carbon footprint of 0.03 tons per year, whatever energy Nepalis use will not reduce the global impact of the climate crisis. However, there are some things governments on both sides of the border can act on — <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/epicentre-of-pollution">air pollution</a>. It poisons the air we breathe and affects everyone: rich and poor, with the elderly and young most at risk. In the past three weeks, the AQI that measures the concentration of hazardous suspended particles in the air in the Nepal Tarai has remained above 200 µg/m3. The WHO’s threshold for air safe to breathe is 10 micrograms per cubic metre. All across the fertile Tarai plains of Nepal, farmers have just finished harvesting the winter wheat crop. Many farms are now mechanised with threshers, but while reducing the drudgery for farmers these machines have created another problem. The stalks of the wheat that emerge from the threshers remain in the fields. Because most young men have migrated, farmers find it easier to just burn the stubble. This is a widespread practice in northern India, and now <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/how-transboundary-haze-affects-nepal">stubble burning</a> has become common on the Nepal side as well.&nbsp; Instead of feeding the straw to livestock or burning it to cook, farmers set fire to their fields because the population of livestock has also decreased with the rise in migration.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20240417090416_c81606760ddf50dcc7c3d176bbee986319d0910acda1c93de310e70e740550d1.jpg" data-media-id="editor_6" data-image-id="20240417090416_c81606760ddf50dcc7c3d176bbee986319d0910acda1c93de310e70e740550d1" data-rendition-name="original" width="2000" height="1047" loading="lazy" alt="Wildfires in Nepal"> <figcaption>A NASA FIRMS infrared satellite image of Nepal and adjoining parts of India on 16 April. Each red dot is a wildfire, or farms burning stubble after wheat harvest.</figcaption> </figure>   <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20240417090416_719866206a264a7a6e9600e470d13d2912b35b6d02c7656e61535fbed7283ba8.jpg" data-media-id="editor_7" data-image-id="20240417090416_719866206a264a7a6e9600e470d13d2912b35b6d02c7656e61535fbed7283ba8" data-rendition-name="original" width="2000" height="1163" loading="lazy" alt="Wildfires in Nepal"> <figcaption>The whole of Nepal was covered in thick smoke on 16 April up to an elevation of 2,500m.</figcaption> </figure>  Another reason Nepal’s farmers started burning the stubble is because of stricter border controls which has made it difficult for Indian traders to come over to buy straw from Nepali farmers, who now have no other option but to burn what is left in the fields hoping the ash fertilises the soil for the paddy season. “We are no longer burning straw and dung for domestic fuel, we have fewer livestock, so we do not really need the straw and that is why the farmers are burning them in the fields,” explains Rameswar Mehta of Simraungad Municpality.&nbsp; Contrary to some who think the ash is a fertiliser, farmers say the fires actually blacken and destroy the soil by killing nutrients and beneficial microorganisms, reducing harvests. A Facebook post this week shows a wheatfield ready of harvest on fire after sparks from nearby stubble burning ignited the field. It is obvious that unless farmers see alternative uses for their crop residue, like in industrial-scale composting or <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/more-bullshit">biogas generation</a>, they will keep burning stubble.&nbsp; Manual harvesting used to leave only a few inches of stubble off the ground which the cattle fed on, now with the threshers there is just stubble lying around, which is too much trouble to pick.&nbsp; Madhes Province government has no record of the area of wheat fields that are being put to the torch. It must come up with a strategy to make farmers aware of the impact from crop residue burning on public health through pollution and the fall in productivity due to decline in fertility of the soil. There needs to be more intense public debate about the harmful effects of stubble burning and its trans-boundary impact. Chandra Kishore is a Birganj-based commentator who writes this monthly column Borderlines for Nepali Times.

Chandra Kishore

Going up in smoke

<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022111412118/6372226e9c7e80680e0c02f6jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1776" height="1000"/><figcaption>Soot and dust particles from pollution that settle on the Khumbu Glacier makes it melt faster. Photo: EELUM DIXIT.</figcaption></figure>Fine suspended particles in the air have reached harmful levels, and are reducing the average lifespan of people in urban Nepal by at least two years. Now, scientists have found that pollution is also causing Himalayan glaciers to melt faster than earlier thought.The role of <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/things-are-up-in-the-air-in-nepal/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">dust particles</a> is said to be an important driver in reducing the reflectivity of snow and ice, so that they absorb more sunlight and melt faster. And there is more dust blowing into the mountains because of desertification, changing agricultural practices, intense storms, and dust being blown off mountain slopes that have lost snow cover.‘Because a majority of (Himalayan) snowmelt is generated from seasonal snowpack below 5,000m, dust deposition via elevated aerosol levels can cause a large snow surface albedo reduction and influence snowmelt,’ notes a new study in the science journal Nature. ‘Moreover, the influence of dust on snow darkening is greater than that of black carbon above 4,000m.’<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022111412118/637222719c7e80680e0c02f7jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1000"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>Greenhouse gas buildup in the atmosphere is set to raise global average temperatures by at least 2°C above pre-industrial levels by 2050, and this is still the main reason Nepal’s glaciers are receding and shrinking. But controlling soot particles and reducing dust in the air could slow the process.The Nature study found that black carbon particles have a larger snow albedo darkening effect than dust because it is darker. But dust contributes more to melting because there is up to 1,000 times more of it than soot.“Temperatures are increasing faster in the Himalaya, this makes weather conditions more unstable prompting long distance transport of dust and other particles more likely,” explains climate scientist Binod Pokharel. The new study now confirms that the role of dust deposit in melting Himalayan ice is greater than previously thought.Now that the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/post-disaster-lessons-for-nepal/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">monsoon is here</a>, people in Kathmandu Valley find it easier to breathe since the air quality index (AQI) is better. But vehicular emissions and brick kiln smoke keep the concentration of suspended soot particles in the air at unhealthy levels.Dirtier air increases the incidence of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), lung cancer, bronchitis, stroke, mental retardation and congenital heart defects. Particles less than 2.5 microns are especially dangerous because they can cross the air-blood barrier in the lung capillaries.Previous studies on Langtang Glacier showed that while global warming was still the main cause of melting, up to 20% of the defrosting was due to snow darkening because of soot deposition.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022111412118/637222749c7e80680e0c02f8jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="644" height="376"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>The <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/it-is-getting-hotter-on-the-roof-of-the-world/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Himalaya is already warming</a> up to 0.7°C faster than the global average, and these suspended particles are increasing the rate of melting. What is new in the research is that dust particles are more responsible than black carbon from pollution simply because there is more of it.Black carbon in soot from diesel exhaust, thermal power plants, brick kilns and wildfires are transported by wind to glaciers and snowfields, darkening them and making them absorb more sunlight.Now, <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/climate-change-is-a-disaster-in-the-nepal-himalaya/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">climate change</a> is triggering more intense sand and dust storms and prevailing winds during the pre-monsoon and carrying them over long distances to deposit them in the high Himalaya.But it is not only the origin of dust but the concentration and composition of the pollutant that makes a difference on how it adds to the climate crisis, says meteorologist Namindra Dahal.For example, suspended particles over cities in India and China have greater inorganic fossil fuel components, while dust being blown in from the Arabian desert have more mineral content. Prevailing winds are from the west for nine months in a year, and blow in sand and soot from West Asia and India to Nepal.Studies have shown that water in Nepal’s lakes and rivers at higher elevations already have greater concentrations of dust and carbon particles.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022111412118/637222769c7e80680e0c02f9jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="644" height="412"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>“In the past, the air was clean but its composition has changed over the years and that has become a matter of concern due to suspended particles it constitutes, including dust,” explains Dahal. “And all this <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/nepal-doubles-its-carbon-footprint/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">pollution</a> ultimately ends up in the Himalaya, making it melt even faster.”At the current rate of melting, and if nothing is done to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, two-thirds of Himalayan ice will be gone by the turn of the century, studies have forecast.This week, Nepal’s delegation at the UN Climate Conference in Bonn once again urged the developed world to address loss and damage caused by the climate crisis, help the country adapt to extreme weather and prevent <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/danger-nepals-glacial-lakes-are-filling-up/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">glacial lake outburst floods</a>.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022111412118/637222789c7e80680e0c02fajpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1000"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>However, Nepal must also show a commitment to reducing the increased amount of suspended soot and dust in the air — not just to slow melting of the mountains but also to lessen public health risk. <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/air-pollution-is-more-dangerous-than-smoking/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Respiratory problems</a> caused by air pollution alone killed nearly 45,000 people in Nepal in 2019.Switching to electric public transport and battery-powered two-wheelers would not just clean up the air, but also use surplus hydropower and reduce Nepal’s petroleum import bill.While much of air pollution is indeed <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/how-transboundary-haze-affects-nepal/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">transboundary in nature</a>, but increasingly it is local emissions that worsen the impact on public health and make glaciers melt faster.Says Namindra Dahal: “Just look at our roads, the dust is killing people and it is killing the mountains. Unless we do our part we have no moral right to demand compensation on the global stage.”

Dirty snow defrosts Nepal’s mountains

<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221114091156/637202fc9c7e80680e0b27e3jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="2048" height="1366"/><figcaption>Vehicles are one of the biggest emitters of PM2.5 and other pollutants in Kathmandu. Photos: AMIT MACHAMASI</figcaption></figure>It is that time of the year again when smog makes <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/air-pollution-is-more-dangerous-than-smoking/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Kathmandu’s air hazardous to health</a>. Hospitals are swamped not with Covid, but COPD (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease).Once more, there is a flurry of media headlines about the dangerous concentration of suspended particles smaller than 2.5 microns from diesel exhaust.Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/happy-new-air/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Happy New Air</a>, Sonia AwalePublic awareness about air pollution is at an all-time high, the average life expectancy of Kathmandu’s residents is reduced by at least four years. Yet, nothing happens. Why?“The awareness and knowledge have not translated into corrective action,” explains environmentalist Bhushan Tuladhar. “We know about vehicle emission tests but we ignore it, open burning is bad but we don’t stop, we have the opportunity to reduce air pollution with electric mass transport but we don’t invest in it.”<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221114091156/637203009c7e80680e0b27e4jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1000"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>Air pollution was directly linked to at least 42,100 deaths in Nepal in 2019. Almost half of that was due to breathing in particles smaller than 2.5 microns in diameter which can cross the air blood barrier in the lung capillaries. Most of those particles come from <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/green-sticker-green-light-to-pollute/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">vehicle emission</a>.From 1990 to 2015, the number of vehicless in Nepal grew by 1,995,404 — most of them in Kathmandu Valley. In five years, that figure doubled to 3,987,267.This figure doesn’t include the exploding demand for cars and motorcycles after the end of the Covid second wave in mid-2021. Nepal spent Rs543 billion in importing vehicles, transport equipment and spare parts in four months from mid-July to mid-October, against Rs357 billion and Rs418 billion for the same periods in 2020 and 2019.“There has been an unexpectedly high demand for private vehicles in Nepal after the pandemic, especially two wheelers given the public’s hesitancy to use buses due to coronavirus fears,” says Dhruba Thapa of the National Automotive Dealers Association.<iframe style="border: none;" title="Total vehicles in Nepal" src="https://e.infogram.com/e0cdbfd0-0b3c-4f57-851e-7aced6e69116?src=embed" width="700" height="700" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe><a style="color: #989898!important; text-decoration: none!important;" href="https://infogram.com/e0cdbfd0-0b3c-4f57-851e-7aced6e69116" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Total vehicles in Nepal</a><a style="color: #989898!important; text-decoration: none!important;" href="https://infogram.com" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">Infogram</a>Raju Chettri, CEO of the MAW Enterprises that imports Yamaha bikes in Nepal has a similar observation. He saw a decline in the annual sales of two wheelers from about 250,000 units to 190,000 right after the pandemic. But this year, the sales went up to 350,000 units.“There are two reasons behind this: pent-up demand and reduced use of public transport because of Covid fears,” Chettri says.There are <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/poisoning-the-air-we-breathe/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">more than 3.1 million two-wheeers in Nepal</a>, over one million of them in Kathmandu. They are adding to the capital’s foul air, as they are up to 10 times more polluting per passenger kilometre than buses and cars.<iframe style="border: none;" title="Total Motorbikes in Nepal" src="https://e.infogram.com/ea449cd7-2598-4cd4-8ae2-cd91858f9553?src=embed" width="700" height="700" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe><a style="color: #989898!important; text-decoration: none!important;" href="https://infogram.com/ea449cd7-2598-4cd4-8ae2-cd91858f9553" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Total Motorbikes in Nepal</a><a style="color: #989898!important; text-decoration: none!important;" href="https://infogram.com" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">Infogram</a>Two-wheelers also emit invisible toxic gases like carbon monoxide, benzene and nitrous oxides, and increase the concentration of street-level ozone. Motorcycle exhaust may not be as visible as diesel exhaust, but they are highly poisonous — especially when there are so many of them. Besides exacerbating respiratory diseases, the gases are carcinogenic, causing cardiovascular diseases and Alzheimer’s.The solution is to shift rapidly to <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/nepals-electric-transport-future-is-here/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">cleaner electric vehicles</a>, not just for healthier air but also to meet Nepal’s net-zero pledge in Glasgow and to reduce the country’s burgeoning petroleum import bill.“The priority has to be on electric public transport and supporting infrastructure,” says environmentalist Tuladhar. “Electric buses are more expensive than diesel ones, so the government has to help with capital, and better manage Kathmandu’s public transport.”<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221114091156/637203039c7e80680e0b27e5jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="720" height="480"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>This week, Nepal opened its first electric charging station powered by solar panels for the Lumbini Development Trust. Similar charging stations can be set up for public and private vehicles in existing bus parks across Nepal and along highways. Sajha Yatayat which is procuring 40 electric buses is also trying to turn the former trolley bus terminal into a charging station.Shilshila Acharya of the Avni Center for Sustainability agrees that the priority should be on <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/from-a-fossil-past-to-an-electric-future/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">electrifying public transport</a> and encouraging bicycle lanes. She says, “Replacing cars with more cars even if electric only promotes consumerism. We have to give people reliable alternatives.”Kathmandu Valley Air Quality Management Action Plan held its first implementation committee meeting this week, during which it discussed lunching of a USAID-funded project for air pollution and a forecasting system with technical support from ICIMOD.“The problem of air pollution will take some time to be solved but we have started our homework,” says Indu Joshi of the Department of Environment. “At the moment, our biggest challenge is controlling open burning.”<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221114091156/637203069c7e80680e0b27e6jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="2000" height="2625"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>Apart from transport, garbage burning and biomass fuel for household heating and cooking are also contributors to Kathmandu’s dirty air. The problem is made worse in winter due to the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/how-weather-elevates-air-pollution-in-kathmandu/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Valley’s topography that traps surface pollution</a> in an inversion layer.Improper <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/a-load-of-rubbish-kathmandus-garbage-problem,4039" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">solid waste management in Kathmandu</a> means locals burn garbage by the riverbanks near residential areas — while, as studies show, segregation of waste at homes can reduce the city’s garbage volume by up to 80%.There is no other problem that is so directly linked with the health and economy of the country as urban air pollution. The <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/nepal-lockdown-proves-air-quality-can-be-improved/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Covid-19 lockdown in 2020</a> is proof that Kathmandu can be cleaned up, it just needs <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/dirty-politics-dirty-air/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">the right leadership and the political will</a> to back it up.Says Shilashila Acharya: “Our policies on mobility and air pollution have to be people- and culture-centric, instead of focusing only on technology. We must build public pressure to force the politicians into action.”A public opinion poll in this paper just before the 2017 elections showed that a majority of Nepalis were concerned about the health impact of pollution. Since 2022 will be dominated by campaigning for the next election, this could be turned into the main criteria for candidates to win votes.

Breathing can kill you

<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110111156/636cd9219c7e80680e092e81jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1000"/><figcaption>Haze shrouds Bhaktapur on Monday afternoon as smoke from fires in Chitwan engulfed Kathmandu Valley and Central Nepal. Photo: AMIT MACHAMASI</figcaption></figure>Kathmandu Valley and Central Nepal was engulfed in thick haze on Monday afternoon as prevailing winds whipped up fires in Chitwan and Parsa National Parks.Infrared satellite images from NASA’s <a href="https://firms.modaps.eosdis.nasa.gov/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://firms.modaps.eosdis.nasa.gov&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1616508970355000&amp;usg=AFQjCNErMmof792DiNvE9DRev-Wskc40QQ">FIRMS (Fire Information for Resource Management System)</a> showed many fires raging at the eastern edge of Chitwan and across Parsa, in the vicinity of Hetauda, as well as in Bardia, Surkhet and other districts in the mid-mountains of western Nepal.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110111156/636cd9249c7e80680e092e82jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1000" height="539"><figcaption>Forest fires in Chitwan and Parsa National Parks southwest of Kathmandu in this infrared image from NASA’s FIRMS satellite taken on Monday. Image: FIRMS/NASA</figcaption></figure>Another satellite image in the visible spectrum from <a href="http://www.apple.com/uk" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://www.apple.com/uk&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1616508970355000&amp;usg=AFQjCNEbOVQv7FTp2t429z67KNcTUW51Iw">NASA Worldview </a>showed blue smoke shrouding Himalayan valleys of Central Nepal.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110111156/636cd9279c7e80680e092e83jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1000" height="689"><figcaption>Image in the visual spectrum taken by NASA’s Worldview satellite on Monday at 2pm local time. Image: NASA Worldview</figcaption></figure><figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110111156/636cd9299c7e80680e092e84jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="401"><figcaption>Air Quality Index measured in Patan in Kathmandu Valley at 4pm on Monday showed a hazardous reading of 421, which is more than ten times higher than the WHO's safe threshold. Photo: KUNDA DIXIT</figcaption></figure>The national parks allow buffer zone villagers to enter the protected areas once a year in spring to collect deadwood and thatch grass. Villagers sometimes set fire to the grasslands, and prevailing winds spread these blazes.Deficient winter rain this year has made the forests in the Nepal Tarai drier than usual, which has led to the fires this year more extensive.Kathmandu Valley recorded an Air Quality Index (AQI) reading of 421 at 4pm on Sunday, which is more than 10 times higher than the threshold set by the World Health Organisation for air safe for breathing.In addition to the smoke, there was also pollution from traffic emissions, cross-border industrial smog from India, as well as wind-blown sand from the Arabian desert that has been covering the Subcontinent for the past week.

Central Nepal engulfed in smoke

<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110111132/636cd3939c7e80680e08f975jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="2076" height="1210"/><figcaption>A NASA satellite image showing Central Nepal's river valleys and how they act as funnels for pollution from the Indian plains to travel up to the mountains.</figcaption></figure>The Himalayan mountains act as a barrier separating the clean air of the Tibetan Plateau from the polluted Indo-Gangetic plains. But Nepal’s rivers cut through the mountains, and their valleys allow smog from the plains to penetrate deep into the mountains.This haze intrusion goes up to elevations of 4,000m, and the pollution layer is more shallow and flat in winter, and inclined and parallel to the ridgeline in the pre-monsoon. The depth of this pollution layer up the valleys also decreases with elevation.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110111132/636cd3969c7e80680e08f976jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="780" height="325"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>These visible air pollution images are captured regularly by the <a href="https://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov/about/">MODIS</a> (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) instrument aboard the two NASA satellites Terra and Aqua orbiting the Earth. The dull bluish haze is mostly made up of fine aerosol particles and extends right across the Indo-Gangetic plains from Pakistan to Bangladesh, as well as the Tarai in Nepal.While human-generated emissions from agricultural burning, urban, rural and industrial emissions are mainly responsible for this region-wide pollution, weather conditions and the blocking effect of the Siwalik Range also affect its spread. More interestingly, if we zoom in on the images, we can see that the haze does not just stay in the plains, but flows up into the inner Himalaya along river valleys.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110111132/636cd3989c7e80680e08f977jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="780" height="381"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>These satellite images provide valuable insight for researchers looking into the geographical spread and long-range transport of aerosol particles. Scientists at <a href="https://duke.edu/">Duke University</a> in the United States have developed a novel technique to use the high-resolution satellite images from MODIS and elevation data from <a href="https://www2.jpl.nasa.gov/srtm/mission.htm">SRTM</a> (Shuttle Radar Topography Mission) to extract the daytime haze run-up that measure intrusion length and height over the Arun Valley in eastern Nepal.The Arun River starts in Tibet, snakes around Mt Everest to find a gap between Makalu and Kangchenjunga to tumble down Himalayan gorges to meet up with the Sun Kosi and Tamor— flowing out into the Tarai at Chhatra and then through the Kosi Barrage to meet the Ganges in India. This also opens up the entry gate for haze to flow from the Indo-Gangetic Plains into the inner Himalayas.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110111132/636cd39a9c7e80680e08f978jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="780" height="321"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>In winter, the surface temperature in the plains plummets, and the air is dry. The southern edge of the Tibetan Plateau at upper levels is also battered by the sub-tropical jetstream, with weak westerly wind below it. The low surface temperature in the plains confines the pollution to a shallow <a href="https://glossary.ametsoc.org/wiki/Atmospheric_boundary_layer">boundary layer</a> that is lower than the Siwalik Range. Up-valley winds along the river valleys then transport the haze into the Inner Himalaya.The river valley-plains temperature contrast produces a pressure gradient that drives this flow up the valley during the day and down the valley during the night. Besides, the topography, vegetation cover and groundwater level in the slopes can also contribute to warming of valley air which could further amplify the up-valley wind.In addition, the daytime up-slope and night-time down-slope winds developing in the river valleys also play and important role in ventilating the air pollution from the valley surface.Measurements of the nature and size of fine aerosols were conducted for the first time in the middle Himalayan region in the pre-monsoon. In general, the aerosol size distribution peaks around 100nm, which is usually the oldest, most processed background aerosol and about the size of the Covid-19 virus.Another smaller peak around 20 nm, is indicative of fresh but not necessarily local aerosols. The chemical composition of PM2.5 (particulate matter below 2.5 microns) is dominated by organic matter. Organic carbon (OC) comprises the major fraction (64–68%) of the aerosol concentration followed by ionic species (24–26%), Elemental Carbon (EC) compromises 7–10% of the total composition and 27% of OC is water soluble.Elemental Carbon and Organic Carbon together are aerosols contributed by burning of wood fuels, crop-residue, coal including vehicular emission and others. The light absorbing properties of elemental carbon play a crucial role in atmospheric warming and surface cooling due to their interaction with the daytime solar heating.Industrial and vehicular emissions, biomass burning, soil dust and others including chemical transformations in the atmosphere contribute to the ionic species in aerosols. These are readily water-soluble parts of the aerosol which along with organic particles aid in their growth in presence of moisture, contributing to increase in optical thickness of haze.The aerosol concentration also changes over the day. It increases in the morning (05:00-10:00) and in the evening (17:00-22:00). The lower values in the afternoon could be attributed partly to more mixing, and increase in the boundary layer height.During the night, the downslope winds lift the warm air mass in the valley, resulting in the decrease of the aerosol concentration near the surface. On the other hand, aerosol loading can also be eventually washed away by local rainfall during the pre-monsoon and winter.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110111132/636cd39c9c7e80680e08f979jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="780" height="300"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>While pollution haze is visible even in satellite images, its quantitative measurements can also be made by remote sensing. Haze and dust particles in the air block sunlight reaching the ground by absorbing and scattering it. This property of aerosols is used to estimate the Aerosol Optical Depth (AOD).A long-term average of winter AOD from December-February over the last 20 years in the region shows that winter haze extends throughout the Indo-Gangetic plains, with relatively higher readings for the eastern regions of Bihar, West Bengal and Bangladesh, across Nepal’s southeastern border. The regional average winter AOD also shows an alarming increase in the past two decades due to increase in emissions from increased crop-residue burning, rapid urbanisation, industrialisation, etc.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110111132/636cd39e9c7e80680e08f97ajpeg.jpg" alt="" width="780" height="481"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>Aside from transboundary haze, this winter has also seen an increase in wildfires that have exacerbated the pollution in Nepal’s Inner Himalayan valleys. The Pathivara and Annapurna Conservation Area fires in December, followed by uncontrolled wildfires in Manang, Lamjung and Rasuwa in January were clearly visible in NASA satellite images.The very high pollution levels in Kathmandu Valley on 6-7 January was also aggravated by overcast skies which subdued the ventilation mechanism of the valley, but smoke from these wildfires also acted as contributors. Since the daily satellite data is in the public domain, they could be used along with global models by Nepal’s met office to nowcast air pollution episodes over the Himalaya.While local air pollution can be brought under control in the interest of protecting public health by the local governments with appropriate policy and regulation, it is trans-boundary pollution that cannot be easily addressed. It requires regional collaboration to adopt and implement policies to reduce sources of pollution like crop residue burning, vehicular and industrial emissions. The atmospheric initiative at the Kathmandu-based International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) could be one such mechanism.More immediately, there is an urgent need to set up permanent air quality monitoring stations along Nepal’s major river valley outlets to monitor trans-boundary air pollution and more research by universities in Nepal to improve our knowledge of local and regional pollution so that policy makers can make better decisions.Prabhakar Shrestha is a research scientist working at Bonn University, Germany.<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110111132/636cd3a19c7e80680e08f97bjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="89" height="103">

How transboundary haze affects Nepal

<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109181116/636be0df9c7e80680e083e18jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="750" height="1083"/><figcaption>The south face of Mt Gauri Shankar (7,134m) on the border between Nepal and China is bare rock, and shows how dramatically the snowline has receded, and the glaciers have shrunk. Photo: KUNDA DIXIT</figcaption></figure>With just 4% of the world’s population, the United States is responsible for over 15% of annual global carbon emissions. What America does or does not do will affect how fast the Himalayan ice cap will melt during this century.Which is why Joe Biden’s win in the US election is <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/ununited-states-of-america/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">such a big deal for the global environment</a>, including the Himalaya. Biden has announced he will reverse Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw from the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement, which ironically came into effect on 4 November, the day after the US vote.The Himalayan arc from Burma to Afghanistan is the bigg<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/the-third-pole-is-warming-faster-than-expected/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">est storehouse of fresh water</a> after the two polar regions, and it is warming between 0.3-0.7°C faster than the global average. The loss of Himalayan ice would have <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/a-terrifying-assessment-of-himalayan-melting/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">devastating consequences for 1.6 billion people</a> living in the mountains, and in downstream countries.<a style="font-size: 15px; letter-spacing: 0.01em;" href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/in-just-2-years-a-nepal-peak-becomes-snowless/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">In just 2 years, a Nepal peak becomes snowless</a>, Basanta Pratap Singh“Reversing these warming trends will begin with Biden’s commitment to re-joining the Paris agreement, as the US is not only one of the world’s greatest climate offenders but also one of its best potential leaders and sources of needed funding,” said Alton C Byers of the University of Colorado, who has <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/tracing-past-glacial-floods-in-kangchenjunga/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">studied Himalayan glaciers</a> for the past 30 years.The Paris Agreement aims to cap the global temperature rise in this century ‘well below’ 2°C by reducing carbon emissions through renewable energy technologies, and protecting forests and biodiversity.But rejoining the Paris accord will be the easy part. Much harder for the Biden presidency will be overcoming domestic opposition to cutting emissions at home, push rapid transition to clean energy, and funding global carbon reduction initiatives.The Biden administration may be more supportive of projects like USAID efforts in the past that have helped Nepal become a global leader in <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepals-glacial-lakes-in-danger-of-bursting/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">glacial lake risk reduction</a>, adaptation, and climate mitigation measures.“These projects are in need of resurrection, along with the development of renewable energy technologies, sustainable tourism, and other opportunities as part of Nepal’s post-coronavirus recovery plans,” Byers added in an email interview with Nepali Times.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109181116/636be0e19c7e80680e083e19jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1503" height="1000"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>Joe Biden ran on a bold climate action platform, unveiling a $2 trillion investment plan with a promise to clean up the energy sector by 2035, boost renewables and create high paying green jobs.The <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/a-good-man-won/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Biden-Harris win</a> has raised hopes among environmentalists around the world, but the world has a lot of catching up to do to reverse Trump’s systematic effort over the past four years to undermine <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/the-climate-threat-multiplier/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">climate mitigation measures</a>. The new administration in January will also likely face a serious opposition from a possible Republican-led Senate as it seeks to transition America off fossil fuels."To regain credibility on climate, the US now has to show the world that it is on a path to net zero emissions by 2050, only then can America press other high-emitting countries to act with the urgency required by the climate crisis," added <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=1605077751622000&amp;usg=AFQjCNE5ey5t5tQc3eeXYvXO5z5rMSahSQ">Adam Stern</a>, a California-based climate leader, formerly with the Environmental Defense Fund."If Biden can restore the role of science in determining US climate policy, he may also be able to focus world attention on regions like the Himalaya that are already experiencing extreme climate changes,” said Stern, who has written about energy use in Nepal’s Khumbu region.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109181116/636be0e59c7e80680e083e1ajpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="568"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>International climate policies will have a lasting impact on the Himalaya where measurements of ice mass, temperature rise, <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/forests-replace-glaciers-in-the-himalaya/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">glacial shrinking</a> and <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/climate-for-change/the-great-himalayan-thaw/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">receding snowlines</a> have been more serious than previous estimates.However, experts say that Nepal also has to do its bit to accelerate its <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/an-energy-windfall-for-nepal/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">shift to solar</a> and <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/decentralising-hydropower/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">hydropower in generating electricity</a> for transport and household use. And since nearly a quarter of melting of Himalayan glaciers is attributed to the <a style="font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.01em;" href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/black-carbon-easier-to-control-than-carbon-dioxide-to-reduce-global-warming%20,2079" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">deposition of soot and dust on the snow</a>, transboundary collaboration in pollution control is a must.Since October, for example, northern India has been blanketed by thick smoke from crop residue burning, and this black carbon is being blown up to the snows by prevailing westerlies. And as winter sets in, industrial and vehicular pollution will be trapped by inversion across the Indo-Ganetic plains and ultimately reduce the reflectivity of Himalayan ice cover.Air pollution was already decreasing the average lifespan of tens of millions of people in north India by 3.7 years. It killed <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/double-whammy-air-pollution-and-covid-19/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">42,100 people in Nepal last year</a> alone, studies show, and this winter that risk for patients with respiratory issues is combined with Covid-19 complications.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109181116/636be0e79c7e80680e083e1bjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1200" height="675"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>The causes and solutions of air pollution and climate change <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/one-atmosphere/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">are intricately interconnected</a>, both largely affected by human activities over time and space. In fact, short-lived pollutants like black carbon, ozone and other gases exacerbate global warming.“Dark coloured pollutants such as soot particles from diesel and forest fires absorb sunlight and warm up the air at the altitude at which they are located,” explained atmospheric scientist Arnico Panday. “If they warm the air near snow or ice surfaces they can contribute to melting. And when dark particles, including windblown desert dust, settle on snowfields or glaciers they can darken the surfaces and melt the snow and ice. <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/reducing-black-carbon-in-the-himalayas,2031" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Certain air pollutants</a> therefore accelerate glacier melt in the Himalaya.”Even though a Biden presidency has given some hope for climate activists in the Himalaya, they point out that China has overtaken the United States, responsible for 28% of total carbon emissions in 2018. Carbon emissions in China and India are growing at a faster rate than in North America, and the two countries already contribute 37% of global greenhouse gases annually.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109181116/636be0ea9c7e80680e083e1cjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1884" height="1250"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>So, while a greener America will help, the real action to slow Himalayan melting <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=19368" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">will have to come from the immediate region</a>. The good news is there are already proven <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/brick-factories-still-using-old-polluting-technology,2078" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">clean technologies for brick kilns</a>, cement industries, solar and hydro here in Nepal and in South Asia. Governments need to incentivise these, provide subsidies, and investors need to back them up.“Air pollution has never made it to the priority of our politicians, their mentality of focusing on short-terms gains like tax revenue over long-term gains can’t be changed,” says <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/ipcc-report-and-nepals-food-security/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/ipcc-report-and-nepals-food-security/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1605077751622000&amp;usg=AFQjCNGQzD9EPDBRXFun8S0H0x_qaZ-bbg">Manjeet Dhakal</a>, adviser to the Least Developed Countries support group at the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).He adds: “We must deploy our own young population to lobby and take part in climate action. What happens in the United States, whether international funds will be available will only help temporarily. We must cut emissions at source, educate our own people about the cost of the climate crisis, and provide alternatives.”

A Biden presidency, climate and the Himalaya

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

Greenbacks for greenery

Khukri Rum is <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=3719#.WurBk6SFPIU">one of Nepal’s most iconic brands</a>, and is now launching a new Cask Series premium product to sell in Nepal and abroad. The Cask Series Smoked Finish Khukri Rum is a limited edition with only about 7,000 bottles, most of it for export and rest to be sold to rum connoisseurs in Nepal itself. Each bottle is numbered and will mention the cask from which it is derived. “We are working on taking a classic Nepali rum to a new luxury premium brand category, the Cask Series will only be produced this year with new product ranges in future,” explains Subash Lamichhane, managing director of Nepal Distilleries that first started making Khukri rum in 1959 in Balaju and has never stopped. Fermented from molasses in Bara district in the Tarai after the annual sugarcane harvest, the rum is matured for at least eight months during distillation. The distillery bottles the classic Khukri XXX, Coronation Khukri XXX, Khukri White Rum and Khukri Spiced Rum.&nbsp; The distillery is now adding this limited edition of its ‘Cask Series’. While the original rum is stored in huge wooden vats, the rum used for this more exclusive line is in smaller casks made either from oak or sal, with charred insides to give the rum a smoky flavour. The Cask Series rum is indeed smokier than the classic, while the spiced rum tastes toasty and mostly of cardamom. The company has a tasting suite with a master blender and tasters who have to approve the palate test.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20241122131124_10b8ddca93b37b0348bf964b4f09e7fac6ef4e754cca6231368850539cd558e2.jpg" data-media-id="editor_1" data-image-id="20241122131124_10b8ddca93b37b0348bf964b4f09e7fac6ef4e754cca6231368850539cd558e2" data-rendition-name="original" width="1498" height="1000" loading="lazy" alt="Khukri Rum"> </figure>  The packaging for the Cask Series is as special as the process. A sturdy patterned box that opens up to a black glass bottle with gold lettering, and an indication of which cask the rum is from. These are then shipped to premium customers around the world One of the reasons this is the more expensive premium line is because the casks are smaller than the vats and the blenders reject more than half of the rum in the casks when the aging period is complete. The trick for the blender is also to decide when to take the run out of the cask.&nbsp; Says Lamichhane: “If we have 25 casks, we expect to throw away about fifteen.”Over the decades, Nepal Distilleries have created and maintained a brand that feels quintessentially Nepali, and has served as Nepal’s ‘ambassador’ with exports to Germany, Korea, Belgium, Finland, the Czech Republic, besides the existing markets among Nepalis in the US, UK, Hong Kong and Australia. &nbsp;Its unique <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/khukri-rum-sharpens-its-act">khukri shaped bottle</a> first introduced for King Birendra’s coronation in 1975 has been a collector’s item. The bottle and rum have been a staple for Nepalis and visitors to take as gifts when they leave the country, and is used as decoration on bar tables around the world. Now, nearly 40 years later, even that bottle will soon be getting a makeover with a sharper design and sleeker handle. “Our bottle design has always been instantly recognisable, and it is,” says Lamichhane. The Himalayan restaurant at The Hague, for example, has a Khukri Coronation bottle adorning its bar (page 6-7). In Washington DC Himalayan Heritage Restaurant &amp; Bar offers ‘Nepalese Khukri Rum’ mojito in its drinks menu with fresh mint, soda water, lime juice and sugar syrup, for $12.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20241122131124_b9474db3fc83c85845348dddc30c49652ee1f17229531867fa241de50849cedc.jpg" data-media-id="editor_3" data-image-id="20241122131124_b9474db3fc83c85845348dddc30c49652ee1f17229531867fa241de50849cedc" data-rendition-name="original" width="1500" height="1000" loading="lazy" alt="Khukri Rum NT"> <figcaption>Christopher Armes, master blender of the Cask Series.</figcaption> </figure>  A distinct element of the award-winning <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/business/khukri-rum-gets-award">classic Khukri rum</a> is its burgundy colour from caramel sourced from cooking sugar and blended with the raw rum. The spirits are then stored in a warehouse with floor-to-ceiling vats. The vats are not just for storage, the wood in the vats imparts flavour into the rum, and removes a lot of the harshness. &nbsp; On a visit this week, the bottling room was just about to begin for the day and the production line was churning out different shapes and sizes of Khukri Rum bottles. Most of the process is automated, including screwing bottle caps, sticking labels, placing the government seal, and packaging. The only manual intervention is the quality control where bottles are held against the light to check for sediment and colour. A mural on the wall of the distillery in Balaju depicts the rum-making process. A lady slings sugarcane on her shoulder, the molasses is churned in a pot, water is channelled into the distillation process, cinnamon, cloves and cardamom are added to a container, and finally there is a bottle of the classic Khukri Rum against a Kathmandu backdrop.

Khukri goes premium with new rum

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

Turkish amenity kit

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

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