<figure><img width="640" height="295" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221114101116/637208299c7e80680e0b54d1jpeg.jpg" alt=""/><figcaption>Doti's Budar all snowed in. All Photos: RSS</figcaption></figure>Trans-Himalayan districts of Humla and Jumla as well as East Rukum in Karnali Province have been snowed in since Thursday night as yet another westerly storm system moved into Nepal.Kathmandu witnessed a rare winter thunderstorm, there had been 15mm of rain by noon on Friday with more wet weather on the way. The mountains on the valley rim have also got snow.Highways have closed due to heavy snow, and flights to many mountain districts have been cancelled.  <figure><img width="800" height="461" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221114101116/6372082c9c7e80680e0b54d2jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption>Roads in Jumla obstructed by snow. </figcaption></figure><figure><img width="2400" height="1650" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221114101116/6372082e9c7e80680e0b54d3jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption></figcaption></figure><figure><img width="2400" height="1800" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221114101116/637208329c7e80680e0b54d4jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption>Nepal Army trying to clear the street of snow.</figcaption></figure>Darchula, Dadeldhura, Bajhang, Bajura and Doti districts in the far west also have been similarly affected. The Bhimdatta Highway which connects the seven districts in Sudur Paschim Province has also been obstructed, further impacting the movement of people in the region.The westerly system is bringing in moist warm air that is moving up the Himalaya and meeting the frigid air, creating storm cells. Kathmandu Valley experienced wind gusting up to 35 knots on Friday morning with driving rain. The maximum temperature on Friday is only 8.8°Celsius.The system is expected to bring more precipitation over central and eastern Nepal, but the sun will start shining again on Sunday.  <figure><img width="960" height="720" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221114101116/637208369c7e80680e0b54d5jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption>Locals play with snow in East Rukum.</figcaption></figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221114101116/637208389c7e80680e0b54d6jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1862" height="1146">Nepali Times weekend weather

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Nepal’s wet, icy winter

<figure><img width="2872" height="1592" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110141132/636cfd8d9c7e80680e0a0beejpeg.jpg" alt=""/><figcaption>The vast glacial debris field at Bhurmathang in the headwaters of the Melamchi River, which is being constantly washed down by heavy rains this monsoon. Photos: NDRRMA</figcaption></figure>This year’s <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepal-braces-for-monsoon-pandemic-double-hit/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">monsoon season</a> showed that precipitation is moving higher up the mountains to the trans-Himalayan valleys, creating a whole new dimension of flood danger downstream.More rain is falling where it did not use to in rain-shadow regions like in Manang, Mustang, Dolpo. Heavy precipitation on loose glacial deposits have unleashed catastrophic debris flows like <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/the-monsoon-mess-in-melamchi/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">what is happening on the Melamchi watershed</a> this season.Some of these extreme weather events can be attributed to <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/un-climate-report-declares-planetary-emergency/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">climate change</a>, and underlines the need to be prepared for even worse floods in future. For this, we urgently need weather forecasting systems at higher altitudes, hazard mapping and <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/texting-when-trouble,3857" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">early warning systems</a>.Heavy rainfall since June and the ensuing floods clearly showed that we lack high altitude weather stations above 3,000m. And even the monitoring stations at lower altitudes did not analyse the recorded data in time and transmit them in a timely manner. <figure><img width="1680" height="1111" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110141132/636cfd909c7e80680e0a0befjpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>The Department of Hydrology and Meteorology has installed only 12 weather and precipitation monitoring stations above 3,000m, out of 282 such stations across the country. Mustang district has 6 precipitation stations, Gorkha and Manang each have two stations, and there are only one in Doti and Jumla.These numbers are insufficient given Nepal’s topography and the rapidly changing global climate. The lesson from <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/disasters-in-nepal-come-in-waves/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">this year’s floods</a> is that every hydropower or infrastructure project needs to install its own automatic precipitation station in its upper catchment for real time data and early warning.The rainfall station at Sermathang of Sindhupalchok did record 110.2 mm rainfall in 24 hours on 11 June, but this data was not analysed in time to transmit a warning and prevent floods. If it had, we would have known that a cloudburst of that magnitude in <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/deadly-monsoon-in-nepal-turns-deadlier/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">terrain weakened by the 2015 earthquake</a> could spell disaster. Precautions could have been taken downstream in the Melamchi-Indrawati valley, lives saved, and damage reduced.Nepal has four main glacier-fed river basins: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/the-kosis-sorrow-and-scope/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Kosi</a>, Gandaki, Karnali and Mahakali, and 19 other sub-river basins. The catchment areas of these rivers also stretch across the Himalaya into China. There are 3,808 glaciers and 2,070 glacial lakes in Nepal. And then there is also permafrost above 5,000m. (Map, below) <figure><img width="665" height="380" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110141132/636cfd949c7e80680e0a0bf0jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>Nepal’s rivers are fed by groundwater discharge, monsoon rains, and <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/danger-nepals-glacial-lakes-are-filling-up/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">glacial melt</a>. However, the hydrological responses of snow-covered and glaciated zones are distinct from other areas. Debris deposits from past glacial advances behave differently when exposed to heavy rainfall, as we continue to witness in Bhrumathang region of the Melamchi River since June.  Climate change is now affecting both the monsoon dynamics and the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepals-glacial-lakes-in-danger-of-bursting/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">state of snow/glacier in the Himalaya</a>, and we have to aware and prepared for the consequences.Besides extreme weather events, the geological structure of the watershed also needs to be taken into account so that a detailed risk assessment can be made before embarking on <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/nepal-needs-to-plan-for-plenty-and-scarcity-of-water/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">expensive water supply projects like Melamchi</a>, and deciding on the location of future hydropower plants, bridges and roads.Past studies had already declared many areas of the Melamchi watershed as a hazardous zone and not suitable for construction of houses and other infrastructure. If such warnings had been heard and timely precautions taken, the damage this monsoon would have been considerably less.Based on the Department of Hydrology and Meteorology, all Nepal maximum and minimum air temperatures increased by 0.56 oC and 0.02 oC per decade from 1971 to 2014. The w<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/mountainous-regions-face-catastrophic-impacts-without-urgent-climate-action/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">arming is higher in the Himalayan region</a> than elsewhere. This means that even under the best-case scenario, the Himalaya could lose up to one-third more of its permanent ice during this century.This means increased hazard from snow and ice avalanches, flash floods due to the discharge of supra-glacial lakes, or Glacial Lake Outburst Floods (GLOFs). There is a danger that these disasters to be more intense and frequent as weather systems change.In October 2014, the power cyclone Hudhud which measured 2,000km in diameter spun out of the Bay of Bengal and made a direct hit on Central Nepal, dumping rain and snow in the Annapurna region, killing 43 people (including trekkers) in <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/page/annapurnas-avalanche-and-blizzard-early-weather-warning-systems" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">blizzards and avalanche</a>.Indian and Nepali meteorologists had sent out warnings and forecast heavy precipitation, however due to the lack of proper risk reduction mechanisms and safety management skills, casualties were high.In January 2020, four Korean trekkers and three Nepali guides were swept away by an avalanche at Deurali on the Annapurna Base Camp trek. Although there has always been risk of avalanches in the Himalaya, very heavy snowfall with warming trends have increased the objective danger. Proper local forecasts could have warned trekkers in the area of the heightened risk.In two of the worst disasters in recent times, 42 people, including 13 Japanese trekkers, were killed in November 1996 when the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/saving-gokyo-from-itself/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Gokyo region</a> near Mt Everest was hit by an unprecedented blizzard. In October 2005, 18 people including trekkers were killed in snow storms and avalanches in Manang.These and many other disasters show that post-monsoon cyclonic storms hitting Nepal at the peak of the trekking season must be more closely monitored and their local impact forecast accurately so early warning for specific areas can be issued. Fatalities can be reduced by finding ways to warn local communities, lodge owners, local governments, trekking outfits and guides, and build local capacity in search and rescue.The importance of having high altitude weather and snow monitoring stations was also shown by the sudden increase in snow depth (1.65m) on the Rikha Samba Glacier in Mustang (5,200m) during the Hudhud cyclone on 15 October 2014. (See graph below.) <figure><img width="515" height="304" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110141132/636cfd969c7e80680e0a0bf1jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>A similar snow depth sensor on Yala Glacier in the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/langtang-copes-with-quake-and-covid/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Langtang Valley</a> also showed 0.5m increase in snow depth on the same day. Although the purpose of these stations were for scientific research into the impact of climate change on snow depth, and not for hazard prevention, the data could have been used for early warning about storm hazards in the high mountains.The lesson for us is that it is essential and urgent to strengthen the capacity of snow hazard risk reduction by letting local governments and communities have access to real-time data.The <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/human-face-of-a-himalayan-climate-crisis/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Himalaya has seen historic GLOFs</a>, and these debris flows are expected to be bigger and more frequent with climate change. On 4 August 1985, the Dig Tso glacial lake overtopped after an avalanche and swept down the Dudh Kosi, killing three and destroying a hydropower plant, 14 bridges and 35 houses.The disaster prompted the government to start studying glaciers and glacial lakes in Nepal, and major GLOF events have been recorded (see table). Risk reduction has also involved lowering the water level of Tso Rolpa glacial lake in Rolwaling by 3m and Imja glacial lake  in Khumbu by 3.4m. <figure><img width="456" height="137" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110141132/636cfd989c7e80680e0a0bf2jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>A recent study by the International Center for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) classified 47 glacial lakes in Nepal, China and India as <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepals-glacial-lakes-in-danger-of-bursting/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">potentially dangerous</a>. Of these, 25 are in China, 21 in Nepal and 1 in India. Of the potentially dangerous lakes in Nepal, 17 are on the Arun River basin, out of which only 4 are in Nepal and 13 upstream in China. Most of the immediate risk to infrastructure and settlements in the Arun River, therefore, emanate from across the border and this calls for trans-boundary cooperation in early warning. On 18 June 2021, heavy rainfall triggered <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/manpower-and-hydropower/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">landslides blocked the Rongsi River in China</a>, a tributary of the Tama Kosi. The Chinese authorities informed Nepal about the possibility of a flashflood in case the landslide dam was breached. Fortunately, the Chinese safely drained the lake averting the possibility of a flood. In such events also, a high altitude weather and snow monitoring station would have provided early warning so that precautions could be taken downstream.Rijan Bhakta Kayastha, PhD, is a glaciologist at the Himalayan Cryosphere, Climate and Disaster Research Center of Kathmandu University.<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110141132/636cfd999c7e80680e0a0bf3jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="89" height="104">

Nepal needs weather stations in the Himalaya

<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110101152/636cca9b9c7e80680e08bb77jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1920" height="1080"/>Kathmandu Valley witnessed <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/kathmandu-air-pollution-hits-record-high/">hazardous levels of air pollution</a> on 4-5 January 2021, with the Air Quality Index (AQI) highest among cities in the world that week. The pollution level had been stable or slightly below the daily average in the preceding days.Air pollution over an area is determined by emissions and their transport. Sources of pollution can be both local and remote, whereas it can be carried into and out of the area depending on its geographical setting and atmospheric condition.Understanding the role of geography and seasonal climatic variations in altering air pollution levels in Nepal has been generally well understood. The role of weather events in air pollution fluctuation is of key importance in predicting pollution levels across the country. Predicting weather therefore is closely related to predicting air pollution.Pollution forecasting a few days in advance has practical as well as policy implications. If pollution levels can be predicted a few days in advance, people can plan their activities accordingly. It also allows the government ample time to introduce temporary restrictions to reduce the severity of pollution during adverse weather conditions.The alarming levels of pollution in Kathmandu Valley in winter has been receiving much publicity, and has been a matter of <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/dirty-politics-dirty-air/">serious concern</a>. The high pollution episode on 4-5 January got widespread publicity in the media, raising public awareness about the issue.Residents of Kathmandu already taking precautions against the Covid-19 pandemic were made conscious of the additional hazards of poor air quality on their health.As the PM2.5 AQI (the concentration of fine particles less than 2.5 microns in diameter) exceeded 600 at its peak in some areas of the Valley, the Department of Environment (DoE) issued a press release on 5 January, urging people to remain indoors as far as possible and refrain from making open fires. It was also advised that the high level of pollution could prevail for some time, depending on how weather impacted its diffusion.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110101152/636cca9d9c7e80680e08bb78jpeg.jpg" alt="AQI graph" width="719" height="541"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>Research has shown that the lifespan of some Nepalis has been <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/Nepali-Times-Buzz/air-pollution-decreases-life-span,3999">reduced by up to five years</a> because of the air we breathe. Advance knowledge of the situation would have been more useful for the public.Every time there is a discourse on Kathmandu’s <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/air-pollution-is-more-dangerous-than-smoking/">pollution situation</a>, experts flag their opinions citing the topography of the valley and winter inversion as the major factors that trap polluted air.In the case of the early January pollution event, however, the air pollution level decreased to pre-episode level from 6 January onwards, which promoted an analysis of the impact that cloud cover from a westerly front had on AQI.The daily and hourly time series of air pollution level and concentration of gases was recorded by air quality monitoring stations for the analysis. A newly established Department of Hydrology and Meteorology (DHM) monitoring station at Nagarkot as well as from other measurements in the valley were used. The vertical atmospheric profile measured by DHM’s radiosonde station at Kirtipur, satellite imagery and surface weather charts related to the first week of January were reference points.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110101152/636ccaa09c7e80680e08bb79png.png" alt="DHM’s Radiosonde station at Kirtipur" width="1600" height="342"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>A comparison of the time series of high-frequency PM2.5 counts shows that hazardous air quality levels were recorded within the Kathmandu Valley in Bhaisepati, Bhaktapur and Ratna Park areas. These measurements were also compared to air quality in cities across Nepal.Air quality deteriorated to dangerous levels from the afternoon of 4 January till the morning of 6 January, whereas such counts were comparable to those recorded before and after the hazardous air level episode in Nepalganj, Dang, Pokhara, Hetauda.A comparison of AQI PM2.5 daily average time series shows that their values on 4 and 5 January is comparable with the values on preceding days at the same stations outside the valley, whereas it dropped by 30% or more on 6-7 January for Nepalganj, Dang, and Pokhara stations.However, the stations at Ratna Park and Bhaisepati recorded a 50% rise in pollution levels on 4 and 5 January, whereas the Bhaktapur station recorded only a 15% rise.In contrast, the Nagarkot station recorded better air quality by about 40% or more from 4-7 January. Similarly, the concentration of ozone, nitrous oxides, carbon monoxide and black carbon-8 (soot particles) also came down by about 10% or more in Nagarkot during the period compared to preceding days, which is consistent with the reduction of AQI PM2.5 there.It is worth noting that Nagarkot and surrounding regions on the eastern rim of the Valley are considered as the primary outflow region for wind-blown pollutants from inside the valley trough since upper-level wind is predominantly westerly across Nepal in winter. In fact, this was why the DHM selected Nagarkot as the site for establishing an air quality monitoring station.The differences in the daily average for the AQI PM2.5 count for the stations in the Valley and that at Nagarkot are of particular interest. The measurements for 4-6 January could mean that the stations could be valuable in enhancing our understanding of the variation of ambient air quality in the valley over time, and the transport of pollutants.Data from the radiosonde station at the premises of Tribhuvan University Kirtipur is being released regularly at 5:45AM since March 2019. Attached to a hydrogen balloon, the radiosonde measures temperature, relative humidity, wind speed and direction at different elevations and transmits the data to a ground station.Globally, there are hundreds of such stations that make measurements once or twice a day, synchronously providing valuable insight into the global weather pattern at different altitudes.Comparing the Kirtipur data on 1-5 January, there is a clear indication that ground-level inversion was present on both days. This happens when a layer of cold air is trapped by warmer air above it. Ground-level inversion occurs almost every day during winter in the Valley, and has the effect of concentrating overnight pollution.The stronger the inversion, and deeper and stronger the stable layer, which makes it harder for a parcel of air to rise as it will be relatively colder, hence denser, than its surrounding. Consequently, it is squeezed downwards.Hence, pollutants suspended in the bottom layer of the atmosphere are pretty much confined within the inversion layer. The shallower the depth of inversion, the higher is the concentration of air pollutants, even with the same amount of emission load, since they are confined in a smaller volume near the ground.On most days during the winter, ground-level inversion is gradually established in the Kathmandu Valley from the evening and intensifies in the night, but it weakens as it is burned away by the sun during the morning, disintegrating by noon. Once the inversion decays, the bottom layer of air mixes with the higher levels of the atmosphere, leading to lowering of air pollution level at the surface.In addition, as the wind picks up towards the afternoon, much of the air pollution is blown away to the east, leading to a reduction of the concentration of air pollutants in the Valley.However, from the afternoon of 3 January till the morning of 6 January, Nepal was under the influence of a westerly disturbance, and the most parts of the country were covered by high clouds (Figure 3) with light scattered precipitation in the western parts of the country.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110101152/636ccaa29c7e80680e08bb7ajpeg.jpg" alt="Satellite images of weather" width="1429" height="437"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>The overcast condition, however, prevented the sun from dissipating the inversion and prevented the mixing of the lower atmospheric levels with upper layers over most parts of Nepal, including Kathmandu Valley.It can be inferred that the surface inversion did not fully disintegrate on those days though it would have been weakened and lifted slightly higher in the afternoon. This is also supported by the relatively calm winds recorded in the afternoons of 4 and 5 January, at Kirtipur and Khumaltar stations (Figure 5).<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110101152/636ccaa49c7e80680e08bb7bjpeg.jpg" alt="global solar radiaion" width="1414" height="365"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure><figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110101152/636ccaa59c7e80680e08bb7cjpeg.jpg" alt="wind speed" width="1417" height="344"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>Daily average AQI PM2.5 values in stations outside Kathmandu valley remained more or less stable from last week of December to 5 January, which goes to show that the higher concentration of PM2.5 in the Kathmandu Valley on 4-5 January was mostly contributed by the local sources. Moreover, the relatively lower levels recorded at Nagarkot station on the same days is likely due to confinement of pollutants within the valley.With the passage of western disturbance, the sky over Kathmandu Valley became clear from the early morning of 6 January. As a result, mixing of the bottom layer of air with the higher levels became possible, thus leading to subsequent dissipation of pollutants from the valley floor much sooner than anticipated.Short term changes in the weather conditions can lead to a significant variation in the level of air pollution in the Kathmandu Valley, especially during the winter season. It is interesting to note that adverse weather conditions alone can significantly enhance the pollution level in the valley even when the socio-economic activities remained subdued after the onset of Covid-19 pandemic in the last spring in Nepal as well as globally.More collaboration among the government agencies engaged in air pollution and weather monitoring and forecasting, and researchers is required. Moreover, there is a need to further strengthen the capacity of various agencies so that citizens can be informed not just about prevailing pollution levels, but forewarned a few days in advance about impending episodes of a hazardous deterioration in the AQI level.Partnering to share information about prevalent pollution levels will <a href="http://dhm.gov.np/climate/">provide valuable returns</a> on recent investments made by the government in establishing and maintaining online air quality monitoring and meteorological stations.Jagdishwor Karmacharya and Shanti Kandel are with the Department of Hydrology and Meteorology. Sunny Maharjan, Kamal Datta Acharya and Bikash Nepal helped analyse the results. A more technical version of this article can be found at ‘Climatic Articles, Reports and Papers’ section in the <a href="http://dhm.gov.np/climate/">DHM website</a>.

How weather elevates air pollution in Kathmandu

<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109141136/636badaa9c7e80680e077fa9jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="2442" height="1218"/><figcaption>Satellite radar image at 1030AM on Sunday showing a series of monsoon pulses moving across Nepal from east to west.</figcaption></figure>The Department of Meteorology and Hydrology has forecast more heavy rains this week, as a new monsoon pulse moves east to west across Nepal. The central mid-mountains and Tarai, already battered by deadly landslides last week is already feeling the brunt of this new system with Kapilvastu getting more than 50mm of rain overnight. The department has issued a warning on the Bandganga River, which is already flowing above the danger mark. The smaller rivers in the region are already swollen and are moving down across the border to India. More than a 100 people have been either killed or are missing in the rains last week in Nepal.  The department has said the monsoonal trough will move slowly across the country and will last till at least Friday 24 July.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109141136/636badad9c7e80680e077faajpeg.jpg" alt="" width="645" height="388"><figcaption></figcaption></figure>"We have already informed local governments about the risk of landslides and floods, but we advise all individuals and households to take their own precaution and even relocate to the homes of relatives and friends for the time being if they live in high risk areas," Anil Pokhrel of the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority. He said the Authority and the Department had concluded that there was a high risk of water-induced disasters in the coming week. The Authority has also opened a hotline at 1149 and 1155 for queries about flood risk is said to be highest in Provinces 1,2 and 5, as well as Bagmati and Gandaki. It also said there might be heavy isolated rainfall in the far west of the country. It advised residents to keep away from small mountain streams and rivulets, avoid steep slopes, and keep away from the floodplains of rivers in the Tarai.

Heavy monsoon rains forecast for Nepal

<figure><img width="3000" height="2000" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109141136/636bad0e9c7e80680e077f6djpeg.jpg" alt=""/><figcaption>Floods over the weekend in Damauli, Tanahu inundates a settlement. Photo: RSS</figcaption></figure>This year’s monsoon rains started early, and have been heavy. But total precipitation for June and the rainfall recorded for the past five days in Central Nepal have not been above normal. The past week saw a convergence of moisture from both the Arabian Sea and Bay of Bengal branches of the southwest monsoon which did bring isolated heavy rainfall in parts of the central-west mountains and eastern Nepal. Kathmandu Valley saw 70mm of rain between 5-13 July, which is about normal for this time of year. However, disaster management experts say many of the deadly landslides were triggered by haphazard road construction that disturbed the slopes and natural drainage, while in the plains floods have been made worse by poorly designed roads, urbanisation of floodplains, deforestation and <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/blogs/thebrief/2017/07/11/chure-denudation-and-floods/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://archive.nepalitimes.com/blogs/thebrief/2017/07/11/chure-denudation-and-floods/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1594704182402000&amp;usg=AFQjCNFCqsvpsn5HYhB586N2oFbF6G89aQ">sand extraction in the Chure</a>, as well as embankment building across the border in India. “The rivers all flow down from the Chure, and the soil erosion is raising the level of the river beds making floods damage of the fertile farms of the Tarai worse,” says Nagdev Yadav of the Community Development and Advocacy Forum in Province 2. <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/preparing-for-floods-during-a-lockdown/" target="_blank" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-size: 15px; letter-spacing: 0.01em;" rel="noopener noreferrer">Preparing for floods during a lockdown</a>, Diya Rijal <figure><img width="1800" height="1350" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109141136/636bad129c7e80680e077f6ejpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>After the 2017 flood, a <a href="https://www.preventionweb.net/publications/view/59123" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.preventionweb.net/publications/view/59123&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1594704182402000&amp;usg=AFQjCNG2UMNeWggs8Sfg28kpRCZLnVORUQ">study</a> by Practical Action concluded: ‘The increased intensity of the flood impact was caused by improper drainage system in cities, cross-border embankment, and elevated roads in borders, causing more inundations in the Tarai.’Co-author of that study, climate risk expert Madhab Uprety adds that this year saw <a href="https://www.himalkhabar.com/news/115833" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.himalkhabar.com/news/115833&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1594704182402000&amp;usg=AFQjCNElsF8qcXyJBAIKBE4sqp1nOep0hg">30% </a>higher pre-monsoon precipitation in April-May. The top soil on mountain slopes were therefore already saturated when the main monsoons hit, making them more prone to landslides.According to the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority (NDRRMA) there were already 120 major landslides from June 14 to July 8. So far, the death toll is 60 killed and 42 missing with many injured. At least 150 families have been affected by the landslides. Experts who analysed the deadly flash-flood on two tributaries of the <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/blogs/mycity/2016/07/10/bhotekosi-flash-flood/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://archive.nepalitimes.com/blogs/mycity/2016/07/10/bhotekosi-flash-flood/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1594704182402000&amp;usg=AFQjCNEJHkX34E8aRX2MQKumOUc6Xh61HA">Bhote Kosi</a> on the night of 7 July conclude that a combination of heavy rain and bad engineering on a road up the mountain caused the slope failure. ‘There is a newly-constructed road above the stream that brought down the flashflood that swept away 14 houses,’ <a href="https://twitter.com/bewitchkapil/status/1281594409130303489" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://twitter.com/bewitchkapil/status/1281594409130303489&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1594704182402000&amp;usg=AFQjCNGZHfsbOS-EbvDAiiJ7EcL2Yw10ag">tweeted water resource engineer Kapil Dhital</a>. ‘There is too much mud flow on that tributary.’ Indeed, <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/from-nowhere-to-nowhere/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/from-nowhere-to-nowhere/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1594704182402000&amp;usg=AFQjCNEQEAhbJTo8lVldGZff9tWqLa1Eug">haphazard road construction</a> without inputs from bio-engineers cause rock falls even in the dry season. When the rains come the entire slopes on which the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/nepals-fatalistic-ke-garne-culture/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/nepals-fatalistic-ke-garne-culture/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1594704182402000&amp;usg=AFQjCNFFVdxRaH5SFr3WhnDA57oY6NxM6A">roads are hurried dug by excavators</a> are prone to failure. It is then the settlements and farm terraces below them where people are killed and farms destroyed.<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109141136/636bad159c7e80680e077f6fjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1238" height="960"> <figure><img width="1050" height="591" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109141136/636bad189c7e80680e077f70jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>This year’s flood and landslide damage comes on top of the economic hardships caused by the coronavirus crisis. Hundreds of thousands of <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/preparing-for-floods-during-a-lockdown/?fbclid=IwAR2hLhLIYQs0YPLP6NvO113PbYjIW_1_RTAXFHUzRHABK3nJrFaVp8f34hk" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/preparing-for-floods-during-a-lockdown/?fbclid%3DIwAR2hLhLIYQs0YPLP6NvO113PbYjIW_1_RTAXFHUzRHABK3nJrFaVp8f34hk&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1594704182402000&amp;usg=AFQjCNFb--VQNcZ6Ok9QpdvBvcSwbZDYaw">in-country migrants</a> and workers from overseas have returned to their villages. The <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/nepal-tarai-learns-from-past-floods/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/nepal-tarai-learns-from-past-floods/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1594704182402000&amp;usg=AFQjCNHdMHfTuuMvP4A8EK2kxDtzGBl6ng">floods in the Tarai</a> is predicted to worsen the country’s overall food security situation.Other reasons for annual floods along the southern borderlands are the unilateral construction of flood control levees, road embankments without proper drainage in the Indian states of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. Tension between India and Nepal means there is no immediate prospect of negotiations. It is not just in the plains. The <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/bhaktapur-inundated/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/bhaktapur-inundated/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1594704182402000&amp;usg=AFQjCNHNyQ6-DkCvaQBLM_wpvlZhLbqKng">devastating flood</a> in Thimi and Bhaktapur in 2018 was blamed on natural drainage channels being blocked by boundary walls and encroachment on flood plains constricting river flow during the monsoon. The Department of Hydrology and Meteorology is closely monitoring long-term weather forecasting and rainfall patterns this monsoon. “The trend of heavier-than normal pre-monsoon precipitation looks set to continue for the rest of the rainy season,” explains meteorologist Indira Kandel. This is bound to make flooding and landslides even worse towards the tail end of the monsoon when the topsoil is even more saturated, and the Tarai plains are already waterlogged. At the NDRRMA, the strategy is to have a proper early warning system in place, using remote sensing satellite weather data, rainfall measurements in the catchment areas, and monitoring of river flow so that settlements downstream have time to move to higher ground and shelters. <figure><img width="1452" height="792" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109141136/636bad1b9c7e80680e077f71jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>A network of <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/nepal-villages-learn-to-cope-with-climate-crisis/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/nepal-villages-learn-to-cope-with-climate-crisis/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1594704182402000&amp;usg=AFQjCNER33gouTpe9lIHPQ3cH8FWwLubzg">community-based early warning systems</a> are also in place to relay the data to villages that are vulnerable to flooding – especially along and downstream from the Chure Hills. “We have installed instruments for early-warning on the Rato River between Mahottari and Dhanusha so that if the water level rises above the danger mark, the information is passed on to communities lower down, and the police, army and Red Cross alerted,” says Nagdev Yadav, whose organisation is trying to broaden the scope of early-warning to also forecast the impact on farms and crops. However, despite the early warning network throughout the country through SMS, radio and social media, many people still do not take it seriously. They may also not have anywhere safer to go, and there is no landslide hazard risk mapping for villages in the mountains.“When people have to evacuate from the warning, they tend to only do it at the last moment when the water has come into their houses, and this causes more death and destruction,” says Madhab Uprety. On Saturday, the streets of far-west Tarai city of Mahendranagar were flooded. There had been heavy rain, but the inundation was caused more by poor drainage and blocked streams. “It only rained for one day, but it caused widespread submergence of the streets because of blocked drains, the spread of the city into the floodplains, and the squatter settlements along the rivers,” explains disaster management expert Himalaya Thapa.  <figure><img width="768" height="576" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109141136/636bad1e9c7e80680e077f72jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>Mahakali Municipality in western Nepal was also hit by floods last week, and Mayor Bir Bahadur Sunar says it was not caused by heavy rain but by drainage issues. He says: “The inundation was not due to the overflow of the Mahakali River, but because water was trapped by road construction.” Another reason for flooding can be extreme weather events. Cloudbursts in which hundreds of mm of rain fall in just a few hours are common along the Himalaya, and can cause flooding and landslides even if rivers are flowing naturally, and there is adequate drainage. There is evidence that cloudburst are getting more frequent, and this has been <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/Recharging-the-mountains,3465" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/Recharging-the-mountains,3465&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1594704182402000&amp;usg=AFQjCNE8rQ9i7Hk-Hb5HNBQV-xgDtyv65g">attributed to climate change</a>.“The frequency of floods and landslides have increased over the years, and this could be caused by heavy rains, but in 2017 there were devastating floods even though the precipitation was not above normal,” Uprety says, summing up the dilemma. “Embankments made for flood protection but it confines the river and causes more floods. We also do not take into account the sediment load raising river beds.”

Don’t just blame God for floods and landslides

<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022110814110/636a52e69c7e80680e05231fjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1826" height="507"/><figcaption>Lhotse glacier, Chukung village to the far left. Photo: ALTON C BYERS</figcaption></figure>Most of the recent talk within the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) process and elsewhere has focused on <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/decarbonise-now/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">cutting greenhouse gas emissions</a> to reduce the impact of <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/weather-warning-for-climate-meeting/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">climate change</a>.<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/from-playing-victim-to-proactive-leadership-on-climate/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Mitigation</a> was the buzzword, and any mention of adaptation was avoided because for some it meant accepting defeat. But today, driven largely by the concerns of developing countries, which bear the brunt of the climate emergency, adaptation is the key issue. But since adapting to <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/climate-damage/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">climate change is so closely linked with issues of power, governance and politics</a>, it is not well understood. Successfully adapting to climate change is often based on how individuals, households and communities switch and improve livelihoods.Given Nepal’s geographical, climate and ecosystem diversity from plains to mountains, the question is: what do people actually adapt to? Is it <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/turning-on-the-heat/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">rising temperatures and heat</a>, erratic rains, droughts, <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/flood-of-recrimination/">floods</a>, forest fires or increased rates of diseases?Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/living-below-nepals-melting-mountains/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Living below Nepal's melting mountains</a>, Alton C Byers <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/look-whats-cooking-in-nepal/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Look what's cooking in Nepal</a>, Anil ChitrakarFamilies in <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/a-terrifying-assessment-of-himalayan-melting/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">high mountain valleys</a> may not have to worry about floods, but are affected when roads are blocked, severing access to markets. Those in the mid-mountains may be badly impacted by landslides, <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/nepals-silent-emergency-springs-going-dry/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">drying springs</a>, or declining agriculture production due to droughts.An adaptation strategy that works in an isolated mountain settlement will not work in Kathmandu. Though <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/climate-climax/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">climate change</a> is a global problem, its impacts are very local and different. National-level attempts to adapt will thus be unsuccessful, yet global conversations and the resultant aid flows continue to ignore sub-national differences.In 2001, the UNFCCC established a program for least developed countries that included financial and technical support to prepare National Adaptation Plans of Action (NAPA) to meet ‘immediate and urgent’ adaptation needs. Today the conversation has moved to National Adaptation Plans (NAP) that focus on integrating climate risks into development planning and implementation.Nepal was late in preparing its NAPA, which turned out to be a temporary blessing in disguise. Using additional donor funding, the Ministry of Science Technology and Environment prepared a NAPA 'Plus' in 2009, which included a more consultative process to capture local nuances. In 2011, Nepal formulated a LAPA framework and also promulgated a climate policy stipulating that 80% of resources earmarked for the climate crisis would be allocated to local levels.Donor support was available and the country implemented LAPA programs in a few selected regions. But we still don’t know if the resources were really spent in rural areas, or if they made any difference.There are three major challenges for successful adaptation to <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/on-thin-ice-in-the-khumbu/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">climate impacts</a>. First is attribution: a localised weather event cannot be directly linked to climate change. Second relates to how people and institutions respond to new climate shocks, usually by <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/living-below-nepals-melting-mountains/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">local people meeting local needs</a>.Finally, individual adaptation strategies are most successful and enduring when people have access to drinking water, <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/look-whats-cooking-in-nepal/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">clean energy</a>, information, finances and alternative sources of income, as well as the right to organise, express their voices and access political outlets.Given the rapid spread of the climate emergency, it is clear that existing project-based efforts cannot add up at scale. Our current understanding of adaptation offers very little by way of solutions for the scale of transformative shifts necessary now and into the future for Nepal and elsewhere. Based on the polluter pays principle, the developed world should indeed bear the cost of adaptation in developing countries to make up for historical emissions. But when our springs dry up, having more money may not be of much help.Even without climate change, Nepal faced challenges managing disasters and development. The climate emergency is a <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/life-in-the-time-of-tornadoes/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">threat multiplier</a> that will seriously strain our socio-economic, political and ecological futures.Ajaya Dixit is Executive Director of Kathmandu based ISET-Nepal. His monthly column Climate for Change deals with the impact of global warming in Nepal.

The climate threat multiplier

<figure><img width="1800" height="996" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108131144/636a4f6b9c7e80680e04fd07jpeg.jpg" alt=""/><figcaption>Dozers were required for the rescue of stranded locals and their motorbikes in Kavre during the floods caused by incessant rainfall across the country last week. Photo: RAJKUMAR PARAJULI/RSS</figcaption></figure>As nearly 300 scientists from 60 countries arrived in Kathmandu this week to attend the second meeting of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) to plan its next report, it is as if the rain god was waiting to remind them to be more forthright about the causal <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/turning-on-the-heat/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">link between climate change and weather</a>.After being <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/where-is-the-monsoon-this-year/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">three weeks late</a>, unprecedented <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/monsoon-2019-deluge/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">monsoon squalls this year hit the country</a> with record precipitation in places. Floods and landslides killed nearly 80 people in Nepal, affecting millions of people downstream in India.Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/weather-warning-for-climate-meeting/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Weather warning for climate change</a>, Sonia Awale<a style="background-color: #ffffff; font-size: 15px; letter-spacing: 0.01em;" href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/where-is-the-monsoon-this-year/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Where is monsoon this year?</a>, Ajaya DixitIt must have been premonition that drove us to write <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/flood-of-recrimination/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">an editorial in this space on 28 June</a> warning of just such a calamity. We said floods are an annual phenomenon in Nepal and <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/nepal-tarai-learns-from-past-floods/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">farmers have learnt to live</a>, even benefit, from them. Floods are natural, we wrote, disasters are not.It is when we let the city expand into the floodplains of rivers, when <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/Flood-on-the-border-Nepal-India,3915" target="_blank" rel="noopener">we construct ill-designed road embankments</a> or block natural drainage systems that floods claim lives. We saw ample evidence of that this week from the Kalanki and Nakkhu neighbourhoods of Kathmandu, where streams turned into raging brown torrents to reclaim their original courses.Read also:<a style="background-color: #ffffff; font-size: 15px; letter-spacing: 0.01em;" href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/flood-of-recrimination/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Flood of recrimination</a>, Editorial<a style="background-color: #ffffff; font-size: 15px; letter-spacing: 0.01em;" href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/nepal-tarai-learns-from-past-floods/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Nepal Tarai learns from past floods</a>, Sewa BhattaraiAnd in Rautahat, which saw a <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/headline/nepal-flood-of-recrimination,3906" target="_blank" rel="noopener">repeat of the 2017 disaster</a> caused by flood control levees on the Bagmati narrowing the river, which was then dammed by a road embankment across the border in India. The fatalities were much less this time because the Indian embankment gave way, releasing the dammed water. But in the process, it inundated large parts of northern Bihar.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LBPfkPQT0CEBad urban planning combined with climate-related weather extremes will surely lead to future catastrophes. The way to be prepared for them is to understand rivers, not block their paths to the sea. The <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/regular-columns/Comment/rivers-fighting-back,993" target="_blank" rel="noopener">river will always win</a>.This was a point driven home at the IPCC meeting in Kathmandu this week by co-chair of Working Group 2, Debra Roberts of South Africa. She told our reporter: “Kathmandu has been tested over the last week by an unusual monsoon – you need the people who run and design this city to have access to information on major global transitions like how urban infrastructure can cope with future climate events.” Indeed, urban infrastructure is one of the four major global transitions that countries need to pay attention to in coming decades, underlined the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/climate-climax/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">IPCC’s 1.5 Special Report</a> last year. The others are land use, industry and energy systems.The scientists writing the IPCC’s 6th assessment in Kathmandu this week will be focusing on adaptation and impact, but their final report will not be released till 2022. The danger is that, at the accelerated pace of warming that we are witnessing, the data used to predict impact will itself be outdated.Just as the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/a-terrifying-assessment-of-himalayan-melting/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Himalayan Assessment</a> released by ICIMOD earlier this year showed, the warming trend is already <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/climate-damage/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">much worse than we thought</a>. Our mountains are warming up to 0.7oC degrees faster than the global average, melting and shrinking glaciers at an accelerated pace.Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/on-thin-ice-in-the-khumbu/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">On thin ice in the Khumbu</a>, Kunda Dixit <figure><img width="1500" height="1275" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108131144/636a4f6e9c7e80680e04fd08jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption>Illustration: DIWAKAR CHETTRI</figcaption></figure>If we go on with business as usual, <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/decarbonise-now/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">spewing the same amount of carbon</a> we do today, <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/climate-for-change/the-great-himalayan-thaw/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">two-thirds of the ice in the Himalaya</a> will be gone this century, with catastrophic effects for the up to 1.6 billion people living downstream.<a style="background-color: #ffffff; font-size: 15px; letter-spacing: 0.01em;" href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/ice-to-water/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Ice and snow</a> get all the media attention, but weather extremes are already depleting aquifers and as groundwater levels drop, <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/nepals-silent-emergency-springs-going-dry/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">springs are going dry</a> in Nepal’s mid-mountains.Our governments have a tendency to blame all their past neglect and poor governance on the climate crisis. In fact, climate change is a god-sent excuse for them to do nothing. However as we know, Nepal’s poverty, dependence on rain-fed agriculture and lack of clean drinking water, are structural problems that pre-date climate change. The global climate emergency just makes all our existing development problems more challenging.What we have to be prepared for is that even the IPCC’s findings presented in Incheon and Katowice last year may be too optimistic, and that warming trends will certainly be much worse.Read also:<a style="background-color: #ffffff; font-size: 15px; letter-spacing: 0.01em;" href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/climate-climax/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Climate climax</a>, Editorial<a style="background-color: #ffffff; font-size: 15px; letter-spacing: 0.01em;" href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/climate-damage/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Climate damage</a>, EditorialWe really do not need more evidence that the climate emergency is happening. The question is, what we are going to do about it. Being an inter-governmental body, the IPCC is a vital interface between scientists and politicians. Policymakers now need to turn the knowledge available into specific action for the local context. The old cliché may have to be turned around: act globally, think locally. <h2>10 years ago this week</h2> Ten years ago this week, the <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=16123#.XTAAvPIzaUk" target="_blank" rel="noopener">front page story</a> in Nepali Times by Prashant Jha from New Delhi (<a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/issue/460" target="_blank" rel="noopener">#460, 17 -23 July, 2009</a>) dealt with what Nepal-watchers in India's capital were thinking about the political goings-on in Kathmandu. Then, as now, Delhi seemed confused. Excerpt:‘There is a great deal of confusion in India about the political confusion in Nepal, but officials here say they want the Maoists to “reform internally” and support the Madhav Nepal government.Sections of the Indian establishment concede Nepal’s government suffers a legitimacy crisis. They insist that the process must move forward in the present framework. Indian officialdom wants the government now to try to get the political process back on track. India is learnt to have told Madhav Nepal to “keep the doors open” for the Maoists and constantly engage with them.’<a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/issue/460"><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108131144/636a4f729c7e80680e04fd09jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="700" height="1077"></a>

Act globally, think locally

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-aBw2nQHIJUThe monsoon this year has been delayed by more than two weeks, proving forecasters wrong. This has pushed back paddy planting season because two-third of Nepal's farms depend on rains. Rice plantation has started only in areas with irrigation channels.It is already 1 July, and paddy trans-plantation has begun in only 15% of farms, according to government statistics. This week saw some farmers in Bhaktapur and Budhanilkantha in Kathmandu Valley and neighbouring districts plant the season's first rice seedlings. But many of the farmers practicing subsistence rain-fed agriculture across Nepal are still waiting for the rains to arrive.Photojournalists Monika Deupala, Min Ratna Bajracharya and Bikram Rai travelled across Kathmandu Valley and surrounding districts to capture this season's rice planting ambience in photographs and video.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108131136/636a4de19c7e80680e04fc89jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1125"/><figcaption>A farmer in Barpak of Gorkha district uses a power tiller to plough his terrace in anticipation of rain. Photo: MIN RATNA BAJRACHARYA</figcaption></figure><h2>Photos from Nuwakot by Monika Deupala</h2><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108131136/636a4de59c7e80680e04fc8ajpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1000"><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108131136/636a4de89c7e80680e04fc8bjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1000"><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108131136/636a4dec9c7e80680e04fc8cjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1000"><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108131136/636a4def9c7e80680e04fc8djpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1000"><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108131136/636a4df39c7e80680e04fc8ejpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1000"><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108131136/636a4df69c7e80680e04fc8fjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1000"><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108131136/636a4df99c7e80680e04fc90jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1000"><h2>Photos from Budhanilkantha by Min Ratna Bajracharya</h2><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108131136/636a4dfd9c7e80680e04fc91jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1000"><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108131136/636a4e009c7e80680e04fc92jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1000" height="1500"><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108131136/636a4e039c7e80680e04fc93jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1000"><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108131136/636a4e079c7e80680e04fc94jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1000"><h2>Photos from Bhaktapur by Monika Deupala</h2><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108131136/636a4e0a9c7e80680e04fc95jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1000"><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108131136/636a4e0d9c7e80680e04fc96jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1000"><h2>Photo from Thecho by Bikram Rai</h2><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108131136/636a4e119c7e80680e04fc97jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1000">Read also:<a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/blogs/mycity/2017/06/29/muddy-fest/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Muddy Fest</a>, Gopen Rai<a style="background-color: #ffffff; font-size: 15px; letter-spacing: 0.01em;" href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/dhan-diwas/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Dhan Diwas</a>, Gopen Rai and Bikram Rai<a style="background-color: #ffffff; font-size: 15px; letter-spacing: 0.01em;" href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/lifting-livelihoods-by-lifting-water/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Lifting livelihoods by lifting water</a>, Sabina Devkota

Not so soon monsoon

<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108111156/636a36969c7e80680e048318jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1400" height="913"/><figcaption>Pic: GORAKH BISTA</figcaption></figure>Kathmandu is bursting at the seams, there is almost no room left to move. A lesson from the 2015 earthquake was that survivors need open spaces for shelter and safety: <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/blogs/thebrief/2015/07/17/leaving-shelter/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Tundikhel</a> housed tens of thousands and other green areas served as open-air shelters for months.But in the four years since, the Valley’s open spaces have shrunk further. <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=5876#.XMJOyzBKjIV" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Nepal Army has fenced off Tundikhel</a>, and construction material is dumped on what is left. On Thursday, hundreds of activists staged a protest to ‘Re-open the Open Air Theatre’ because the Municpality had allowed it to be turned into a parking lot.Kathmandu’s air pollution is made worse by the loss of its green lungs. The earthquake was a wake-up call, but it did not rouse anyone at the Municipality. The demand for real estate, soaring property prices, and collusion between the land mafia and local officials means the last open spaces owned by government schools, community parks and guthi are being sold off. When the Prime Minister’s residence at Baluwatar needed expansion, it found an adjacent government plot was already sold to individuals, including NCP General Secretary Bishnu Paudel.Disaster management agencies have identified <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/page/wide-open-spaces-kathmandu" target="_blank" rel="noopener">83 open areas</a> as refuges during future earthquakes, but they are also needed to make the city greener and to <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/Nepali-Times-Buzz/wide-open-spaces-Kathmandu,3181" target="_blank" rel="noopener">foster community interaction.</a>The national government has bungled, and elected municipalities have failed to improve the quality of urban life. It is now up to local communities and neighbourhoods to rally and protect their own open spaces. <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/parks-not-parking-lots/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Narayanchaur in Naxal</a> was upgraded by residents, proving that  urban renewal by restoring parks is possible.Activism to stop open spaces from being built up is gaining strength; public pressure can force the Muncipality to act to save what is left.

Houseful

<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108111156/636a36999c7e80680e048319jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1000"/><figcaption>Tornado in Bara. Photo: RSS</figcaption></figure>This is the season for windstorms, and even though the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/groound-zero-in-pheta/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">whirlwind</a> that hit the central Tarai on 31 March killing 28 people was a freak event, it was not the first to touch down in our part of the world.Novelist Amitabh Ghosh begins his 2016 non-fiction book, <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/Nepali-Times-Buzz/book-reviews-new-year-2074,3654" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Great Derangement: Climate Change and the Unthinkable</a>, with his personal encounter with a funnel-shaped tornado that struck New Delhi on 17 March 1978. It killed 70 and injured 700 in just 2 minutes.Ghosh writes that the Indian Meterological Service said at the time: ‘This was, in effect, the first tornado to hit Delhi—and indeed the entire region—in recorded meteorological history.’Birganj-based journalist Chandra Kishore remembers a similar devastating vortex that destroyed parts of his Tarai village in the mid-1980s. <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/toll-expected-to-double-to-50-in-tornado/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">In Pheta</a> on the night of 31 March, most of the deaths were due to poorly built structures, not the actual tornado, proving once again that it is shoddily-built houses that kill people not natural events.When Ghosh encountered the tornado in 1978 in New Delhi, the Earth’s atmosphere had 334ppm (parts per million) of carbon dioxide. In the 19th century, before the industrial age, it was 280ppm. By 2019, the CO2 concentration in the atmosphere has increased to 411ppm, most of it because of fossil fuel emissions.With so much carbon in the atmosphere, climate change is no longer something that will happen in a distant future — <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/a-terrifying-assessment-of-himalayan-melting/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">it is happening now</a>. Events like the Tarai tornado are <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/the-new-normal-2/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">our new normal</a> and highlight the growing impacts of an erratic climate and its rising social and economic cost. No country is immune, all countries have to adapt and also cut their emissions by switching to renewable energy.Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/?p=25490&amp;preview=true" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Nepal's electric transport future is here</a>, Sonia AwaleNepal’s Department of Hydrology and Meteorology (DHM) collects wind speed data at the airport to assist flight operations, for academic assessment of wind energy potentials and for designing buildings and infrastructure. Wind hazards have always been there, but death and destruction of the scale that Pheta witnessed has not been part of our understanding.As an under-budgeted and under-staffed entity, the DHM has the lowest priority from the Nepali state, preventing it from becoming a repository of climate knowledge. As one of the countries most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, Nepal needs to upgrade its weather forecasting and early warning.The Pheta tragedy revealed a major gap in the DHM’s ability to ‘nowcast’ weather, the process of warning people about what is likely to happen in the next few hours at a spatial resolution of a few square kilometres. The department needs to be able to provide local, short-term forecasting, perhaps by collaborating with others like Tribhuvan University’s Physics Department.The twister also exposed gaps in our <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/disastrous-management-in-nepal/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">disaster management institutions</a>. Nepal’s 2017 Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Act has replaced the 1982 Natural Calamity Relief Act, so there are now 15 legal tools and guidelines covering the entire disaster cycle. However, these have not been contextualised for our local situation, where the understanding of national policies and laws is still limited.The Ministry of Home Affairs held a meeting of the Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Committee on 5 April, chaired by the Home Affairs Minister himself. It issued a 13-point decision to expedite relief and increase preparedness for the coming monsoon season.Province 2 has also taken a number of decisions including one to build prefabricated houses for the Pheta victims within four months. The government in Kathmandu, however, decided to assign the Nepal Army to rebuild the damaged houses. The army played a commendable role in rescue and relief efforts during the 2015 earthquake and in other disasters, but it is worth asking why it needs to be involved in reconstruction of private homes.The Nepal Army is there to defend our borders and be the first responder in a disaster; building houses is not its job. Reconstruction requires working iteratively with local governments to support victims in self-recovery and building back safer without reproducing past vulnerabilities. The National Reconstruction Authority (NRA) already has a track record of helping earthquake-affected families build houses, and it could have easily been assigned that responsibility in Pheta.Such complex institutional dynamics often create more constraints than solutions, at a time when there are new challenges due to climate change-induced disasters. Nepal’s national, provincial and local governments, and society by and large, do not have the necessary wherewithal to adapt and are the least prepared. The poor are the most vulnerable, and as Pheta proved, are likely going to pay the highest price.Ajaya Dixit is Executive Director of Kathmandu based ISET-Nepal. His monthly column Climate for Change deals with the impact of global warming in Nepal.

Life in the time of tornadoes

One smoggy winter morning in February 2019, Ekta regretted coming to her sculpture class. It was the first day of her period, and the 19-year-old wished she was home, curled up in bed with a hot water bag to soothe her cramps.
Her class was at Kalapremi Ceramic Studio, a dark room on the ground floor of a house in Maharajganj, and Ekta’s teacher was the artist Gopal Das Shrestha ‘Kalapremi’, a noted sculptor.
Two other students were already there, using all their muscle strength to knead the sculpting clay. Ekta, now 24, recalls how Kalapremi asked her if she was feeling all right. She avoided him, as she did not want everyone to know she was menstruating.
Kalapremi repeatedly asked Ekta what was wrong. She finally muttered that she was having her period, after which he grabbed her hand and led her to a partitioned corner of the studio and sat her on a chair. Before she could stop him, he slid his hand under her dress, and started massaging her abdomen.
“I was horrified,” Ekta recalls. “I told him to stop, but he didn’t listen, asking me not to be shy, saying he knew how to relieve my pain. He stopped only after I protested furiously.”&nbsp;
The art tutor then said, “You’re like my daughter. I’m doing it out of love to make you feel better, but you’re so stubborn.”&nbsp;
“Instead of saying sorry he acted like I was the one having crazy thoughts,” remembers Ekta, adding that from April 2016 to August 2020 beginning the time she was 16, the artist sexually abused and harassed her on several occasions. &nbsp;
Now, Ekta and the artist’s other former students are finally sharing their experiences and some are pressing legal charges against him, hoping that others do not have to endure what they did.&nbsp;
Award-winning artist and teacher Gopal Das Shrestha ‘Kalapremi’ (the name means ‘Art Lover’) is known for his ceramic art, sculpture, and contemporary pottery. He was <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/review/the-house-of-kalapremi">profiled in Nepali Times after a collaborative exhibition</a>, ‘Where the Wild Things Are’ at the Siddhartha Art Gallery three years ago.&nbsp;
His pieces, titled Gaalis, featured sculpted female figures with the heads of dogs, sheep, and donkeys (pictured) to depict derogatory terms for women. Some critics said the collection was a satire on feminists.
Kalapremi started his artistic and teaching career in 1983 and over the years taught at Bhanubhakta School, Kathmandu University School of Arts, Lalitkala Campus and at his private Kalapremi Ceramic Studio. He has also lectured at Jeonju University in South Korea and recently at Tabor Academy in the United States.
Seven of Kalapremi’s former students were interviewed for this story. Five female students said he touched them inappropriately in his studio or at Kathmandu University. Two male students said they witnessed him abuse and harass the women. In all cases, the students struggled to recognise the abuse when it occurred, and the lack of reporting systems left them to cope on their own for years.&nbsp;
Earlier this year, students shared a social media post hinting at Kalapremi’s history of abusive behaviour following which more students of the artist reached out sharing similar experiences. Some students spoke of abuse that happened as long as 20 years ago.
Kalapremi, 60, has denied the allegations. He told Nepali Times: “Some years ago, there was a movement encouraging people to hug and kiss. I used to do it purely out of friendship and love. But after seeing posts on social media last year calling out my behaviour, I realised my actions may have hurt some people. I understand now that I should have been more mindful.”
He added: “I am also an auxiliary health worker, so I know the exact points to massage to relieve menstrual pain. It’s not just menstruation, I take anyone who is ill to the hospital.”
Sexual abuse is much more rampant than reported given how difficult it is to prove it in court. The law defines sexual abuse as occuring when someone touches another’s private parts, coerces them into touching theirs, uses vulgar language, shows degrading images, or behaves indecently towards them without consent.&nbsp;
Ekta and her fellow students are consulting lawyer Suneeta Regmi Pokhrel, who says they know that even if the court decides in their favour, it is difficult to survive after speaking up, and influential men defend themselves saying they are being framed.&nbsp;
“They are in a lot of pain and weep when recalling how he abused them,” Regmi Pokhrel told us. “They are angry and have filed a case against him, but they are also terrified. They know he is a powerful man and they have seen how our society treats women who speak up against abusers. Unless people speak up, perpetrators will be emboldened.”
Art and academia in Nepal simply reflect the power imbalances in society where people with intersecting identities experience worse forms of abuse. Theatre actors Raj Kumar Pudasaini, Rajan Khatiwada, and Sunil Pokhrel were called out during the #MeToo movement in the Nepali theatre scene in 2019. Even after the allegations Pokhrel went on to receive national awards, while others continued to work without repercussions.
“If you speak up against abusers, you gradually get sidelined from projects,” explained a theatre artist who wished anonymity fearing professional setbacks. “The theatre scene in Nepal is quite small, you just have to make peace with the perpetrators and work with them if you want to sustain yourself.”&nbsp;
In academia there is a history of faculty members sexually harassing students and getting away with it. After Tribhuvan University (TU) lecturer Krishna Bhattachan was accused of harassing women students, the university said it would follow Nepal’s sexual harassment law and set up a reporting mechanism. But nothing happened to the professor, who had already retired. Instead, he counter-accused the students of 'attacking the indigenous people’s movement with baseless allegations' as <a href="https://kathmandupost.com/letters/2019/01/29/bhattachan-responds">he told the Kathmandu Post in 2019</a>. He continues to be featured as a prominent speaker including at TU.
Other faculty members previously accused of sexual harassment include Jagadish Murti Koirala from TU, Bishnu Prasad Acharya from Ratna Rajya Campus, and Bodha Raj Tripathee from Lalitpur Madhyamik Vidhyalaya. A woman staff member from TU also filed a sexual abuse complaint against Dambar Chemjong from TU.
Prominent figures like <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/the-rise-and-fall-of-nims-purja">mountaineer Nims Purja</a> have been <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/31/sports/mountaineering-sexual-harassment-abuse-nims-purja.html">accused of sexual assault</a>, and cricketer Sandeep Lamichhane, actor <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/celebrity-rape-case-spotlights-nepal-laws">Paul Shah</a>, and former speaker of Parliament <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/mahara-arrested">Krishna Bahadur Mahara</a> have been accused of rape, but society-at-large has let off the alleged perpetrators amdist a larger debate about justice for survivors and punishment of perpetrators.&nbsp;
‘Gaushala-26’ is the court name given to the 18-year-old who accused Sandeep Lamichhane, former captain of Nepal’s national cricket team and skipper of Biratnagar Kings in the <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/here-comes-the-nepal-premier-league">ongoing Nepal Premier League</a>, of rape. She left the country citing society questioning her character affecting her mental health while Lamichhane got an outpouring of support. In May, the Patan High Court overturned a prior verdict that found Lamichhane guilty of rape and had sentenced him to eight years in prison. During the 23-month legal battle to pursue justice, Gaushala-26 faced threats of gang rape and acid attacks.&nbsp;
Exhausted by the struggle, Gaushala-26 sought to “move to a new world” where she could live free without hiding her identity.
Actress Samragyee Rajya Laxmi Shah in an Instagram video now deleted detailed the harassment she faced from a filmmaker during a movie shoot. She did not name any name but veteran actor Bhuwan KC filed a defamation case against Rana, but the court ruled that the charge lacked sufficient evidence.&nbsp;
Former Kathmandu mayor <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/theytoo">Keshav Sthapit also mocked the #MeToo movement</a>, calling accusations against him by journalists Rashmila Prajapati and Ujjwala Maharjan “a rape of men’s rights”.
Serial Abuse
Back at the Kalapremi Ceramics studio, another former student, 24-year-old Rajiv, says he felt the need to speak out after seeing his female classmates being abused.&nbsp;
“He frequently kissed them on their cheeks,” he told Nepali Times. “Whenever they walked into the studio he flailed his arms like a child asking for a hug. They awkwardly hugged him from the side, but he pulled them closer, held their chin, and kissed their cheeks.”&nbsp;
Rajiv says he also saw Kalapremi pull the women’s bra straps, touch their breasts, and slap their buttocks. The young students would freeze, not knowing how to react, and if they protested, he would say it was “normal in art”. Rajiv, 19 at the time like his classmates, remembers thinking perhaps the well-respected artist was right after all.
Another student, Luna, who took lessons at Kalapremi’s studio from 2020 to 2022 did try to confront the tutor after he made an obscene proposal to her. She recalls: “One day when the other students had left the studio and it was just the two of us, he told me that God had given him special artistic talent and he could transfer those powers to me. But to do that both of us will have to be naked, inside a dark room, and have sex.”
Luna, who was 18 then, was livid and told him she did not want any of his powers, but she says he laughed at her as if he was joking. She did not tell her family about the incident because she thought no one would believe her.&nbsp;
“They were all in awe of this famous artist and felt I should be grateful that to be learning sculpting from him,” she says. “I was scared to be alone with him in case he talked about sex again. My coping mechanism was to be rude so he wouldn’t try to come close to me.”
Seeing how some classmates were standing up to Kalapremi, Ekta too tried to push back against his advances, but she said he found ways to coerce her. Since Ekta, Rajiv, and Luna could not afford Kalapremi’s Rs30,000 monthly fee for lessons, he had offered them all a stipend to assist him in the studio.
“He had spondylosis and took me to his therapy sessions to learn massage techniques, then he often made me and other students massage him,” says Ekta. Whenever she refused, he would feign pain to make her feel sorry for him. “He would insist that I put my hands under his shirt so that I could massage him better,” she adds.
The art tutor often tried to “seduce sympathy” from Ekta by sharing how he had never been loved as a child and was “sexually frustrated” as an adult.&nbsp;
“At 7PM, he would pour himself Signature whiskey and immediately go off again about how he was sex-starved. I didn’t know how to respond. It took me time to realise alcohol was just an excuse to talk about sex,” Ekta says.
If convicted, Kalapremi could face financial penalty and/or a prison sentence of up to three years according to Section 224 of National Penal (Code) Act 2017.&nbsp;
Data suggests that victims of child sexual abuse on average take nearly 24 years to tell someone about their trauma, and some may never disclose it at all.&nbsp;
“In our culture, children are rarely taught about boundaries. They often react, show anger when adults pinch their cheeks. But adults insist they did it out of love, and force the children to accept it,” says Sita Lama, a psychotherapist at Manka Kura. “And even when someone touches them inappropriately they struggle to identify and verbalise it.”
When perpetrators claim to be “acting out of love”, Lama says survivors are likely to perceive it as something safe, rather than recognising it as abuse.&nbsp;
“It may take years for them to realise they were abused,” she explains. "And even when they become aware, the power imbalance with the abuser and the associated shame often prevents survivors from speaking up."
Other former students from the School of Art at Kathmandu University have also come forward years later, saying Kalapremi sexually abused them. As young adults, they felt his behaviour was off but were uncertain if it was inappropriate, illegal, or they did not know how to respond. After having understood that it was indeed abuse, they say they are speaking out now to protect others.&nbsp;
Amina Singh, a visiting faculty member at Kathmandu University, says there is no clause against sexual abuse in contracts of teachers, and there is no formal grievance handling mechanism for the students.&nbsp;
“So the only way students can to deal with sexual abuse is approach someone they trust,” she says.
Eight other former art students of Lalit Kala Campus and Srijana College of Fine Arts of Tribhuvan University and other private art studios in Kathmandu say they were also sexually abused by their art teachers. Three faculty members interviewed from these institutions said they saw the abuse, but felt it was futile to report it given how powerful the teachers were.
In the absence of a formal system, some longtime women artists warned each other about “problematic” artists. They shared &nbsp;a “heads-up” to be more cautious when collaborating with them, and avoided responding to their calls and texts after work hours.
To ensure art institutions are safe for all, galleries, museums, artist studios, and smaller art spaces need to develop policies on sexual harassment. This would include a code of conduct or studio policies that hold the leadership accountable and outline the principles of professional ethics.&nbsp;
Students and employees should inquire about accountability mechanisms for raising concerns, both formally and informally, advocates say.
Three years after Ekta left the ceramics studio, she learnt that Kalapremi had harassed many other women. Still trying to get a footing in the art industry, she attended a workshop in Kathmandu where women artists discussed ways to stay safe in the art sector.&nbsp;
Since it was a close-knit group Ekta opened up about how she felt violated and realised she was not alone, he had been abusing underprivileged students for years, and this was common knowledge among artists in Nepal.
Ekta says that even after she quit, Kalapremi continued sending her text messages like ‘I am thinking of you’, ‘Why have you stopped speaking with me’, or ‘I am waiting for your call’.&nbsp;
But what really forced her to act was when Ekta found out that he was sending similar texts to her younger sister.&nbsp;
“I’ve had enough,” she told us. “He abused me all these years but I won’t let him abuse my sister.” &nbsp;
Ekta, Rajiv and Luna are not the real names of the students.&nbsp;

‘Art Lover’ accused of sexual abuse

It was 8:15 in the evening of 25 March 1968 when everyone in the village of Batulechaur near Pokhara heard a deafening sound like thunder as a bright flashing object hurtled down to land in a field.&nbsp; That field belonged to Kul Timilsina, and the next morning he retrieved a sheet of metal about 2m by 1m and carried it home with the help of a few others, thinking it would be useful for his buffalo shed.&nbsp; Before he died at age 83 three years ago, Timilsina had told photo archivist Sunil Ulak that the black metal sheet was not rectangular and had rounded corners. There are a few witnesses still alive who have a clear recollection of the object that fell from the sky that night.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2024120707128_75cc85aac56b9cc4a77366471f058d7b3eb6868776811b0923845c2d0a61f014.jpg" data-media-id="editor_0" data-image-id="2024120707128_75cc85aac56b9cc4a77366471f058d7b3eb6868776811b0923845c2d0a61f014" data-rendition-name="original" width="1170" height="601" loading="lazy" alt="UFO over Pokhara"> <figcaption>The field in Batulechaur belonging to Kul Timilsina where fragments of a flying object fell from the sky in 1968.</figcaption> </figure>  One of them is Timilsina’s wife Gyanu, who was 22 at the time. She had been at home, and remembers hearing the big bang and the sky becoming very bright. “We saw the thing in the field in the morning,” she told us. “It looked like a lid, a covering of some sort. The way it was stuck in the ground, it must have fallen from the sky. We thought we could use it to dry clothes on, and took it home.”&nbsp; Another witness is Kul Narayan Paudel. “I was only eight then. We ran to the field to see what had fallen. It was a four-sided metal sheet. The elders took it away, and I don't know what happened to it.” &nbsp; Ram Bahadur Baniya, a teacher at the local school, says he had heard the sheet had been brought to the school, and later handed over to the Zonal Commissioner at the time, Nanda Prasad Malla. “But that is all hearsay,” he says.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2024120707128_0bf207a12063fb8155b3c8d9a00a94887b126380c9e0627527c84cf5e1101f54.jpg" data-media-id="editor_1" data-image-id="2024120707128_0bf207a12063fb8155b3c8d9a00a94887b126380c9e0627527c84cf5e1101f54" data-rendition-name="original" width="1170" height="610" loading="lazy" alt="UFO over Pokhara"> <figcaption>Gyanu Timilsina, wife of Kul Timilsina.</figcaption> </figure>  There are two versions of what happened to Kul Timilsina’s metal sheet. One is that an American Peace Corp Volunteer teaching at the nearby Bindyabasini School took it, and another is that it was handed over to the government. Recently declassified Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and US State Department documents from the time say that the US Embassy in Kathmandu tracked down the object two years later and had it shipped back to the US. A telegram from the Department of State and Department of Defense tagged as ‘MOON DUST / Space Fragments’ dated 1 March 1972 stated: ‘1. Restored space fragment will be on board Embassy support flight 115 arriving Kathmandu on or about March 10. Fragment is packed in shipping crate (cargo no. 72-33365) marked in care of DAO.&nbsp; 2. State and Defense representatives examined fragments prior to shipment finding restoration acceptable.’  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20241207071212_929d903ee06d41baa4f6040e981cd7c7d7bd75cc9c37c9b617d307fc8538d2df.png" data-media-id="editor_2" data-image-id="20241207071212_929d903ee06d41baa4f6040e981cd7c7d7bd75cc9c37c9b617d307fc8538d2df" data-rendition-name="original" width="856" height="568" loading="lazy" alt="UFO over Pokhara"> <figcaption>Declassified CIA documents about the investigation into the object sighted in Pokhara. </figcaption> </figure>  The documents show that the US government, military and intelligence agencies investigated this incident thoroughly when it occurred, and have continued to revisit it ever since, as recently as five years ago. What is even more intriguing is that the object that fell in Pokhara was not the only unidentified space object that fell to earth that year. There were similar sightings of objects falling from the sky in Ladakh, Sikkim and Bhutan between 19 February and 25 March 1968.&nbsp; These mysteries were the subject of a CIA investigation in 1968 titled ‘<a href="https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/docs/CIA-RDP81R00560R000100070007-8.pdf">Sighting of Unidentified Flying Objects in Ladakh, Nepal, Sikkim and Bhutan</a>’, and the report is part of the recent online declassification of 800,000 top-secret documents from the period.&nbsp; &nbsp;Although unidentified flying objects (UFOs) have a connotation now of being alien craft, it could be pieces of satellite, missile, rocket or even aircraft. The CIA report documents six sightings in 1968 and quotes local sources as describing all of them having similar characteristics: bright blue or red streaks in the sky accompanied by loud sounds like lightning and thunder and objects falling to the ground. Aside from the metallic object that was found in Batlechaur, there were other items also found nearby in Tallakot, Tureypasal, Armalakot and Maidan. Whatever the object was, it seems to have disintegrated even before it hit the ground.&nbsp; The CIA report records the first sighting on 19 February 1968 in various parts of Sikkim and Olangchung Gola and Ghunsa in eastern Nepal. The light was said to be ‘long and thin’ and giving out ‘green and red light’. &nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20241207071212_c3c825027d966a2aedc846970390eebe063957503c7eacc8e01e0517843f9bbb.png" data-media-id="editor_4" data-image-id="20241207071212_c3c825027d966a2aedc846970390eebe063957503c7eacc8e01e0517843f9bbb" data-rendition-name="original" width="892" height="596" loading="lazy" alt="UFO over Pokhara "> </figure>  Two days later on 21 February, a soundless blue object was seen traveling fast across the sky above Thimphu in Bhutan. Then on 4 March there were multiple daytime sightings or white streaks in the sky at Chang La Pass, Fukche and Koyul in Ladakh. There were more sightings in Ladakh on the very day fragments fell near Pokhara on 25 March 1968.&nbsp; After the sightings in Pokhara, rumours started flying in Kathmandu that these were aliens trying to land on Earth, it could be Russian or Chinese spy planes or satellites, and some even say it as a sign from heaven that the end of the world was near. This was at the height of the Cold War. The Russians and Americans were testing their thermonuclear devices as well as intercontinental ballistic missile delivery systems. The Washington-Beijing rapprochement had not yet happened, and China was making quick progress testing atomic bombs. Within two years after its first atomic test, in 1966 China exploded its first hydrogen bomb at the Lop Nur site in Xinjiang, 3,000km to the north from Nepal. After neary six decades, what is still intriguing is that all the sightings within a few months of each other in 1968 were along the Himalayan arc bordering Tibet: from Bhutan, Sikkim Nepal, to Ladakh. The US military intelligence seems to have concluded that this was not a coincidence and there were frequent research trips to the site in Pokhara by American officials in the months after the incident. With the help of the Royal Nepal Army, the region north of Pokhara was thoroughly searched.&nbsp; A confidential memo dated 25 June 1968 by Jerry C Trippy to a ‘Mr Farley’ mentions that the US Air Force’s Foreign Technology Division had decided that the debris could be important because it may be related to a Chinese missile test or a Soviet ‘Vehicle Venik’ rocket.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20241207071216_feb5425692dc36b20187de4e4fcc2ce9fd12b6d9e1b8724398e50bcdbf9032fe.jpg" data-media-id="editor_5" data-image-id="20241207071216_feb5425692dc36b20187de4e4fcc2ce9fd12b6d9e1b8724398e50bcdbf9032fe" data-rendition-name="original" width="1500" height="1000" loading="lazy" alt="UFO over Pokhara"> </figure>  On 28 August 1968 the US Embassy in Kathmandu sent a letter to Washington DC saying that the object could be of Soviet origin, possibly from when the rocket carrying the ‘Kosmos 208’ satellite re-entered the atmosphere. But why were the fragments falling to earth several weeks apart, and in the same region? No one knows where the metal sheet that Kul Timilsina recovered is now. It was definitely packed in a crate and taken to the US, and although it is rumoured that it was returned that is not very likely. Archivist Sunil Ulak heard from the Timilsina family that CIA officials had returned to the site five years ago. &nbsp; Interest in UFOs peaked in the US in the 1950s, with the Cold War space race and tests of atomic weapons and delivery rockets. CIA and scientists were being sent to investigate sightings, both publicly and privately. Could the Pokhara fragments as well as the sightings in Ladakh and Bhutan actually be alien craft falling to earth? The renewal in interest in space travel in large part due to Elon Musk’s SpaceX, UFOs and sightings are again subjects of public interest.&nbsp; Even 57 years later, even if there was definitive proof about whether the Batlechaur fragment was from a Chinese missile or a soviet rocket, it has not been made public in documents declassified so far. We may never know.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20241207071216_b6938795f40731e7657fd6dcbb3cf460a326186a15eb11d4f832f602201ff598.jpg" data-media-id="editor_6" data-image-id="20241207071216_b6938795f40731e7657fd6dcbb3cf460a326186a15eb11d4f832f602201ff598" data-rendition-name="original" width="642" height="320" loading="lazy" alt="UFO over Pokhara"> </figure>  Sunil Ulak speculates if the debris actually came from an American aircraft, perhaps on an intel mission upon China. “Which could explain why they were so thorough in collecting the fragments in Pokhara,” he says. But that still does not explain the multiple sightings weeks apart in 1968.&nbsp; Indeed, US military aircraft were at that time flying frequent night-time missions from air force bases in India to supply weapons to Khampa guerrilla camps in Nepal located north of Pokhara in Mustang. It could very well be that the Chinese shot down one such aircraft. The other sightings could have been contrails of US spy planes, or Chinese anti-aircraft missiles.&nbsp; There were quite a few developments regarding UFOs in 2024. In a US congressional hearing in July, former intelligence officer David Grusch claimed that the government had long been involved in a program to investigate and retrieve non-human craft crashes, and then try to reverse engineer them. However Grusch did not show any evidence.&nbsp; The UAP Disclosure Act of 2024 was signed into law by Joe Biden in December 2023. It plans to oversee the public disclosure of UFO information. However, there is a clause in it that prevents disclosure if it would cause threats to military defense, intelligence operations or foreign relations.&nbsp; It is unlikely that the declassified documents about sightings in the Himalayan will cause any real surprise about definite evidence of alien life even if it was found. It seems humanity will continue, at least for now, to wonder about curious lights in the sky and whether there is anybody out there.&nbsp;

UFO over Pokhara

When Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) president Rabi Lamichhane was arrested in October on charges of defrauding depositors of cooperatives, the party’s vice president Swarnim Wagle gifted him Fareed Zakaria’s book, Age of Revolutions.
Since then, Lamichhane has been shunted around from Kathmandu to Pokhara to Chitwan and back to Pokhara to attend police investigations and court proceedings. He was being flown to Birganj via Kathmandu on Buddha Air on Monday. There is another pending case in Janakpur.
Human rights groups and civil society have criticised the government for hounding Lamichhane with inhumane treatment that borders on physical torture. The two parties in the coalition, Nepali Congress (NC) and the UML, see Lamichhane’s RSP as a potentially formidable challenge to their power.
Even if the fraud charges against Lamichhane are true, the Nepali public is increasingly looking at the government’s actions through the police and courts as political vendetta.
Despite all the travelling, sometimes by plane and often by road at night, Lamichhane appears to be in high spirits, waving to supporters who often gather if they know he is going to be driven around. A social media video shows him giving high fives to fellow passengers on a recent flight to Pokhara.&nbsp;
In the past weeks, streets in Pokhara have erupted with parallel protests by Lamichhane’s supporters as well as depositors of cooperatives who lost their savings to the scam.&nbsp;
Although family visits are allowed, prison officials in Pokhara told Nepali Times that not many people visit Lamichhane these days. He added, “When he does get visitors, he asks them to bring him books.”
Lamichhane is currently Nepal’s most high-profile public figure in custody, and highlights the stark difference between how influential prisoners are treated compared to ordinary inmates.
There are six prison cells at Kaski District Police Office’s two-story detention centre, three on each floor. And while authorities pack prisoners into already overcrowded cells, Lamichhane has an entire room on the second floor to himself.&nbsp;
He has also been allowed to call his family every few days. Other prisoners are not permitted phone calls except for emergencies.
Meanwhile, Lamichhane’s former business partner Chhabilal Joshi, an ex-Deputy Inspector General of Police with whom he established his Gorkha Media Network, is in custody under the same charges in the prison cell next to him.
Lamichhane is accused of siphoning off depositors' money to the tv network in which he was part-owner and anchor. &nbsp;
Both Lamichhane and Joshi are able to buy food from the police canteen instead of being served the regular meal like other prisoners. Joshi has also given his statement to authorities in Rupandehi and Kathmandu for his alleged role in the scam. Lamichhane is yet to be presented in Kathmandu for questioning.
While he was in custody at the Kathmandu District Police Complex, Joshi expressed his desire to sleep in a police officer’s office, reportedly assuring authorities that he would not run away and he was entitled to certain facilities as a former officer of the law.
“He seemed to be under the impression that he is still a police officer,” says a source at the Kathmandu District Police. “We made it clear to him that as someone accused of a crime, he was not entitled to special treatment.”
Former ministers Balkrishna Khand and Top Bahadur Rayamajhi, and ex-home secretary Tek Narayan Pandey, who were arrested in connection with the fake refugee scam last year, were similarly housed in the offices of law enforcement officials instead of prison cells. Khand has since been released after six months in jail.
While there is no legal provision to keep high-ranking officials in separate detention centres when they are arrested, authorities granting them special facilities is not uncommon. Law enforcement officials say VIP detainees expect preferential treatment while in police custody.
Among those is former Kosi Province minister Lila Ballav Adhikari, who was arrested from Biratnagar on 10 November over his alleged involvement in human trafficking and brought to Kathmandu. Adhikari had flown to Japan without government approval with three individuals on 29 October to attend a cultural conference, but had been sent back to Nepal from Narita.&nbsp;
His three companions were arrested at Kathmandu airport upon their arrival, but Adhikari was able to exit unscathed from the VIP lounge. Adhikari had resigned as the Kosi Province Minister for Internal Affairs and Law when it became public that his companions had been taken into custody, and was himself arrested shortly after. He has since been cleared by the courts.
Throughout his detention, Adhikari was kept separately from other inmates. Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Basant Rajouri, head of the Bhadrakali complex, says that while there is no separate detention area for VIPs, some detainees are kept separately depending on the nature of their crime.
However, sources say that arrangements were made for retired judges and others to visit Adhikari frequently worked at the office of a Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) during his time in custody.&nbsp;
“He used to constantly pester the authorities to let him sit outside in the sun, and to be able to use the police officer’s shower area,” added an officer.
Adhikari was released on 25 November after the government prosecutor’s office decided not to charge him in a move that was seen to expose the government’s double standards.
Over at Kathmandu’s Dilli Bazar Prison, former Kist Bank CEO Kamal Gyawali emerges from his prison cell into the courtyard of the prison’s ‘Ka (क)’ block every morning with a thick book in his hands, ready to give his daily sermon.
With his long beard, Gyawali, who is serving a prison sentence for banking fraud, looks the part of a religious guru as he implores his rapt listeners to “walk the right path, abandon bad thoughts and turn to scripture and spirituality”.&nbsp;
Afterward, the attendees gather to discuss politics and current affairs. Inmates at his daily sermons at the prison include other high-profile detainees, including former MP Ichchha Raj Tamang, who is in jail for money laundering and cooperatives fraud, former joint secretary Chudamani Sharma, who was convicted of corruption, as well as NC leader Chandra Bahadur Lama and Krishna Bahadur Upreti of the UML both of whom are on trial for embezzling billions of rupees.
Victims of the cooperatives scam that former lawmaker Tamang was involved in have made trips to the prison and requested visits, but he has refused to meet with any of them.
“Tamang often complains that the state has prevented him from returning the money to the victims by locking him up,” says a police officer at the Dili Bazar jail.
“All you hear every day from the VIP prisoners is that they have been framed,” adds the officer. “No one admits that they were involved in misdeeds.”
But while most high-profile prisoners complain about prison conditions, one exception is former provincial lawmaker Deepak Manange, who is serving a sentence at Dilli Bazar Jail for attempted murder.
“He is the happiest prisoner here,” says a warden. “Unlike the others, he doesn’t claim to have been framed, in fact he doesn’t seem to care that he is in prison.”
Manange is detained in the ‘Kha (ख)’ block of the prison complex, which he renovated at his own expense. The block previously housed female prisoners, but Manange used his influence to transfer them elsewhere. He faces no shortage of visitors, who range from political leaders to people from the underworld.
Along with Manange, other well-known prisoners in this block include Nepal Telecom Managing Director Sunil Poudel, and former executive director of the Surakshan Printing Centre Bikal Poudel, who are serving time for corruption.
Former prisoners at Dilli Bazar prison include ex-ministers Khum Bahadur Khadka and Shyam Sundar Gupta, NC leader Ganesh Lama, Maoist MP Balkrishna Dhungel, Nagarik Unmukti Party leader Resham Chaudhary, as well as former IGs Ramesh Chand Thakuri, Om Bikram Rana, and Hem Bahadur Gurung.
Section 54 of Nepal’s Prison Act assigns each prison’s internal administration the
responsibility of governing its prisoners, which means the more favourable the jail management is, the more comfortable it is for prisoners.
Dilli Bazar prison has been the prison of choice for many high-ranking prisoners, especially those convicted of white collar crimes, due to its more accommodating administrators. The prison, which has the capacity to house 700 inmates, is also less crowded than other jails.
Anuj Bhattarai, spokesperson of the Department of Prison Management, says that there is no legal classification in Nepal for felons to be assigned prisons based on the nature of their crimes.
“That Dilli Bazar Jail has a higher number of prisoners convicted of crimes like corruption is most likely a coincidence,” says Bhattarai. “There is no provision for influential people to be able to choose where they will be incarcerated.”&nbsp;
Translated by Shristi Karki from the Nepali original published in himalkhabar.com

What Nepal’s VIP prisoners do in jail

As soon as she milks her cow, 52-year-old Punam B K is off, pedaling her bicycle furiously along the highway with a blue milk can in the front basket.&nbsp; By the time she arrives at the Jaya Shiva Ganesh Dairy Producers Cooperative in Gopalganj village, others are already there, their bicycles parked on the roadside. The farmers are all holding on to their blue milk cans, and are chatting away.&nbsp; “We keep what is needed for the family, and sell whatever remains here at the cooperative,” says B K, as the volume, fat and non-fat solid content of her milk is measured. It is then poured into a bigger vat to be mixed with milk from other farmers. B K collects her receipt with the value of her milk, and prepares to head home. The farmers are reimbursed on a quarterly basis.&nbsp; Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/multimedia/a-family-that-works-together-stays-together">A family that works together stays together</a>, Sahina Shrestha “Everyone around here has at least a cow or buffalo to provide milk for the family, the cowdung is used for fertiliser, and we can bring whatever is left over to the cooperative,” says B K who, like the others, brings her milk by bicycle twice a day, once in the morning and again in the evening.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20241210081232_0df32c0f6a572aef83eca02dc7a86f75ea5dbc88dc6c2390d42a44ab3cc93395.jpg" data-media-id="editor_1" data-image-id="20241210081232_0df32c0f6a572aef83eca02dc7a86f75ea5dbc88dc6c2390d42a44ab3cc93395" data-rendition-name="original" width="1700" height="1275" loading="lazy" alt="dairy farmers in Chitwan"> </figure>  All this may seem like nothing special, just an ordinary farmer selling her milk. But it has to be seen in the context of dairy farmers overcoming subsistence and increasing household income. Nearly 200,000 dairy farmers from over 1,200 cooperatives have not been paid by the government-run DDC for their milk for a year or more.&nbsp; The DDC has fixed a quota for buying milk from cooperatives that limits production even during the peak winter months. Farmers in Chitwan are so fed up, they have staged demonstrations in Kathmandu and even poured milk on the East-West Highway in protest.&nbsp; Punam B K’s milk ends up in Bhawani Dairy, a milk processing plant in Chitwan that buys milk from various cooperatives in the district. It was established six years ago by three entrepreneur cousins Devrath Baral, Drishya Baral and Subash Paudel and is now being supported by the Commercial Agriculture for Smallholders and Agribusiness (CASA) project.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20241210081232_4e3c65390b9c5345f807b10cbb8c36b006ef6d3cb972e07b5067f4b2db2be32e.jpg" data-media-id="editor_2" data-image-id="20241210081232_4e3c65390b9c5345f807b10cbb8c36b006ef6d3cb972e07b5067f4b2db2be32e" data-rendition-name="original" width="1500" height="1102" loading="lazy" alt="dairy farmers in Chitwan"> </figure>  This UK-funded project implemented by Swisscontact in Nepal has been supporting agro-businesses in 23 countries in Asia and Africa. They focus on improving the capacity of private dairy and vegetable farmers to find markets and build a sustainable supply chain for their produce. It helps dairies like the one in Chitwan with branding and marketing, as well to track business through a Dairy Management System (DMS) digital database.&nbsp; Bhawani Dairy also got support to conduct orientation for cooperative farmers to learn about new ways to boost productivity with breeding, cowshed management and hygiene maintenance. Many commercial farmers in Chitwan, some with up to 60 cows and buffaloes, have benefited.&nbsp; B K says she only has six cows, so not everything she hears at the orientation about increasing cowshed area is applicable. “We are just happy our milk is not wasted, and we can earn some cash from the surplus,” she says.&nbsp; Bhawani Dairy’s clientele is based entirely in Chitwan and in towns along the East-West Highway. But building on its success here, the company is looking to expand nationwide and target the Kathmandu market. Being a perishable product, the <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/so-far-so-good/nepal-s-milk-heartland-rebounds">diary business is challenging</a>. Businesses also need investment and technical support to diversify into value-added milk products like cheese, yoghurt, ice cream or powdered milk.&nbsp; “For now, the best thing we as a dairy business can do for farmers is to buy their milk at a decent price and pay them in time,” says Drishya Baral of Bhawani Dairy.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20241210081232_6c06efb5674dbcd8679015af543bfda87030755383a13c9269e272af28e85953.jpg" data-media-id="editor_4" data-image-id="20241210081232_6c06efb5674dbcd8679015af543bfda87030755383a13c9269e272af28e85953" data-rendition-name="original" width="1700" height="1275" loading="lazy" alt="dairy farmers in Chitwan"> </figure>  Another agro-industry supported by CASA since 2018 is Himalayan Supervores, a venture that sources farm produce to supply vegetables and other foods to restaurants and hotels in the city, and even export Halal-certified produce to Gulf countries.&nbsp; CASA helped with cold chain management system to keep vegetable produce fresh so that the products earn trust about quality in the national and international market. Himalayan Supervores is already exporting to UAE and Qatar, and is targeting other Gulf countries next. “The guidance provided by the international expert was invaluable, we could not have bought that knowledge even with money,” says Nelson Shrestha of Himalayan Supervores. “It was not about fancy hardware, but how to minimise wastage, increase productivity, save time and money.”&nbsp; Though Himalayan Supervores collects vegetables from vegetable cooperatives, it indirectly works with a network of thousands of cooperative farmers. Its catchment area therefore is enormous, and it has enhanced their knowledge about organic farming methods, bio-pesticides, and the right way to handle and package vegetables. CASA’s most recent tie-up is with Pokhara-based Poshilo Foods, which specialises in increasing the shelf-life of local nutritional food items. During the Covid lockdown <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p3bparajuli/">Prithwi Kallyan Parajuli</a> saw an opportunity to supply nutritional foods that stayed longer, and set up Poshilo.&nbsp; It took traditional satu flour made from dry-roasted pulse, added more nutrients, and packaged it. Four flavours of satu with nutrient values differentiated for various age groups now line the shelves of supermarket chains like KK Mart, Saleways. Poshilo is now exploring the export market in India.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20241210081232_a8dbea8c8d45ac4eff6c37fb47da7ff461989c662ba86d207a008381101acdcf.jpg" data-media-id="editor_6" data-image-id="20241210081232_a8dbea8c8d45ac4eff6c37fb47da7ff461989c662ba86d207a008381101acdcf" data-rendition-name="original" width="1700" height="1275" loading="lazy" alt="dairy farmers in Chitwan"> </figure>  In the five years of helping Nepali agribusinesses, CASA has already teamed up with 35 established companies. Parajuli heaps fulsome praise on the catalytic support and guidance he got early on, not just for product design, but to explore market viability, branding and marketing.&nbsp; He has participated in government-led programs before, but says those are one-off and focus only on technical solutions and do not pay much attention to the important back-end work with management and sales.&nbsp; Says Devrath Baral of Bhawani Dairy in Chitwan: “We would probably have eventually got to where we are now, but it would have taken years longer without CASA. And now we can share our experience with other agribusinesses in Nepal.”

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