Green ladies : Eco-friendly initiatives of women groups in Dharan

Dharan,Nepal

"I would mop the house, collect the garbage, and hurl it through the window onto the road or the open space in front of my house, thinking that my house was now clean. These days I collect the garbage from the road as it brings me cash," says Nirmala Shakya, vice president of the Tole Environment Improvement Group in Dharan.

Shakya, a housewife, has been involved in a clean environment campaign for eight years, ever since she received training in waste management and composting. She does not use plastic bags and takes a jute bag with her when she goes shopping. She collects food wrappers to weave them into dhaki, dustbins, bags, and purses. She has dug two pits in her backyard to prepare compost from degradable household waste. Her group, which has 105 members, runs a recycling factory.

ब्याट्रीबाट चल्ने बसलाई झन्झट

Kathmandu,Nepal

पाँच महिनाअगाडि नै उपत्यका भित्रिए पनि ब्याट्रीबाट चल्ने बस सार्वजनिक यातायातका रुपमा सञ्चालनमा आउन सकेको छैन। रुट अनुमति पत्र लिने झन्भटपूर्ण प्रक्रियाका कारण ती गाडी सार्वजनिक यातायातका रूपमा सञ्चालन गर्न अझै तीन महिनाभन्दा बढी लाग्ने नेपाल इलेक्ट्रिक भेहिकल इन्डस्ट्रिज (नेभी)ले जनाएको छ।

नेभीले ब्याट्रीबाट चल्ने एउटा मात्र बन्द ढोकावाला बस, दुइटा खुला ढोका भएको बस र एउटा कार परीक्षणका रुपमा चीनबाट ल्याएको थियो। १४ सिट क्षमताको बन्द ढोकावाला बस सार्वजनिक यातायातका रूपमा सञ्चालन गर्न दुई दर्जनभन्दा बढी व्यक्ति तथा संस्थाले चासो देखाएको नेभीका महाप्रबन्धक नारायणप्रसाद भुसालले बताए।

आर्थिक क्षेत्रमा जलवायु परिवर्तनको असर

Kathmandu,Nepal 

प्रकृतिलाई मात्र नभएर आर्थिक क्षेत्रलाई समेत तहसनहस पार्न सक्छ । नेपाली अर्थतन्त्रको मुख्य आधार प्राकृतिक स्रोतमाथि जलवायु परिवर्तनको असर  पर्न थालेपछि आर्थिक क्षेत्रमा समेत त्यसको परिणाम देखिन थालेको छ । जलवायु परिवर्तनको असर पर्यटन उद्योग, औद्योगिक क्षेत्र, जलविद्युत् आदि  महत्त्वपूर्ण क्षेत्रहरूमा प्ार्ने भएकाले पनि सम्बन्धित व्यवसायमा आश्रति सबैको रोजगारीमाथि प्रश्नचिह्न खडा हुँदै गएको छ ।

हालसम्म कुनै पनि सरकारी तथा गैरसरकारी क्षेत्रले जलवायु परिवर्तनका कारण आर्थिक क्षेत्रमा पर्ने नोक्सानीका बारेमा यथेष्ट अध्ययन-अनुसन्धान  गरिनसकेकाले यसबाट यति नै आर्थिक हानि हुन्छ भन्न कठिन छ, तर हाम्रो जस्तो विकासोन्मुख देश जहाँ सम्पूर्ण क्षेत्र प्राकृतिक स्रोतमाथि नै आश्रति छ,  त्यस्तो ठाउँमा हुने आर्थिक नोक्सानी बढी नै हुने पक्का छ ।

अहिलेकै अनुपातमा पृथ्वीमा तापक्रम वृद्धि हुँदै जाने हो भने सन् २०३० देखि नदीमा पानीको बहाव १ सय ७० प्रतिशतले बढ्नेछ । विभिन्न अध्ययन- अनुसन्धानले पनि बदलिँदो मौसमसँगै हिमतालहरू विस्फोट र विलय भएर जाने निष्कर्ष निकालेका छन् । हालै नेपाल सरकारले २० वर्षमा २० हजार  मेगावाट जलविद्युत् उत्पादन गर्ने योजना अगाडि सारेको छ, तर जलवायु परिवर्तनको समस्यालाई मध्यनजर गरेर योजना निर्माण नगर्ने हो भने  जलविद्युत् उत्पादनको क्षेत्रमा गरिएको लगानी पनि खेर जान सक्ने देखिन्छ ।

Energy demand to go up four folds

Kathmandu,Nepal

Despite yawning economic growth rates, Nepal´s energy demand is projected to increase four folds over the next 20 years, stated National Energy Strategy (NES) 2010. The projected demand, estimated on the assumption that the country´s economic growth will remain at 5.6 percent on average till 2030, might go up if the country achieves higher growth rates, NES underlined.Nepal´s economic growth rate was 3.5 percent last year, much lesser than the projected growth of 5.5 percent.

The strategic policy paper prepared by Water and Energy Commission Secretariat (WECS) aims to meet the growing demand by generating hydroelectricty and reduce the dependence on bio mass and fossil fuels. It has envisioned that by 2030 dependency over bio mass will be reduced by 33 percent. This reduction is likely to decrease the rural households´ reliance on firewood thereby trimming down the detrimental effects on the environment.

At 86 percent, bio-fuel still commands the lion´s share of the total energy demand. Fossil fuel, likewise, consists of 11 percent of the national energy demand. Hydropower and renewable energy make up 1.8 and 1 percentages of energy demand respectively. NES has also projected that the demand for hydropower energy will reach 12,000 MW by 2030. This implies that power generation endeavors will have to make significant strides by the next 20 years.

A mountain of waste

Nuwakot,Nepal

If the stench of the occasional pile of trash on the roads of Kathmandu is too much for you, try standing on an entire hill made of garbage! Thirty km away from Kathmandu, in the lap of Nuwakot’s lush green hills, sits the aforementioned hillock—a landfill site called Aletar. Run by the Ministry of Local Development and managed by the Kathmandu Metropolitan City office, this is the site where all the trash collected from the districts of Lalitpur and Kathmandu is dumped. Massive trucks rumble to and fro, each incoming one carrying anywhere from four to eight tonnes of garbage. Vultures encircle the skies, below which people pick at the mound of garbage, scavenging for reusable and recyclable materials. The garbage pile itself is quite a sight to see: never before has ‘eclectic’ had such a terrible visual effect. But at the same time, it is wondrous to see how many different sources of garbage wind up at this common destination. A film reel runs from the top to the bottom, which on close inspection, is revealed to be of the Bollywood film Om Shanti Om. A little distance away is a patch of empty medicine packets. The most common sight, though, is the unmistakable black polythene bags.

“Polythene is the worst. It makes up most of the volume of trash,” says Hari Sharan Phuyal, who has been overseeing landfill sites for 30 years. “Polythene bags cost Rs. 1. Shopkeepers and consumers throw them away like they cost nothing—but they have no idea how much 50 plastic bags cost the environment.” Indeed, the inability of such plastic to be recycled or degraded makes them a primal component of this mountain of trash. There remains no other solution than to push it under the carpet.