Katrin Hagen was poring through photographs that her father <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/regular-columns/So-far-so-good/a-serious-swiss-toni-hagen-nepal,888">Toni Hagen</a> had taken of western Nepal for geological research, when she was astounded by how much of this remote region had changed – and how much remained the same 70 years later. She dug deeper into the photo archives with some of the earliest colour prints and slides of Nepal to find some gems. Some were later published in 1960 in his classic hardcover book, <a href="https://himalbooks.com/product/toni-hagens-nepal-the-kingdom-in-the-himalaya/">Toni Hagen’s Nepal</a>, that introduced the country to the world.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20240228120252_6d7921f767904775a139b059fa3efcab0772548b1cb9e4b8aa5ad710906fdb52.jpg" data-media-id="editor_2" data-image-id="20240228120252_6d7921f767904775a139b059fa3efcab0772548b1cb9e4b8aa5ad710906fdb52" data-rendition-name="original" width="884" height="431" loading="lazy" alt="Toni Hagen's western Nepal routes"> </figure>  Toni Hagen first came to Nepal in 1950 as a United Nations adviser to carry out a geological survey to find mineral potential, and <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/Nepali-Times-Buzz/tony-hagen-kathmandu-exhibition,3946">crisscrossed Nepal on foot over 12 years</a>, traversing 15,000km. Along the way, he became less and less interested in geology and more in finding ways to enhance the living standards of Nepalis, especially in the more remote parts of the mountains. “I found people more important than rocks,” he once said.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20240228120248_b567c07836388e6af9602f7af1a8e2f557afda1b6a157ffc14fd14b6536b7e71.jpg" data-media-id="editor_4" data-image-id="20240228120248_b567c07836388e6af9602f7af1a8e2f557afda1b6a157ffc14fd14b6536b7e71" data-rendition-name="original" width="1000" height="1500" loading="lazy" alt="Toni Hagen western Nepal"> <figcaption>Young woman in Simkot, where the dress style has not changed much.</figcaption> </figure>  Nepal’s average lifespan then was 40 years, and it was even less in the Karnali and far west. Nearly four in every ten babies did not survive to age five in the 1950s. Malnutrition was widespread. Karnali and Sudur Paschim Province are now doing much better, but still lag behind the national average in all <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/editorial/not-rising-nepal">development parameters</a>.&nbsp; There are now roads even to the remotest valleys that Hagen trekked weeks to get to. Even the <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/time-catching-up-with-timeless-dolpo">trans-Himalayan district of Dolpo</a> is now connected to the Chinese border by road, and will soon have roads to Mustang and Rukum West.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20240228120248_32b730a1d8549f79db753a252077f4e109625382b03e14f31fdeebb980b90468.jpg" data-media-id="editor_7" data-image-id="20240228120248_32b730a1d8549f79db753a252077f4e109625382b03e14f31fdeebb980b90468" data-rendition-name="original" width="1500" height="1000" loading="lazy" alt="Toni Hagen western Nepal"> <figcaption>Upper Kuwadi Valley towards Sankha La in nothern Humla.</figcaption> </figure>  The other urgent need he saw for Nepal was connectivity. Walking across the country, he found the lack of bridges to be a major obstacle to getting around. Nepal seemed to be an archipelago of islands separated not by sea, but by rivers. This presaged the decades long Swiss involvement in <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/10-000-bridges">building thousands of suspension trail bridges all over Nepal</a>. Hagen proposed a series of tunnels on a highway to connect Kathmandu to the Tarai across another one of his survey ideas, to build a reservoir on the Kulekhani River. The Kulekhani dam was built in 1984, but the Kathmandu-Fast Track is on the slow track and still only a dream. &nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20240228120248_7963aa60e4a63a7f2e4d51a0e7aae211c174ba0c9f2bb0587ebe06a9ccdc555e.jpg" data-media-id="editor_9" data-image-id="20240228120248_7963aa60e4a63a7f2e4d51a0e7aae211c174ba0c9f2bb0587ebe06a9ccdc555e" data-rendition-name="original" width="1500" height="1000" loading="lazy" alt="Toni Hagen western Nepal"> <figcaption>Men paddling across the Karnali River in inflated buffalo skins.</figcaption> </figure>  A selection of Hagen’s photographs from western Nepal are being shown in a series of exhibitions in Patan, Surkhet, Mahendranagar and Jumla in the coming months. What is most striking about the images is the stark contrast between the scenic beauty of the region and its underdevelopment. Toni Hagen took almost as many portraits of people as of the landscape, and in the faces of the people of <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/a-karnali-portrait">Karnali</a> we do not see poverty, but frugality. The wrinkles indicate the hardships of everyday life, but they are also smile lines. The clothing is all made from local wool, the houses are stone, thatch or slate surrounded by terrace farms of ripening buckwheat.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20240228120248_b5e2deedb3a599880b69b37efc2fdec4377aadb948d081629e11759c0082f8b4.jpg" data-media-id="editor_11" data-image-id="20240228120248_b5e2deedb3a599880b69b37efc2fdec4377aadb948d081629e11759c0082f8b4" data-rendition-name="original" width="1500" height="1000" loading="lazy" alt="Toni Hagen western Nepal"> <figcaption>Toni Hagen's porters below Murma Top overlooking Rara Lake, the shores of which are today covered in thick forest.</figcaption> </figure>  Surkhet Valley which today is all urbanised, was a patchwork of paddy fields then. <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/rara-s-rare-beauty">Rara Lake</a> is resplendent in turquoise, and to think that it took Toni Hagen a month’s trek from the Indian border to get there. Today, there is a road connecting it to Jumla and Surkhet. The lake’s shores, barren 70 years ago, is today thickly draped in pine forests after the villages were evacuated to create a national park. &nbsp; <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=19173">Toni Hagen</a> died in 2003 in Switzerland after many visits to Nepal during which he saw the changes, both good and bad, sweeping the country. Katrin Hagen accompanied her father in many of the trips, and still conducts orthopaedic surgical camps in remote parts of Nepal where her father once walked.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20240228120248_bcd3d8fcefb27909641e0f0688c3daaccdfb05f99557a30516721226fcd5f574.jpg" data-media-id="editor_14" data-image-id="20240228120248_bcd3d8fcefb27909641e0f0688c3daaccdfb05f99557a30516721226fcd5f574" data-rendition-name="original" width="1500" height="1000" loading="lazy" alt="Toni Hagen western Nepal"> <figcaption>Village in Humla.</figcaption> </figure>  And through books, special exhibitions and collaborations with organisations such as the Nepal Geological Society and the Nepal Heritage Society, Katrin ensures that her father's work continues to be celebrated and shared with audiences in Nepal and around the world. The <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=11274">significance of Toni Hagen's work</a> extends beyond its aesthetic appeal. His research and documentation have played a crucial role in advancing our understanding of Nepal's geology, particularly in Western Nepal. The Nepal Geological Society now uses Hagen's photographs in its research.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2024022905020_b8cda063d9ca15932567cbd491d4b5725b22bf31074b07ae63f6189b0dc84cc8.jpg" data-media-id="editor_16" data-image-id="2024022905020_b8cda063d9ca15932567cbd491d4b5725b22bf31074b07ae63f6189b0dc84cc8" data-rendition-name="original" width="1500" height="981" loading="lazy" alt="Toni Hagen western Nepal"> <figcaption>Toni Hagen in his tent with curious onlookers, somewhere in western Nepal in 1952, flying the United Nations and Nepal flags.</figcaption> </figure>  ”My father’s work helps bridge the gap between the past and the present,” Katrin Hagen said at the inauguration of the first exhibition of Western Nepal in the 1950s at Yala Maya Kendra on Tuesday. “The pictures allow Nepalis to see Nepal through his eyes and appreciate the changes that have occurred over time.”&nbsp; Western Nepal in the 1950s, an exhibition of Photos by Toni Hagen&nbsp; Yalamaya Kendra, Patan 27 February - 2 March Patan Museum, 4-13 March&nbsp; Surkhet, Mahendranagar, Jumla (to be announced)  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2024022813020_3bcea5e7bc2ba14a584e6fda40a556167804d599ea5bad5f4df044748396acfc.jpg" data-media-id="editor_17" data-image-id="2024022813020_3bcea5e7bc2ba14a584e6fda40a556167804d599ea5bad5f4df044748396acfc" data-rendition-name="original" width="1263" height="1000" loading="lazy" alt="Toni Hagen's Nepal"> </figure>

Alisha Sijapati

original

674x448

610x380

500x500

400x266

400x240

400x203

301x200

1250x600

1084x550

West is West

Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal was in Dhangadi on Friday to inaugurate the Sudur Paschim Festival. Dirgha Raj Upadhyay interviewed him on behalf of Nepali Times.&nbsp; Nepali Times: In your <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/not-climate-smart">speech at COP28</a> in Dubai last week, you said Nepal was suffering from climate injustice. What did you mean by that? Prime Minister Dahal: Nepal is bearing the brunt of the impact of the climate crisis even though we are responsible for negligible amounts of carbon per capita. Nepal isn’t just suffering injustice, it is gross injustice. I put that across clearly at the climate summit, and I put across that this injustice has to end. Developing countries like Nepal are having to deal with climate breakdown because of historical emissions by richer countries. As a result, our glaciers are receding, landslides, floods and other natural disasters are becoming more intense and frequent. There are financial and technical obstacles to adapting to, and mitigating climate change. It was my argument that those responsible for emissions should be compensating those who are suffering loss and damage. As for Nepal’s part, I reiterated our commitment to the Paris Agreement targets and our goal of achieving net zero emissions by 2045.&nbsp; Nepal had a prominent presence at COP28 side events with Water Resource Minister Shakti Basnet, Urban Development Minister Sita Gurung and other members of the delegation taking part. We were successful in drawing international attention to the impact of the climate crisis on the Nepal Himalaya.&nbsp; How is your government going to deal with the <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/axiata-may-find-breaking-up-hard-to-do">Ncell stake sale</a> controversy?&nbsp; It was highly unusual that a Rs30 billion company like Ncell should be sold for Rs7 billion. It does not make sense. We are seriously concerned about this, and the government is trying to get to the bottom of this. We will take appropriate action after the investigation results come out. Citizens and businesses across the country, including here in Sudur Paschim, are seriously affected by the current economic crisis. How long will this <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/remittonomics-and-conflict">stagnation</a> continue? The government is aware of the hardships being faced by ordinary citizens, and there are signs that the economic situation is on the mend. The country will soon return to normal, and the government is wholly committed to making that happen.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20231209061236_befcaf3bbef0999c1c469bcf1465c14fe37fe9d9b30e3657afa6787bc9b05534.jpg" data-media-id="editor_3" data-image-id="20231209061236_befcaf3bbef0999c1c469bcf1465c14fe37fe9d9b30e3657afa6787bc9b05534" data-rendition-name="original" width="1600" height="1200" loading="lazy" alt="Dirgha Upadhyay interviewing PM Dahal NT"> <figcaption>Dirgha Upadhyay interviewing PM Dahal in Dhangadi on Friday.</figcaption> </figure>  Sudur Paschim Province has always been <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/epicentre-of-two-disasters-in-west-nepal">neglected by the state</a>. That has not changed after Nepal became a federal republic. You are right, there was neglect in the past which kept the Sudur Paschim back. But this province is my priority. I am committed to allocating the needed budget for this province’s development and prosperity, which is directly linked to connectivity. Nepal will not develop and prosper until Sudur Paschim Province develops and prospers. Under my leadership, for example, Geta Hospital will also be a medical college. Dasrath Chand Health Science University will soon be the first health science university in Nepal and will put Sudur Paschim Province on the map.&nbsp; Many <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/multimedia/the-sun-rises-in-nepal-s-far-west">infrastructure projects in the Far West</a> that could make the whole country take a big leap forward like Pancheswar, West Seti, Karnali Chisapani have seen no progress. What are you doing about them? We have announced that we are going ahead with the 10,000MW Chisapani project that will have historic importance for Sudur Paschim and Karnali Provinces. There has been progress in the much-delayed DPR for Pancheswar. The government has signed an agreement with India’s NHPC for the construction of the West Seti dam, and hopefully work will begin soon. In addition, we have started work on the dry port in Dodhara-Chandani, and we believe this will be a boost to the economy of Sudur Paschim Province, and indeed of Nepal. The provincial government and local MPs from Kanchanpur are also pushing for this.&nbsp; But the first order of business for <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/putting-nepal-on-the-right-track">connectivity</a> is roads. Yet the Darchula-Tinkar-Taklakot and the Bajhang-Urai-Taklakot road construction is going very slow. How will we ever develop? Yes, the construction of both the roads you mentioned is going very slow indeed. I am worried about it. I will find out whether it is a delay in the release of the necessary budget and if so what is the reason for that. Connecting Taklakot is my priority.&nbsp;

“Nepal suffering gross climate injustice”

<figure><img width="2048" height="1536" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221114101144/63720e669c7e80680e0b7915jpeg.jpg" alt=""/><figcaption>Gita Adhikari giving sewing machines to women from the Muslim community.</figcaption></figure>Gita Adhikari, the deputy mayor of Damak, quit her job as assistant campus chief of Damak Multiple Campus when she was nominated by the UML to run in the 2017 local elections.  Adhikari says she will complete the reform work that she initiated by running for mayor in this <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/think-nationally-vote-locally/">May's elections</a>. “I am running for mayor this election,” says Adhikari, “There is no Plan B.” In Nepalganj, deputy mayor Uma Thapa Magar founded and has led a collective of deputy mayors and chairs from eight municipalities across Banke that meets regularly to facilitate interpersonal as well as district-wide cooperation between local representatives and bodies. “My five year term gives me the experience to run for mayor this time,” says Magar, who was a journalist before entering politics. Vice-chair Ekmaya BK, of Banke’s Khajura village is banking on voters to recognise her accomplishments during the election in May and vote her to the leadership position. “I am confident that my constituents who have closely followed my work will make the right decision at the polls,” says BK.Sarala Bolkhe of Bakaiya village in Makwanpur was elected vice-chair even as her running mate lost the chairmanship to their challengers, and is positive that she will be voted in as chairperson this time. <figure><img width="503" height="545" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221114101144/63720e6a9c7e80680e0b7916jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>Meanwhile, Parvati Sunuwar, the vice-chairperson of Sindhuli’s Fikal rural Municipality who oversaw progress in <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/birth-and-death-during-a-pandemic/">maternal health</a> as well as women’s participation in her village, is banking on residents to vote her in as chairperson after having unsuccessfully run for chairperson in 2017.A recent survey conducted by the <a href="https://tarangini.org.np/">Tarangini Foundation</a>, a women's rights training center, found that 80% of the 200 women holding deputy mayor and deputy chief positions want to run for the top position in the 2022 elections in May.These female local government representatives have been encouraged by the success of local government projects under their leadership, particularly ones that have focused on the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/women-leaders-set-example-for-rest-of-nepal/">socio-economic empowerment of women in their communities</a>, as well as the inclusion of underserved and vulnerable communities in local-level development.In Jhapa’s Damak, community schools are being adapted for female students and <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/changing-disability-to-this-ability/">persons with disabilities</a>. A state level disability rehabilitation center is also in the works. Women in Damak have been trained in manufacturing Dhaka, while the local government prepares to create a market for the goods.Such work has been made easier because vice-chairs are in-charge of the local government’s budget committees. “A third of our budget is allocated for vulnerable groups, and we spend 22% of the earmarked funds for the socio-economic empowerment and awareness of women,” says deputy mayor Adhikari.Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/nepals-local-governments-lead-from-the-front/">Nepal’s local governments lead from the front</a>, Masta KCIn Bajhang’s Thalara Rural Municipality, vice-chair Gangudevi Khadayat set about forming women’s groups across the village as soon as she was elected. "I personally attend the women’s group meetings so that I have a firsthand account of the problems that the women face,” Khadayat says. Some of residents of this municipality belonging to the Gandharva and Wadi communities had been involved in sex work, and several of them had been reduced to <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/to-beg-borrow-of-steal/">begging</a>. Under Khadayat's leadership, more than 400 men from these communities are now daily wage workers, while women operate small businesses. The Chhau sheds where <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/that-time-of-the-month/">women are traditionally banished during menstruation</a> have also all been demolished.In Nuwakot’s Dupcheshwor village, vice-chair Anju Acharya formed women’s groups as soon as she was elected, conducting awareness programs as skill-based training to counter unemployment in her constituency.“We have begun to identify and involve members of the community in alternative forms of employment,” says Acharya. “The work may not be tangible as some of the bigger infrastructure projects, but the income and self-reliance this has afforded our community is tremendous.” <figure><img width="2048" height="1152" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221114101144/63720e6c9c7e80680e0b7917jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>Jumla's Tila Rural Municipality has focused on <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/covid-undermines-nepals-mother-child-gains/">maternal and child health</a>, collecting data on pregnant women and children up to two years old. Tila vice-chair Vishnu Budha, runs a program to provide nutritious food to pregnant women and winter clothes for children, and runs a 'nutrition message' program to make families aware of the services that the local government provides. The municipality provides incentives to families that have undergone permanent sterilisation after having one child, which has directly contributed to the decreasing numbers of children with malnutrition in the village.“We were also able to end the practice of Chhau after many awareness and discussion programs with male family members, as well as other local leaders and healers in the community,” explains Buda.One of the more significant achievements of local government in Nepal has been constitutionally mandated three-member Judicial Committees which has granted the power to local Deputy Chiefs who head the committees to resolve 13 types of civil and 11 other types of minor disputes through reconciliation without cases having to be taken to court.Read  also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/local-government-by-the-people-for-the-people-of-the-people/">Local government by the people, for the people, of the people</a>, Ramesh KumarIn Dhangadi, Deputy Mayor Sushila Mishra Bhatt played a significant role in introducing the Gender Equality and Social Inclusion Policy 2020 before the federal government issued a similar nation-wide policy a few months later. Bhatta’s government has particularly focused on mobilising the judicial committee in her constituency. “The responsibility of our judicial committee is not just limited to sending petitions to court, but to serve those seeking justice who have been unable to <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/nepals-transition-to-peace-needs-justice/">access Nepal’s judicial mechanism</a> in the first place,” says Bhatta. “Social and legal awareness and mobilisation are our top priority.”"We have spoken to many victims of domestic violence for hours—such calls and interactions often go on late into the night,” adds Dhangadi’s Deputy Chief Bhatta.These women-led judicial committees have been able to solve disagreements across the country, from settling land and financial disputes in Siraha to reconciling families on the verge of separation and divorce through counselling services in Bardia. They have also prevented child marriage in Panchthar and addressing domestic violence in Doti.Bhatta, the deputy mayor of Dhangadi, handles disputes in the Judicial Committee, monitors ongoing community projects every fiscal year, meets with dozens of other sub-committees, all the while participating in various state-level programs.Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepals-women-envoys-make-a-mark/">Nepal’s women envoys make a mark</a>, Pratistha Rijal“Although they have had to juggle many responsibilities under the federal system, from solving disputes as heads of the judicial committees, Nepal’s women deputy mayors and chiefs have done an incredible job so far,” says Prabha Baral, head of the central women's department of the Nepal Municipal Association and mayor of Chitwan’s Rapti municipality. Across Nepal’s local levels, most women deputies are now sufficiently trained and equipped to lead their villages and municipalities. In 2017, most women were relegated to being a deputy because political parties were only looking to fulfill a requirement: to nominate token women either to the position of chair or deputy chair of the local governments. But this time, following their performance in the last five years, many women deputies now command the attention of both the political parties and voters in the lead up to the second local elections under the federal government on 13 May.Says National Assembly member Bimala Rai Paudyal: “Had our Constitution not made it mandatory for women to be involved in local governments, these important and impactful developments would have been limited to mere words on paper.”Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/women-moving-nepals-climate-activism/">Women moving Nepal’s climate activism</a>, Sewa BhattaraiJanmakanya Khatri, who was elected the vice-chair of Jumla’s Sinja Rural Municipality in 2017, is one of many locally-elected officials who has not had any formal education.“Girls were not sent to school when I was a child,” says Khatri, who travels across her village to spread awareness about the importance of educating women. “I have always felt that I would be respected more had I been able to read and write.”Sinja is among eight rural municipalities in Jumla. Along with Khatri, three other deputy chairs in the Kankasundari, Guthichaur and Patrasi deputy chairs have not received any formal education. Khatri says her inability to read and write has severely hampered her ability to do her job. “There have been many laws and policies made for the local level, but to me, those words on paper might as well be a foreign language,” she adds. What worries her most is making decisions and signing documents based on second-hand information, as others dictate important documents and directives. Khatri is constantly plagued by worry over whether she has made sound decisions.Khatri is adamant that educated women from Nepal’s rural communities be given the opportunity to run for political leadership in May.Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/women-leaders-set-example-for-rest-of-nepal/">Women leaders set example for rest of Nepal</a>, Laxmi BasnetIn constituencies across Karnali and Madhes, local leaders who are unable to read and write have been hoodwinked by other parties.Advocate Indu Tuladhar, who has been working for the rights of Nepal’s locally elected officials, identifies illiteracy as the major reason that prevents elected officials from doing their jobs."There has long been debate about whether academic qualification should be a criteria for those who decide to run for office,” says Tuladhar. “ Nepal’s political parties require a deeper understanding of the role education plays in local governance.” Nunuta Rai and Krishnamaya Upadhyaya contributed to this report.Translated by Shristi Karki from the Nepali original published on Himalkhabar monthly. Read more: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/all-politics-is-local/">All politics is local</a>, Sahina Shrestha

Deputies drive development in rural Nepal

<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022111410118/637205999c7e80680e0b28c6jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1920" height="1080"/><figcaption>When the only ambulance in Diprung Chuichumma could not attend to all the emergencies, Chair Bhupendra Rai himself drove the infected to health centres.</figcaption></figure>KhotangLast year, as Nepal plunged headlong into <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/the-real-cost-of-nepals-second-wave/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">the second wave</a> of Covid-19, cities around the country including Kathmandu Valley announced lockdowns, and people of Diprung Chuichumma Rural Municipality of Khotang streamed back home.The people were home, but they also brought the virus with them. The only ambulance in the municipality could not attend to all the emergencies, so Chair Bhupendra Rai donned a PPE and started driving the infected to the health centre in his own car. Sometimes, he would go door-to-door carrying patients on his back to the car.The municipality set up a 25-bed isolation centre, ramped up awareness campaigns, and carried out antigen tests. Vice-chair Sapana Rai was equally involved. Those who couldn’t be treated inside the municipality were taken to hospitals in Kathmandu and  Biratnagar.“We entered politics for the people. So, when they were suffering, we couldn’t just sit back and relax, we had to be hands-on in serving them and taking the lead from the front,” Bhupendra Rai told us on the phone from Khotang as he waits for word on <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/dance-of-democracy/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">the date for local elections slated for April</a>.This <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/nepals-local-governments-lead-from-the-front/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">local government team was proof</a> that elected grassroots politicians understand the need of their area, are more accountable, and are willing to serve their constituents.The Omicron surge is spreading, but this time there are not as many cases of Covid-19 in the village. But the Rais are not taking any chances. The municipality has increased the number of antigen tests and encouraged the infected to isolate at home.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022111410118/6372059c9c7e80680e0b28c7jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="2048" height="1152"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>Kathmandu may have a shortage of cetamol painkillers, but there is plenty stockpiled here to meet villagers’ needs. And the municipality has deployed health volunteers to accelerate the vaccination drive.“Whoever could walk to the centre are all vaccinated, now we need to reach those who cannot come on their own,” says Rai.As schools nationwide remained closed during the lockdown, the municipality deployed more than 200 teachers with masks on who went house-to-house tutoring students. It also bought produce from local farmers who could not take it to market due to the lockdown and distributed to needy families. This ensured food security as well as income for the local farmers.When Bhupendra Rai was elected in 2017, there were not enough roads in his rural municipality. Every monsoon, the constituency would be locked in as the Sunkosi and Sapsi river flooded. Today, a motorable bridge connects this remote village to the rest of the country. Every household has electricity and access to drinking water.“All this would not have been possible without the local elections and local representatives in place, it forced us to perform,” says Rai.Tehrathum<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022111410118/6372059f9c7e80680e0b28c8jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="2048" height="1149"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>To the east in Laligurans Municpality, Tehrathum Mayor Arjun Mabuhang also worked on connectivity as soon as he got elected five years ago. Having seen <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/uncategorized/elected-contractors/">rampant corruption in road contracts</a>, Mabuhang got the municipality to buy its own excavators to build roads with the help of locals, cancelling out middlemen.“Now all the wards have roads and there is ownership amongst the people because they themselves were involved in building them,” says Mabuhang.He also introduced a program to upgrade agriculture by supporting dairy farmers and offering grants for vegetable and fruit farming, poultry, and pig farms. The roads helped get the produce to market.Says the mayor: “Because I am from here and I myself have seen the ground reality and know what the people here need, I work in the areas that benefit the people most. We did what we could with the budget we were given, but we need to work more on improving schools.”Sindhupalchok<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022111410118/637205a39c7e80680e0b28c9jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="960" height="720"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>In Sindhupalchok’s Jugal Rural Municipality, Deputy Chair Srijana Tamang has been single-mindedly working on improving education. As a child, she remembers walking for hours from home to school and back. In winter night fell quickly on her way home, and during the monsoon she would be covered from head to toe in leeches.When she was elected five years ago, one of the first things Tamang and Chair Hom Narayan Shrestha worked on was to appoint new teachers and upgrade school buildings, some of them destroyed in the earthquake.Having worked as a social worker in the past, Tamang recognised the priority areas for her rural municipality, and her background and familiarity with the people helped her not only gain an edge during the elections but prepared her to deal with the problems of her community.“When I was elected, I really wanted to prioritise roads and education, but <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/rural-nepal-fights-back-covid-19/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">the pandemic meant we had to address more urgent issues</a>,” adds Tamang, who offered RT PCR testing and monitored the spread of the disease, turning a local school into an isolation centre. With Omicron, Tamang believes the people are more aware, and better prepared.“The pandemic was the first big challenge for me as a local representative,” says Tamang. “But knowing that we are working for our people and our families, there is always a greater sense of responsibility.”In 2020, while Tamang was away on official business, a <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/deadly-monsoon-in-nepal-turns-deadlier/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">massive landslide at Lidi</a> killed 39. She travelled overnight to help with the rescue and relief effort and got support to rehabilitate those made homeless. She got geologists to prepare a disaster risk map of her municipality to prevent future disasters, and prepare for them.Jhapa<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022111410118/637205a69c7e80680e0b28cajpeg.jpg" alt="" width="2048" height="1536"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>Jhapa’s, Kamal Rural Municipality has the distinction of being among <a href="https://www.himalkhabar.com/news/125595?fbclid=IwAR1g00nElAMlIzStd-FiN7M-f6PZ1H3KQXE6V0f8Y4ztDNxclOSJ9KWQPZs" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">four of the 753 municipalities around the country ranked cleanest</a> in budget disbursement by the Office of Auditor General. It is a well-deserved recognition for Chair Menuka Kafle for whom tackling leakage and corruption was a priority.For any project with a budget over Rs5 million, the municipality went through a strict tender process. It also stopped giving out advances for projects and kept track of expenditure.“For the others to follow the rules, we had to lead by example, so we made sure that we were meticulous about accounting,” says Kafle.Over the last five years, the rural municipality has constructed more than 70km of roads, upgraded bridges, and ensured that all wards have electricity. Kafle distributed carts to women fruit and vegetable vendors and launched income generation activities for women.“When women are economically independent, they don’t have to depend on others and can make their own decisions,” says Kafle.The municipality offered cash incentives to encourage pregnant women to visit health centres for regular check-ups and registration of new-borns. When Kafle first got elected, many people in the community <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/is-democracy-too-expensive-for-nepal/">did not believe that a woman could run the office</a>.During important meetings people would ignore her and seek out the male Deputy Chair. These days Kafle is in high demand.<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022111410118/637205a99c7e80680e0b28cbjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1080" height="486">Says Kafle: “We women who are in power have to work hard to build trust in the community and do everything within our power so that women who come after us don’t face so much difficulty.”

Sahina Shrestha

All politics is local

<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221114091156/637203569c7e80680e0b2802jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="2802" height="1904"/> After watching Don’t Look Up on a bootleg channel this week, the Ass has come to the happy conclusion that compared to a direct hit with Planet Earth by a comet in the not too unforeseeable future, all our current travails in Nepal seem far away.We worry about many things in Kathmandu: the tragic state of politics, the sewage flowing out of water taps, and the daily commute through Jadibuti Intersection. But in the cosmic scale of things, however, these are inconsequential. And that makes me feel much more upbeat about Nepal.Even a global crisis like climate change pales into insignificance when we contemplate the impending impact with the planet of a heavenly body the size of Dasrath Rangashala.In fact, if you believe in reincarnation like some of us do, then global warming will cease to be a worry since some of us may be reborn in a much cooler place next time round.So, the choice is between sitting idly by waiting for the world to end either with a bang, or a whimper. Or, as a poet once put it so eloquently, whether the earth will end in fire, or ice.Don’t know about you, but I would still rather work to reduce the impact of climate change so that the end is swift. For which we must:1. Breathe sparingly. Every breath we take consumes precious atmospheric oxygen and gives off carbon dioxide, which is a greenhouse gas. Make every molecule count by being breathless.2. The Himalaya will warm 0.7 degrees faster than the global average this year because of all the hot air generated during the party conventions. Nepal must immediately pledge to the UNFCCC a renewed Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) to limit all political harangues to less than 5 minutes.3. Organise tantric rituals and make animal sacrifices to appease the gods. Oh, wait, can’t do that. We’re secular.4. Create an artificial shortage of petrol, diesel and LPG, but I notice that our hyperactive grabberment has already thought of that.5. All sodas contain dissolved carbon dioxide, so at happy hour this evening, quaff your double whiskey neat.6. Burping releases greenhouse gases so burp in moderation.7. There are an estimated 32 million flatulent cattle in Nepal, and if all of them felt free to pass wind at will, our glaciers do not stand a chance. And we are not even counting yaks and water buffaloes here, and we all know how embarrassing those two can be in polite company. The Ass is willing to make any sacrifice necessary to reduce its carbon footprint.

Ass s

Things are looking up

<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022111016110/636d128a9c7e80680e0a98ddjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="750" height="1083"/><figcaption>The south face of Mt Gauri Shankar (7,134m) on the border between Nepal and China is bare rock, and shows how dramatically the snowline has receded, and the glaciers have shrunk. Photo: KUNDA DIXIT</figcaption></figure>The COP26 climate jamboree ends in Glasgow on Friday, and already it looks like the best world governments are prepared to offer in terms of emission cuts is not enough to stave off an environmental catastrophe.There were a slew of national, international and multinational pledges for <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/net-zero-is-not-zero/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">net zero</a>, but activists fear allegations that the targets are vague and over-ambitious greenwash that they have no intention of meeting.The result could be global average temperatures soaring to up to 3oCelsius above pre-industrial levels, with catastrophic results. The <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/a-terrifying-assessment-of-himalayan-melting/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Himalaya will warm even faster</a>, and scientists say it could lose up to two-thirds of its remaining ice during this century.Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/nepals-greenwashing-in-glasgow/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Nepal's greewashing in Glasgow</a>, Rashmi Baskota<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022111016110/636d128d9c7e80680e0a98dejpeg.jpg" alt="" width="3000" height="671"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure><figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022111016110/636d12909c7e80680e0a98dfjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="568"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>On Tuesday in Glasgow, Nepal unveiled three <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/blueprint-for-a-net-zero-nepal/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">ambitious targets</a>, and without waiting for others to say it, boasted that it was the ‘highest climate ambition country’.In its three-point pledge, Nepal said it would:<ul><li>Start reducing emission from 2022 and be carbon negative after 2045</li> <li>Halt deforestation and increase forest cover to 45% by 2030</li> <li>Ensure all vulnerable people are protected from climate change by 2030</li></ul>In Kathmandu, environmental activist Bhushan Tuladhar welcomed the new targets, saying they were “ambitious but doable” but one which will require a serious review of our normal development pathway.“We can’t look at the commitments as just reduction of carbon emission, but as an investment for our economy and health. Now let’s walk the talk and get to work,” Tuladhar told Nepali Times.A good start would be for the government to order that all official vehicles purchased from now on will be <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/e-vehicles-prepare-for-post-lockdown-boom/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">battery powered</a>, and encourage public transport operators to electrify their bus fleets and by reducing taxes and setting up charging stations, he added.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022111016110/636d12939c7e80680e0a98e0jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1000"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022111016110/636d12979c7e80680e0a98e1jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1061"><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022111016110/636d129a9c7e80680e0a98e2jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1000">The pledges have been criticised as being too vague on protecting all ‘vulnerable people by 2030’ and annual reduction of emissions till net-zero by 2045 will hinge on implementation, on which Nepal has always been weak. The <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/nepal-can-up-forest-cover-to-45-by-2030/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">forestry target</a>, however, is seen to be achievable.The targets are also conditional upon financial support, and Nepal will require $46 billion to implement them from 2022-2030, which is 24% of national GDP, and the government can fund only about 2% of this sum.Amrit Nakarmi, an adviser at the Energy Development Council who prepared the long-term strategy report, says that Nepal is unlikely to meet the targets without climate funds.“We contribute only 0.5% of total global carbon emissions and even within that  only 30% is anthropogenic, 20% is natural and the remaining 50% is transboundary, so us reducing <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/nepal-doubles-its-carbon-footprint/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">our carbon footprint</a> will not make much of a difference to the global climate,” explains Nakarmi.“But having said that we can replace our fossil fuel imports with clean hydroelectricity and cut our import bill,” he adds. “Electrification of the economy is urgent, and government policies should be in line with our targets and the private sector should be involved.”<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022111016110/636d129d9c7e80680e0a98e3jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1800" height="1050"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>Climate finance and payments for Nepal’s carbon sink from <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/who-now-owns-nepals-forests/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">expanded forest cover</a> will take time to materialise. But experts say we should not wait for the money, and start with low-cost effective mitigation measures locally.Cooking via electricity has now become much cheaper than LPG, and many urban families have transitioned to induction stoves. But 90% of households across Nepal are hooked to only 5amp current which is only enough for lighting. If the transmission can be upgraded, Nepal could save at least Rs33 billion a year by replacing its <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/look-whats-cooking-in-nepal/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">cooking gas imports</a> with electricity.Nepalis have paid nearly Rs10 billion in pollution tax for every litre of petrol or diesel at the gas stations in the last decade. This money could be used to buy  electric public buses. Increasing the petroleum excise tax could fund conversion to renewables.Nepal would also save Rs21 billion a year by reducing its petroleum import bill by just 10% if it <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/cleaner-air-with-greener-buses/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">converted public buses to battery-operated vehicles</a> while also increasing domestic consumption of clean electricity and improving air quality. If the transport sector is electrified, experts believe net-zero by 2045 is possible.Water scientist Madhukar Upadhya believes Nepal can also increase forest cover to 45% by 2030 (from the current 37%) by controlling forest degradation due to encroachment, deforestation and reducing wildfires.But Upadhyay is puzzled by the third target on protecting vulnerable people. “We just don’t have the infrastructure, knowledge or expertise to achieve climate resilience for vulnerable people by 2030,” he asserts.“Nepal experienced extreme weather this year,<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/himalayan-floods-a-sign-of-worse-to-come/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"> droughts and floods destroyed crops</a>, lack of water is creating climate refugees, wildfires have become nationwide,” Upadhyay adds. “These are not just headlines anymore, we are experiencing them ourselves, what are we doing to address these challenges? Nepal has taken no action to reduce or control them.”<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022111016110/636d12a09c7e80680e0a98e4jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1200" height="900"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>Other areas that can be cleaned up with existing technologies and local resources include industries, agriculture and waste management. The cement industry is booming in Nepal, and they are big carbon emitters. By switching to electricity, Nepal could mitigate emissions. Rice farming generates methane, which is a greenhouse gas, so converting to the System of Rice Intensification (SRI) could reduce our contribution to climate change.Kathmandu’s only <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/a-load-of-rubbish/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">landfill in Sisdole</a> has reached maximum capacity and an alternative site has been in talks for decades. Landfills add to methane emissions, but there has been no commitment to composting and biogas using biodegradable urban waste.After overdosing on <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/climate-change-is-a-disaster-in-the-nepal-himalaya/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">climate news</a> for two weeks just to be side-lined until the next COP, we might want to recall another one of our targets, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030. Half of the 17 goals in SDGs will be directly affected by the impact of climate change, and yet these initiatives are working in isolation when in fact they should coordinate and collaborate for the same goal: sustainable and just future.Says environmentalist Tuladhar: “There are two things to do right after Glasgow: explain the nitty-gritty of the commitments we made and immediately implement short-, mid- and long-term strategies to achieve them. Start with the low hanging fruit, what we can immediately do, and there are plenty of them.”

Sonia Awale

COPOUT at COP26

<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110141148/636d01db9c7e80680e0a364djpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1000"/><figcaption></figcaption></figure>“Countries knock at our doors all the time for capital, as it is getting harder and harder to obtain development funds. We are holding $500 million for Nepal. We cannot wait forever. When will it be the right time for Nepal?”Fatema Z Sumar, Vice President of Compact Operations at the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) appeared mystified about why a country like Nepal that needs all the help it can get to develop its infrastructure, should be so hesitant about the grant her government is offering.Sumar was on the final day of her <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/mcc-row-rocks-nepals-ruling-coalition/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/mcc-row-rocks-nepals-ruling-coalition/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1631579093888000&amp;usg=AFQjCNHAfb7xioCyDtl5OJ53aqyeI5-LuA">four-day visit to Nepal</a> on Sunday, speaking at an engagement with opinion makers. There was a litany of questions from across the table, and Sumar sounded like someone who is getting somewhat jaded answering the same questions over and over again in Kathmandu.“No, the MCC is not part of the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/between-two-oceans/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/between-two-oceans/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1631579093888000&amp;usg=AFQjCNFfIGiI1YhN4TBrqt-_uVwcnhLEPg">Indo-Pacific Strategy</a> and there is no US Army involvement.”“This is a treaty between two countries and has gone through the Obama, the Trump and now the Biden administrations.”“In order to make this a treaty, the Nepal government wanted to ratify it through Parliament. So, we are waiting for that.”Sumar was a former assistant secretary for South and Central Asia at the US State Department before joining the MCC. Her family is Malaysian Indian, so she understands the region well, but she was hearing in Nepal some of the same political rhetoric that led to the Sri Lankans cancelling the MCC last year for being ‘against the national interest’.MCC makes three types of grants: compacts, threshold programs and concurrent compacts for regional investment. Nepal’s grant is a five-year compact agreement with the MCC that allows an eligible country to fund specific programs targeted at reducing poverty and stimulating economic growth.The concept of the MCC is to make US development assistance ‘smarter’, and to study a country’s bottlenecks so that catalytic investment can allow it to take an economic leap. A panel of Nepali and American experts concluded in 2017 that increasing hydropower transmission capacity and upgrading highways would be most cost-effective, at a time when the country was suffering 12-hour daily power cuts.When a country applies for a grant from the MCC, the board examines its performance based on 20 policy indicators, and selects based on policy performance. The MCC says its grants are given to country-driven and country-led investments and infrastructure priorities for achieving sustainable economic growth and poverty reduction, and Nepal qualified.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110141148/636d01df9c7e80680e0a364ejpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="998"><figcaption>MCC vice president Fatema Sumar (third from left) with Prime Minister Deuba on Saturday at Baluwatar. Photo: PMO</figcaption></figure>So far MCC has approved $13.7 billion in compacts and $631 million in threshold programs worldwide. After Sri Lanka pulled out, Nepal is the only South Asian country on the list of <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/a-millennium-challenge/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/a-millennium-challenge/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1631579093888000&amp;usg=AFQjCNHcCgQFuOb2-re-ZURkglqZhwDvTg">MCC-approved compacts</a>.“The $500 million we are holding for Nepal is money not given to other countries which need to get out of poverty,” said Sumar’s colleague Jonathan A Brooks at the interaction. Although Brown said he had no idea where the confusion about the MCC having a military component comes from, a <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/knowing-whats-good-for-nepal/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/knowing-whats-good-for-nepal/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1631579093888000&amp;usg=AFQjCNHV-jTWUQwTz4eLLTh_R5gdfjVGwQ">comment by US Under Secretary of State David J Ranz</a> in 2019 that the MCC was indeed a part of the US <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/between-two-oceans/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/between-two-oceans/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1631579093888000&amp;usg=AFQjCNFfIGiI1YhN4TBrqt-_uVwcnhLEPg">Indo-Pacific Strategy</a> did a lot of self-inflicted damage.Sumar and Brooks fielded <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/post-truth-politics-in-nepal/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/post-truth-politics-in-nepal/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1631579093888000&amp;usg=AFQjCNEL3a5V092kNi8iXts-zWiYBTZWOA">other questions</a> that had become familiar to them during their stay in Kathmandu with answers like: the agreement with Nepal prohibits army involvement, security issues are totally for Nepal government to oversee, the compact has no provisions that contradict Nepal’s laws, the project is not above Nepal’s Constitution, and international law would apply to resolve any disputes.A major chunk of the $500 million MCC grant will go to build the Kathmandu-Hetauda-Butwal 400KV transmission line to distribute 3,000MW which will come on stream in the next three years from new <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/decentralising-hydropower/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/decentralising-hydropower/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1631579093888000&amp;usg=AFQjCNGKA68VJytSmPpVqeXiamgpi0kCgQ">hydropower plants</a>. The line will also connect to a high-capacity electricity corridor to Gorakhpur so Nepal can <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/mcc-row-damages-nepals-credibility/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/mcc-row-damages-nepals-credibility/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1631579093888000&amp;usg=AFQjCNEoVnLVfqbE4et0DScH8cbve0ffag">sell surplus monsoon electricity</a> to India in future.This week, the Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) signed an agreement with the state-run Power Grid Corporation of India (POWERGRID) for the Butwal-Gorakhpur cross border transmission line extension in anticipation of the MCC project being completed.Sumar has seen several changes in government after she started coming to Nepal for the MCC. Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba and his predecessor K P Oli were both in favour of the MCC, but other Communist partners in the ruling coalition are against it.As a descendant of an immigrant family herself, Sumar says she understands that poverty is not insurmountable, and can be prevented with the right government investment at the right time. She calls herself a “development diplomat”, and feels that economic growth built on better infrastructure would also bring Nepal stability.“The MCC will create many thousands of jobs for Nepalis at a time when the pandemic is creating losses of jobs and livelihoods,” she says, adding that when President John F Kennedy launched a major global drive to help developing countries in the early 1960s, Nepal was one of the first countries to receive the support.The criteria Nepal fulfilled to receive the MCC grant was its democratic polity, guarantees of basic freedoms, and protection of human rights. Sumar underlined the fact that the MCC would also help Nepal put renewable energy infrastructure in place that could be an example for a world coming to terms with climate change.The MCC project has become a victim of <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/knowing-whats-good-for-nepal/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/knowing-whats-good-for-nepal/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1631579093888000&amp;usg=AFQjCNHV-jTWUQwTz4eLLTh_R5gdfjVGwQ">extreme political polarisation</a> as opponents to K P Oli used the MCC to unseat him, and now it threatens to split the ruling coalition. The anti-MCC rhetoric had been so effective in convincing the cadre and public that it is anti-national, that even supporters in Deuba’s Nepali Congress, Oli’s UML and other public figures and intellectuals are afraid to speak in favour.Social media is full of posts that say Nepal will become ‘another Afghanistan’ if Parliament ratifies the MCC. But now that Sumar and her MCC team has left, the ball is back in the court of the political class in Kathmandu to ensure that <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/power-politics-delays-mcc-in-nepal/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/power-politics-delays-mcc-in-nepal/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1631579093888000&amp;usg=AFQjCNHlQppZeGXNXQbC5_D2GZNFz2URgw">Nepal has the capacity</a> to distribute the electricity it generates in future.

MCC ball in Nepal’s court

<figure><img width="1024" height="768" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110141144/636d00f79c7e80680e0a3605jpeg.jpg" alt=""/><figcaption>Mujahideen guides took us to the northernmost part of the Panjshir Valley. All photos: LISA CHOEGYAL</figcaption></figure>Kids playing on rusted tanks abandoned by the retreating Russians, war debris comfortably incorporated into stone walls to contain sheep and goats, and flickering green flags of the martyrs’ graves, too many graves, under a cloudless sky.These are the enduring images of the Panjshir Valley, wild flowers, willows and orchards lining the clear streams beneath the grand arc of barren hillsides, rocks and caves used to hide the resistance fighters loyal to Ahmad Shah Massoud, the legendary ‘Lion of Panjshir’.Nestled deep within the Hindu Kush, Massoud’s faithful foot soldiers, the fierce unforgiving geography and its defendable narrow entrance enabled the Panjshir Valley to hold out against waves of invasions — the Soviet Union in the 1980s and <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/nepal-and-the-talibans-second-coming/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">the Taliban</a> in the 1990s.  <img width="980" height="968" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110141144/636d00f99c7e80680e0a3606jpeg.jpg" alt="">In 2001, just two days before the 9/11 terrorist attack in New York, the revered commander of the former Northern Alliance, lover of poetry and mujahideen leader was targeted by al Qaeda and the Taliban, assassinated by a bomb detonated by two Arabs posing as journalists in one of his Panjshir forts. This week, it will be 20 years since his assassination and the 9/11 attacks that brought American retaliation on al Qaeda bases in Afghanistan. <figure><img width="1200" height="1600" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110141144/636d00fc9c7e80680e0a3607jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>‘More than five years after his assassination Massoud remains a national hero to many Afghans,’ <a href="http://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,1555018,00.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,1555018,00.html&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1630819742846000&amp;usg=AFQjCNFkxM3nfPq5FiSkPCxlayXccFIi-Q">Time</a> magazine wrote in 2006. 'Passengers at Kabul airport are greeted by a mural of him standing several stories high. Massoud’s place in history is assured by the fact that he was arguably the most brilliant practitioner of guerrilla warfare in the late 20th century.’ High praise in a country where rebel insurgency has been honed into an art form over the turbulent centuries.These Panjshir fields and villages are currently holding out against the Taliban’s otherwise successful swoop throughout <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/afghanistan-abandoned/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Afghanistan</a>, the last stand for freedom in a nation gripped with uncertainty and fear, tribal recriminations and revenge that have festered over the past twenty years. This time the young Ahmad Massoud has stepped into his famous father’s shoes to lead the resistance from their Panjshir stronghold.Panjshir Valley lies in the northeast of Afghanistan, and in October 2005 we travelled through it to the furthest northern border in search of trekking and tourism ideas that would benefit local homeowners, guides, horsemen and crafts people. My hopeful notes show that our suggestions included Afghan village guesthouses, the Mir Samir trek ‘a short walk in the Hindu Kush’, a five-day hike ‘in the footsteps of Massoud’ circuit, visitor information, and a saddlebag and blanket weaving enterprise.One of the issues to overcome in rural <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/afghans-in-nepal-await-resettlement/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Afghanistan</a> was to persuade our hosts that they must charge money for tourist services. So powerful are the traditions of hospitality (‘guest is god’), sharing what little they have, that taking payment for what we consider normal tourism services such as meals, accommodation and guiding was an alien concept which they struggled to accept. <figure><img width="1024" height="768" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110141144/636d00ff9c7e80680e0a3608jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>“Your visit here was at a time when there was hope and great expectations for the country,” remembers Ali Azimi, our Asian Development Bank client and an Afghan American with deep-rooted insider networks within the community. In Kabul he always seemed to know when and where there would be trouble, much better informed than the United Nations security system who was nominally responsible for us. He insisted on accompanying me to Panjshir to help “find ways to put money in pockets of village folks through tourism initiatives”. <figure><img width="768" height="1024" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110141144/636d01029c7e80680e0a3609jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>As we drove out of town in a large white vehicle bristling with antenna and aerials, we failed to feel an earthquake which shook the city. Leaving behind the acrid fragrance of war, Ali Azimi morphed from his usual persona of a neatly-bearded grey-suited ADB executive into the country’s ubiquitous flowing robes of anonymity.  I tried, no doubt less successfully, to blend in with scarves and shalwar kameez. It was <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/ramadan-in-exile/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Ramadan</a>, the time of fasting, but as travellers the rules did not strictly apply. ‘Mobile sex’ was the SUV’s call sign, but Ali was happy to lose contact once the signal weakened in the countryside, preferring to rely on local knowledge of his Panjshir guides, hand-picked former mujahedin of course, who joined us soon after entering the valley.These fighters were hard-core, the trauma of years of mountain combat etched into their weathered faces and wild eyes. They prayed at every shrine, honoured every grave, showed us their hideouts, revealed their hunting trails, took us into their homes, unrolled their carpets, shared their food, played with their children, and talked with urgent low voices on flat mud roofs under the stars in Dari which I could not understand.  It all made sense when Ali explained that our two mujahideen friends were Massoud’s personal bodyguards, his most trusted elite, still haunted by the guilt of the day they waited outside their commander’s room having admitted the ‘journalists’ with a deadly device concealed in the television camera. <figure><img width="1600" height="1200" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110141144/636d01069c7e80680e0a360ajpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>Part of the TRC Tourism team of Kiwi and Nepali consultants, we worked in Afghanistan for ADB and the Aga Khan Development Network on three missions in 2005, 2006 and 2008 that included Kabul, Bamyan, Band-i-Amir lakes, Wakhan Corridor and the Panjshir Valley. Ali wrote recently: ‘You will be pleased to know your recommended ecotourism policy is being practiced in Band-i-Amir.’ Most of all we remember the harsh beauty of the landscape, the unexpected warmth of its people caught in an eternal loop of historical conflict, and hearing the chilling tales of horror under Taliban rule.Twice we arranged for groups of Afghan officials and tour operators to visit Nepal’s ecotourism models in 2009 and 2011, including the governor of Bamyan, Hariba Sarabi, a remarkable Hazara woman who was part of the Doha peace talks.  <figure><img width="640" height="480" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110141144/636d01099c7e80680e0a360bjpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure><figure><img width="2048" height="1536" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110141144/636d010b9c7e80680e0a360cjpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>The Nepal trips to study sustainable tourism were led by my New Zealand-funded Bamyan ecotourism project colleague, Amir Foladi. The work included a visitor centre dedicated to the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/piecing-together-afghanistans-bamyan-buddhas/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">remains of the Buddhas of Bamyan</a>, carefully collected by UNESCO. Foladi showed me tragic metal pieces from the explosives that destroyed these 6th century monumental statues in 2001, still embedded amidst the mud and plaster fragments which are all that is left - except the massive blank empty niches. <figure><img width="640" height="480" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110141144/636d010f9c7e80680e0a360djpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>Throughout the catastrophic drama of last week’s departure following the Taliban takeover, it is impossible not to mourn for an Afghanistan that might have been. The progress over the last two decades, however imperfect, is dissipated. Particularly <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/i-may-not-be-alive-by-the-time-i-am-evacuated/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">the fate of women</a> is desperately unclear.One ray of light amidst the grief and despair of the withdrawal is that my friend Foladi and his ecotourism teammates have arrived in Auckland, six Afghan families evacuated to safety through the chaos of Kabul airport by the New Zealand Defence Force just 24 hours before the fatal bomb. They are the lucky ones, so many left behind to face a frighteningly unreliable future.

Lisa Choegyal

A short walk up the Panjshir

<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022111015118/636d06a19c7e80680e0a5f74jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1000"/><figcaption>Photo: AMIT MACHAMASI</figcaption></figure>The pandemic has thrown a wrench into the global economic machine, curtailing growth in many parts of the world. Governments and businesses are now directing all of their energy toward restoring the old normal and the pre-pandemic growth rate. And yet, our policy mantra really should be the opposite: ‘No going back’.After all, in the pre-pandemic world, we were hurtling toward the very end of human existence on this planet, owing to climate change, the concentration of wealth in fewer and fewer hands, and the development of artificial intelligence (AI) applications that will render more and more of the remaining hands redundant.Scientists have long been warning us that runaway global warming will sharply limit our time on this planet. The countdown has already begun. Humanity has made itself an endangered species. It would be suicidal to return to the pre-pandemic world. Why should we get back on a track that will lead us off a cliff?Now that so much of the economy has stopped, there is no better time to reorient it in a different direction. The pandemic has created an opportunity to chart a new course to a world defined by three zeros: net-zero carbon dioxide emissions, zero poverty, and zero unemployment.Redesigning the system is our only option. We are prolonging a party in a burning house, celebrating economic growth and our technological miracles, and dancing to songs of prosperity. The songs keep us complacent about the fact that our party is what started the fire.Young people around the world realise this and have been trying to shut it down and extinguish the flames. Teenagers have been marching and demanding change. Some openly accuse their parents of stealing their future. Governments at least have shown awareness by announcing net-zero targets, just as businesses have signed on to the Sustainable Development Goals.But how much of this is real, and how much of it is public relations? A true commitment would entail a fundamental change in our economic thinking, and an end to pursuing GDP growth for its own sake. This new thinking would force us to acknowledge the dangerous world we have created and compel us to address the steady accumulation of wealth at the top, which comes at the expense of so many at the bottom.As matters stand, governments continue to follow their usual politically safe path. They are announcing environmental goals, but not acting with any apparent urgency. No country is showing any real concern about wealth concentration or AI. It has thus fallen on ordinary people, particularly the young, to mobilise against a broken status quo.Capitalism is based on the assumption that human beings are driven by self-interest. This nostrum will need to be reformulated to reflect what human beings are actually like. I would say that people are driven partly by self-interest but mostly by collective interest.The assumption that only self-interest matters is what led economists to lay the intellectual foundation for corporate profit-maximisation. But once one acknowledges the role of collective interest, this model no longer holds. We will need a new framework for business.A firm driven by collective interest doesn’t need the individual profit motive; rather, its success hinges on whether it provides financially sustainable solutions to collective problems, and its profits are therefore plowed back into its business. This is not merely theoretical: I have created precisely this kind of “social business” in my own work.Would this approach spell the end of capitalism? No, because profit-maximising businesses would still be able to function side by side with social businesses. It would be up to individual firms to decide which model to embrace. Someone could choose to engage in profit-maximising business, social business, or both – either separately or at the same time. Both types of businesses would participate in the same marketplace under the same regulatory authorities.Obviously, people are not driven solely by personal profit. If they were, there would be no such thing as charity. Likewise, 'investment' is not limited to uses of money that maximise personal profit. Regardless of whether one buys the shares of a profit-driven company or of a social business, one has made an investment.People who invest in social business do not doubt that making money could bring them some happiness; but they recognise that investing to help others (a collective interest) would bring them even more. Those who share this outlook will actually prefer to invest in social businesses.Ultimately, these value judgments are rooted in our minds – that is where one finds happiness and recognises its true source. I, for one, can find many uses for my money. I can donate it, keep it under the bed, buy lottery tickets, invest in social businesses, or invest in profit-maximising businesses. But it is not obvious how I should decide between these options, because maximising happiness is not the same thing as maximising profit.The old assumption behind capitalism has fooled us on many levels. Worst of all, it has made us believe that happiness can be measured by how much money we have. Under the old system, all citizens are supposed to stay busy maximising profits and paying taxes, with those government revenues going toward solving whatever common problems the country faces.But the government’s involvement in solving social problems has itself led to political polarisation. Some argue that governments should minimise taxes and steer clear of addressing problems that should be left to markets to sort out. Others argue that the government should take more responsibility for solving social problems, with taxes rising to whatever level is needed.But either way, there are no circumstances in which individuals should remain mere spectators. We all must bring our own creativity to bear on social problems. Once citizens become active in addressing shared challenges, results soon follow.Smart governmentThe smart government is one that creates space and incentives for citizens to get involved. It will inspire people and applaud their achievements, while establishing the necessary legal and administrative structures to support their initiatives. For example, governments can create the conditions for social business funds, social business venture capital, and social business micro-entrepreneur banks.The point, here, is not to diminish the importance of government. Rather, it is to activate the state’s organising function. A government’s capacity should be judged not by its tax revenue, but by the power it gives to the people. Guiding and inspiring grassroots action can achieve much more than any amount of revenue can.Economic and social transformations are easier when governments demonstrate the appropriate leadership. If governments were to become enthusiastic participants in forging a path to a new future, the process would be much smoother and much faster. At the core of this process is the creation of new institutions.For example, we need financial institutions to ensure that every young person can become an entrepreneur if she doesn’t want to wait in line for a job. The state can establish these options by codifying a legal framework for social business venture capital funds, and by creating incentives for firms to create social businesses in parallel to their conventional businesses.In too many countries, however, there is no financing arrangement for a young person who wants to start her own business. Finance is the fuel of entrepreneurship, but as long as loan sharks are the only ones offering it, social businesses will never get off the ground. Micro-entrepreneurs need specialized banks that can cater to their specific needs, including in remote and isolated places.Consider someone who starts selling shirts on the street. He may sell five per day, even though he has the capacity to sell 50. With no money to expand his business, he gives up and gets a job (possibly in the informal economy, where he has no benefits or legal protections). If money had been available, he would have had many other choices. He could give up wage employment and focus on building his business; or, he could take a job while continuing to sell shirts on the side.Technology has a major role to play in all this. It could be a blessing or a curse, depending on which direction we want to take it. It is easy to imagine how AI could bring endless benefits to people, but not when it is being designed and deployed to replace human workers on a massive scale.When we create a new technology, we have an obligation to consider where and how it should and should not be used. Technology is not an autonomous force, but rather a human creation that reflects our own values and intentions. Medicine was invented to cure people, but medical knowledge and technologies obviously can be used to kill people, too. A general-purpose technology like AI is no different.I believe that AI development is currently headed in the wrong direction, because it is being used to maximise profits by reducing profit-driven firms’ labor costs. We must stop this trend before it is too late. Unlike other technologies, AI could theoretically reproduce itself, at which point it would have no limit.The pandemic has given us an opportunity to start working toward a new world of net-zero emissions, zero poverty, and zero unemployment. To that end, we will need to dispense with fossil fuels and deploy renewables on a global scale. We will need to stop eating beef and pumping out single-use plastic products. And we will have to do far more to preserve and replenish forests and other important ecosystems.We also must redesign banking so that financial services are accessible even to homeless people. We must stop allowing wealth to become increasingly concentrated. We must think seriously about the threats posed by AI. And we must take social business mainstream.Humans are an endangered species. If we continue down the same path, we will become an extinct one – and possibly quite soon, depending on the choices we make right now.© Project SyndicateMuhammad Yunus, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, is the founder of Grameen Bank.

The pandemic opportunity

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

development