- Nepal’s political focus on large-scale infrastructure development has long raised environmental concerns, with projects like dams and highways lacking adequate safeguards.
- Despite international commitments and constitutional rights to a healthy environment, Nepal’s government faces challenges in implementing effective environmental policies.
- Conservationists advocating for nature and sustainable development say protecting ecosystems is important for both the planet and its people.
- They also rebuff accusations from politicians that they’re “anti-development,” saying supporting nature doesn’t mean being opposed to development.
KATHMANDU — In February, river conservationists and tourism entrepreneurs gathered on the banks of the Trishuli River in central Nepal to voice concerns about a proposed hydropower project. They warned that proceeding with the project would disrupt the river’s ecosystem and affect the thousands of people who depend on it.
However, they emphasized that while they didn’t support the 100-megawatt Super Trishuli Hydropower Project they weren’t “anti-development,” as some in power have painted them.
“I am not opposed to development, but I find it regrettable when development makes a river run dry,” said Megh Ale, president of the Nepal River Conservation Trust.
Likewise, during a program on February 16, 2024 addressing the environmental implications of the proposed Nagmati Dam near Kathmandu, Biraj Bhakta Shrestha, at the time an opposition politician but recently appointed minister of youth and sports, echoed a similar sentiment. While highlighting flaws in the dam concept, Shrestha said, “Please do not perceive me as opposing development.”
After decades of conflict and peace-building, Nepal’s political landscape has shifted its focus to large-scale infrastructure development. Nepalis, influenced by the rapid pace of development in neighboring India and China, now desire similar progress within the Himalayan country, often overlooking environmental considerations.
With numerous large infrastructure projects such as highways, tunnels, cable cars, railway lines, river diversions, dams, airports and transmission lines underway or planned across the country, environmental safeguards are essential, conservation activists say.
In Nepal, where more than a third of the land is still forested, environmental safeguards are notably deficient. The environmental impact assessment process has been deemed largely ineffective, with the “polluters pay” principle often misused. This allows infrastructure developers to get away with environmental destruction by paying fines after the fact, that too without guilt or remorse.
At a recent program discussing the environmental impacts of the proposed dam near Kathmandu, nature rights campaigner Shrawan Sharma said, “We observe a sense of ‘development anxiety’ within the government.” Sharma said this anxiety often leads to overlooking sustainability and environmental impacts.
This has prompted environmentalists in Nepal to adopt a defensive stance. When voicing environmental concerns, they’re swift to clarify that their advocacy for the environment doesn’t equate to being against development. One prevalent talking point by proponents of unfettered development is that industrialized nations achieved their level of development because they put their citizens’ standard of living before the interests of nature and the environment. Their argument is that shackling Nepal to the requirements of conservation and environmental protection prevents the country from fulfilling the people’s aspirations — a sentiment reflected in public statements made by politicians across the spectrum.
Former prime minister KP Sharma Oli and member of the ruling coalition recently asserted that anyone opposing the construction of dams in the Bagmati river is anti-development and spreading misinformation. Likewise, Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal himself has repeatedly stated that Nepal’s conservation laws and policies, particularly those concerning forests, pose significant obstacles to development.
“It doesn’t mean that we need to follow the bad example set by the industrialized countries that has already left irreversible and long-term impacts,” said conservationist Bibek Raj Shrestha. “We have an opportunity to learn from their mistakes. Protecting the environment and ecosystems is not only important for the planet itself, but everyone on it, including the Nepali people and their local livelihoods.”
Other conservationists have also expressed feeling unfairly positioned on one side of the environment versus development debate: Supporting one doesn’t necessarily mean opposing the other, they say. “There is no alternative to utilizing forest land; even if we dislike it, development projects will inevitably traverse through forests,” said conservationist Sanjan Thapa from the Small Mammal Conservation and Research Foundation. “Our only recourse is to mitigate and minimize the projects’ impacts, which does not equate to opposing development.”
Nepal’s government has affirmed its dedication to this goal both domestically and internationally. It has ratified various treaties and conventions, including the Rio Declaration, which urges state parties to achieve a harmonious balance between development and the environment. Likewise, Nepal’s Constitution guarantees the right to a healthy environment as a fundamental right, emphasizing the importance of maintaining a proper equilibrium between environmental conservation and development initiatives.
But the government itself lacks institutional memory about the international commitments it has made over the years, Shrestha said during the discussion on the dam.
Sharma said that after listening to the politicians, he sometimes feels that he’s on the wrong side of the debate. “When I am opposing the building of the Nagmati Dam, I sometimes feel that maybe the dam will have positive impacts on the economy, and I shouldn’t be opposing it,” he said. “However, it is necessary to understand that someone has to speak out in favor of nature and sustainable development.”
Banner image: Marsyangdi River in Nepal. Image by Sergey Ashmarin via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0).
Abhaya Raj Joshi is a staff writer for Nepal at Mongabay. Find him on 𝕏 @arj272.
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