The Environment Friendly Local Governance Framework 2013 that was approved by the Nepal Cabinet recently is being implemented in all local bodies from the current fiscal year. Read more in this October 2013 edition of the Monthly Nepal State of the Environment Report published by the South Asia Environment Portal. Read and Share.

ENVIRONMENT
Environment Friendly Local Governance Framework 2013, which the Cabinet in Nepal recently approved, is being implemented in all local bodies from the current fiscal year.

LAND, AGRICULTURE, GRAZING LANDS AND ANIMAL CARE
An orientation programme on agriculture has been implemented for the first time in Kailali district of Nepal. Thousands of hectares of land in the southern belt of Mahottari district in Nepal, suffered productivity degradation as no clear policy was brought for the conservation of Chure area in the northern belt of the district. A portion of the standing paddy crop in Bhaktapur of Nepal, has been destroyed by “neck blast” and “bacterial leaf blight” diseases. Poultry farmers in Bhaktapur district of Nepal, who incurred huge losses in an avian influenza outbreak and a mopup campaign aimed to control the disease, have started receiving compensation. The District Livestock Office (DLO) has launched a yak breeding programme to increase number of yaks in Snakhuwasabha district of Nepal.

DAMS
The International Finance Corporation, the private sector investment arm of the World Bank, has injected US$3 million in 216MW Upper Trishuli-1 hydroelectric project in Nepal to become 15 per cent equity partner in it. About 95 per cent construction works of the 30-MW Chameliya Hydropower project located in the Far Western Development Region of Nepal has been completed so far. The capacity of the 92-MW Kulekhani Reservoir, the only storage-type hydropower project in Nepal, has been reduced by 30 percent over the last three decades due to heavy sedimentation, according to a study.

FORESTS
Massive deforestation has been taking place at the northern part of the Sunsari district in Nepal, owing to rampant timber smuggling. Deforestation has gone unchecked in the forests of Tinjure-Milke-Jaljale area bordering Tehrathum, Sankhuwasabha and Taplejung districts in Nepal.

FLOODS, DROUGHTS AND NATURAL DISASTERS
Hailstorm in the northwest part of Gorkha in Nepal destroyed a huge amount of crops putting farmers at the receiving end.

HABITAT
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has approved a new Country Partnership Strategy (CPS) with Nepal that will anchor its assistance over the next five years. The NED University of Engineering and Technology will shortly launch a project approved under the annual development programme to become Pakistan’s first green campus. If official plans go well, people of Islamabad and Rawalpindi can hope the long promised metro bus service for them will get some traction soon.

WATER SUPPLY AND SANITATION
A group of volunteers from the United States and local residents in Nepal have teamed up to bring water to Astam village in Kaski district. According to the Solid Waste Management Technical Support Centre (SWMTSC), 40 per cent of waste produced in Kathmandu is not picked up due to negligence of government authorities, private sector, and the public. The Nepal government is planning to set up a central level hospital waste treatment plant in Kathmandu. Five municipalities in and around the Kathmandu Valley will adopt a strategic plan to manage waste in the current fiscal. The District Education Office (DEO) has stopped releasing salary for two teachers as punishment for not constructing toilet at their homes in Jajarkot district of Nepal. The message as a mandatory decision was circulated to all the government employees including teachers in the district. The strict measure is taken to meet the target of declaring the district as open defecation free zone by 19 February 2014. With the first community-based sewerage treatment plant in place, the Ugrachandi Nala VDC in Kavrepalanchok district of Nepal has become a model community in achieving total sanitation. President Ram Baran Yadav inaugurated the fifth sanitation conference of South Asian countries at Bhaktapur Durbar Square in Nepal. This is the first time that the city of Bhaktapur has got the opportunity to host a sanitation conference of South Asian countries. The fifth South Asian Conference on Sanitation (SACOSAN-V) concluded with the signing of the Kathmandu Declaration.

HEALTH AND OCCUPATIONAL HAZARDS
The number of people affected by dengue has risen to 150 in Chitwan district of Nepal in the past three months. Viral fever is spreading at an alarming rate in Bhaktapur town of Nepal. In less than two decades, Nepal has managed to halve the number of maternal deaths during childbirth, a case of globally remarkable progress, reveals an international think tank.

HAZARDOUS PRODUCTS
The amount of lead used in paints by Nepali companies is mostly unsafe and poses a serious threat to children’s health, according to a recently launched report. The report published by the Centre for Public Health and Environmental Development (CEPHED) claims that most Nepali companies including some renowned brands are using the toxic metal excessively.

ENERGY
A four-day international workshop ‘Promotion of Renewable Energy for Minimising Climate Change’ was successfully organised in Kathmandu.
The US-based Music For Relief and World Wildlife Fund launched a campaign in Washington on October 22 to raise funds necessary to provide an entire village in Nepal access to clean, green biogas technology.

LIVING RESOURCES
Police in Nepal have arrested 14 rhinoceros poachers. A survey conducted in the upper region of Humla district in Nepal has found goa or the mountain sheep, which was deemed extinct.