Alternative Energy
Contributing To Forest Preservation

By Uttam Maharjan

NATURE has blessed the world with various energy sources: firewood, coal, petroleum, wind, sunlight and so on. Firewood is obtained from trees, coal from vegetable matter partially decomposed under high temperature and pressure in the Carboniferous period of the Palaeozoic era and petroleum from strata of sedimentary rocks.

Dependence

Nepal is dependent on foreign countries for POL products. A huge amount of foreign exchange has to be spent on importing POL products every year.

In Nepal, the people depend more on traditional sources of energy than on other sources. As per the energy related report of the International Monetary Fund, the consumption patterns of energy in the country consist of traditional sources (88 per cent), POL products (9 per cent), coal (2 per cent) and electricity (1 per cent).

The lowest consumption of electricity may be ascribed to the low distribution of electricity in the country. Only 15 per cent of the Nepalese people have access to electricity, that too mostly in the urban areas. And, very few people use electricity for cooking purposes. The use of electricity for such purpose has, however, been rising over the last few years with the use of electrical appliances like rice cookers, microwave ovens, heaters and water heaters.

In view of a huge amount of money to be spent on the import of POL products, it is imperative that alternative energy should be developed and used extensively. The alternative sources of energy could be solar energy and wind energy as well as phytogenic sources used in generating biodiesel.

The urban areas use electricity for lighting purposes and kerosene and LPG gas for cooking purposes, whereas the rural areas use kerosene for oil-fed lamps and firewood for cooking purposes.

The development of solar lanterns from solar energy could replace oil-fed lamps in the rural areas. Solar lanterns are better than oil-fed lamps because they do not emit black fumes harmful to the health.

Similarly, solar energy may be used to operate deep-boring pumps used in drawing underground water. As the Kathmandu valley is facing an acute shortage of drinking water, this technology could solve the drinking water problem to some extent.

Furthermore, solar energy may be effectively harnessed for agricultural and household purposes. In agriculture, solar energy may be utilised in the irrigation field. Solar heaters may be used to fulfil some household needs.

Likewise, wind energy may be harnessed to run turbines to generate electricity and windmills to pump water and for other purposes such as grain grinding.

Biogas plants may be installed in the rural areas. Some rural households are already using biogas as an alternative to firewood. The popularisation of biogas meets the energy needs of the people besides preserving forests.

The use of biogas has a double benefit. On the one hand, it meets the demand for firewood, while on the other it produces slurry, which can be used to make compost by mixing it with vegetable matter.

The most importance advantage the alternative energy gives is the preservation of forests. As the country abounds in knolls and hills, firewood has been the main source of energy for most of the people. But as in the rest of the world, the forested areas in the country are being depleted year after year.

In 1964 A.D., more than 45 per cent of the country’s total area was covered by forest. Later it plummeted to 43 per cent in 1979 and to 37.4 per cent in 1986. Now, it is estimated that forest covers only 30 per cent of the land.

It goes without saying that forests act as environmental regulators. They contribute to rainfall; prevent landslides and soil erosion; and shelter wildlife and thereby sustaining ecosystems through ecological balance.

Besides, forests provide people, especially rural people, with firewood, a fuel much used for cooking purposes and wood for construction purposes.

But increasing encroachment upon the forests has been taking place for decades. On the one hand, the locals exploit forests for their daily needs, while on the other smugglers are active in smuggling timber into neighbouring countries.

Heavy encroachment upon the forests in mountainous and hilly regions has depleted forests to a great extent. As a result, the people there are facing such calamities as landslides, soil erosion and drought with negative affects on agriculture. To steer clear of these problems, the people tend to migrate to the Terai belt. So the Terai forests are also
being encroached upon to meet the needs of the ever-growing population, especially for residential and rehabilitation
purposes. Besides, the forests are getting destroyed due to evergrazing, conflagration, etc.

Forests and agriculture have an interrelationship in that the former provide organic manure and pastures for grazing cattle. Besides, by preserving watershed areas and underground water, forests also facilitate irrigation.

Keeping in mind the social and economic importance of forests, the government has made vigorous efforts at forest preservation. Now, community forest programmes are in vogue in many parts of the country. Embarked upon pursuant to the government policy of handing over the forests to the local people for better management, such programmes have played a pivotal role in the forests preservation.

Under the programmes, user groups are formed and entrusted with the management of certain forests. They
are also grounded in the importance of forests, thereby helping them to take the initiative in checking wood smuggling and poaching.

Coordination

There is a need for coordinating the supply of energy and preservation of forests. The former should never be met at the cost of the latter. Therefore, alternative energy ought to be developed and put to use on a more comprehensive scale. This would, no doubt, contribute greatly to preserving the precious forests.

Social Security System And Liberalisation

By Krishna Chandra Chalisey

FOR every state that has adopted the principle of welfare state, social security system is of utmost importance. Many countries incorporate the concept of welfare state in their constitutions. The directive principle of the Constitution of the Kingdom of Nepal-1990 has also adopted the concept of welfare state in the governance and conduct of public affairs. Every state has its obligation of protecting the interest of the deprived, underprivileged, downtrodden, oppressed, minority, ethnicity, disabled, women and children. Also a state has to take special care of those people who are economically marginalised, socially exploited and politically sidelined.

Democratic Surge

The global surge of democratisation began by the end of the 1980s. Many nations after being administered under communist, military or other dictatorial system adopted the multiparty democratic system. The process of democratisation also brought liberalisation and privatisation in the conduct of national economy. The market force began to be more powerful than in the past when the state used to regulate macro and macro economic activities.

Besides positive outcomes, many negative and unwelcome consequences of liberalisation and globalised economy began to crop up. The poor people became poorer. The gap between the have and have-nots widened further. Only people who possess knowledge, skill and resources are taking advantage of market economy. They have opportunities to become more prosperous.

In contrary to this, the people who are devoid of these assets have to face hardships. They cannot withhold the stronger force of the market. The market is not much friendly to this class. So the state needs to safeguard their interests and basic rights to living with minimum human dignity and security.

Against the backdrop of liberalisation in global and national economy, the issue of social security came as manifest. It is being advanced as a safeguard measures to neutralise the negative impacts of liberalisation. The Copenhagen Social Summit of 1995 was the culmination of the concern raised by many states, intelligentsia and the civil society. At SAARC level too, social security has been given due importance. Realising the need of social security system in SAARC region, preliminary work had begun to chart out a social charter. It was agreed to focus on drawing up targets with a broad range to be achieved across the region in the areas of poverty eradication, population stabilisation, women empowerment, youth mobilisation, human resource development, promotion of health and nutrition and protection of children. It is due to unfortunate postponement of the 11th SAARC Summit, the prosposed charter has not come out yet.

The important aspect that is closely associated with social security is human development. These days countries are ranked not only in terms of economic development but also in terms of human development. Generally, the countries that are higher in human development index are also better in social security system. Human development focuses on human capability formation. Broadly speaking, it encompasses health, education and per capita income. It goes beyond the economic aspects. Human development attempts to give humanitarian face to economic development.

The policy documents of the government have clearly spelled out components of social development and accorded due priority. Some token steps have been taken to safeguard the interest of weaker segment of the society after the restoration of democracy. They are senior citizenship allowance, allowance for disabled and widows, 25 per cent discount for treatment of senior citizens in government hospitals and specific and targeted programmes for welfare and advancement of the untouchables, minority, ethnicity, women, children, debt relief to bonded labourers, free primary education, free distribution of text books and scholarship to girls. "Bisheshwar With the Poor," women awakening and youth self-employment," Ganesh Man Peace Campaign" are also specifically targeted programmes. These programmes implemented from the last year have not gained momentum. There is always deficiency in institutional structure and defects in implementation. Our past experience shows that many poor targeted programmes have benefited rich people. So we need to be very cautious not to repeat past mistakes.

Present education and health delivery system is biased towards the affluent class. No doubt, there has been gradual improvement in the quality of education and health delivery especially in the private sectors. But the irony is that even the middle class people cannot afford these services.

How to make these facilities affordable and accessible to majority of the people? This is a challenge for the democratic government. If this process goes on, more social unrest and disturbances are likely to occur in this peaceful country. The present government has come up with the slogan Income to destitute —justice to helpless which is of course a fitting slogan. The need is that development endeavours and governance system is also adapted with this popular slogan.

Biggest

The budget speech of 2000/2001 has allocated 35 per cent of the total development budget to social services. In terms of sectoral allocation, this is the biggest share. It has covered education, health, drinking water and local development. It should be taken as a good sign and start. The government should strongly adhere to the system of social security to make the process of liberalisation people friendly.

Environmental Damage Caused By World’s Large Dams

By Ian Phillips

TENS of millions of people displaced. Livelihoods wrecked. Fragile ecosystems destroyed. Animal species made extinct.

Large dams have brought much-needed power and water to the world, but their toll on the environment has been unacceptable, according to a report released by the World Commission on Dams that proposed strict new guidelines for future projects.

After two years of research focused mainly on nine major dams including the Grand Coulee in the United States and Pak Mun in Thailand - the commission said previous ealuations of the possible damaging side effects of dams were "few in number, narrow in scope ... and inadequately linked to decisions on operations."

Among its findings: 40-80 million people displaced worldwide and rarely compensated by governments, an irreversible loss of fish and acuatic species, and huge losses of forests and wetlands.

In a speech to environmentalists in London to mark the report’s release, Former South African President Nelson Mandela said that he wished the findings had been available when he sanctioned the construction of some of his country’s 539 dams.

"There is a part of me that resented having to choose the lesser of two evils - relocate some so that all may have water, or forgo a dam, thus slowing human development," he said.

The 12-member commi-ssion was set up in 1998 by the World Bank and World Conservation Union.

The body, which includes representatives from industry, dam owners, governments and environmentalists, called for dam project to sustain rivers and livelihoods and for greater efficiency and accountability.

It also said alternative methods should be studied, that more effort was needed to gain public approval of dams, and that in-depth environmental impact studies should be mandatory.

It proposed reviews of all existing large dams.

James Wolfensohn, president of the World Bank, which in recent years has markedly scaled back its financing of dams, said he would present the findings to the bank’s 180 member nations. A decision on whether to implement the guidelines when financing future projects is expected in February.

"This report gives us a basis upon which we can move toward trying to deal with the healing of the wounds," Wolfensohn said.

Half the world’s dams were built for irrigation purposes and account for 12 per cent to 16 per cent of world food production, while others act as flood defenses and to produce hydropower and water supply.

Dams account for 19 per cent of electricity generated worldwide, and 24 countries generate more than 90 per cent of their power from dams.

More than 100 non-governmental organisations called Thursday for a suspension of all dam projects until they are reviewed in accordance with the committee’s report.

"If the builders and funders of dams follow the recommendations...the era of destructive dams should come to an end, said Patrick McCully of the California-based International Rivers Network.

McCully said China’s Three Gorges dam, those on India’s Narmada river, Turkey’s Ilisu and the Philippines’ San Roque were among several ongoing projects in clear violation of the new proposed guide-lines.

There are 45,000 large dams in the world, most built in the 1970s, when an average of two to three new large projects were commissioned each day to help meet escalating demands for water. China and India have half the world’s dams.

Construction has tailed off in recent years, but projects such as the Sardar Sarovar Dam across India’s Narmada River are still a source of controversy. India’s Supreme Court recently gave the go-ahead for work to continue, dismissing widespread concerns the dam will flood villages and displace hundreds of thousands of people.

In China, 10,000 villagers were recently moved away from the massive Three Gorges Dam - a figure expected to climb to more than 1 million.

The other dams studied by the committee were Aslantas in Turkey, Glomma-Laagen Basin in Norway, Kariba in Zambia and Zimbabwe Tarbela in Pakistan, Tucurui in Brazil, and Gariep and Vanderkloof in South Africa.

AP