Important Agenda

PRIME Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba left the other day to attend the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg, South Africa. Leading the delegation to such an important meet must be looked upon with interest as it is sustainable development that can only be the panacea of the problems facing all the countries especially the developing ones. It may be worthwhile remembering that development as such would be fruitful and for the benefit of the people concerned if it is sustainable. Though it is not easy task but is necessary. Every developing country has multi-faceted problems to tackle but a global conference can be of great assitance in charting out the course. Poverty, unemployment, child labour, women's basic difficulties and so on has to receive focus if any country is to move forward in seeing an equitable distribution of wealth and prosperity. The promotion of sustainable development is more than essential when the global scene is none too pleasant at the moment. In fact, it has more to do with the protection of the environment because ecological balance and thereby the very survival of the human race is at stake if the environmental concerns are not remedied.

Development is necessary for any nation but carrying it out needs great care and pragmatic decisions. A country may have resources but their judicious utilisation must receive the attention of all including the planners, users and the people in general. It needs no reiteration that Nepal is one among the poor countries in the group of nations therefore it becomes more than necessary to go for development activities that are sustainable instead of looking for short term gains. The environment being the major component, it must receive due attention. Development without taking into consideration the environmentl impacts can prove catastrophic as has been seen with many projects in the past. The government on its part may have formulated programmes aimed at sustainable development but unless the people themselves understand the necessity and take steps to move ahead it would all prove to become a futile exercise. It is this very aspect of development that needs the support of the mass with the government providing the necessary framework and the rules and regulations.

Controlling Natural Calamities

WITH the introduction of Natural Calamity Mitigation Programme in different villages of Gorkha district under the concept of Community Development Group (CDG), noticeable efficacy, as per a news item carried by this daily the other day, are being seen in the control and mitigation of possible natural calamities. Although, till date, there is no single foolproof method to completely prevent natural calamities from ever happening, this does not mean that the concerned authorities should not initiate appropriate measures to control such nature-induced disasters. Rather, the concerned authorities should and must explore all available avenues and options to prevent, if not control, such natural calamities like landslips and flash floods. For, not to do so would leave the nation much the poorer through the loss of the people's precious lives and widespread destruction to public infrastructure and private properties. Worse still, any inaction on the part of the concerned authorities could leave the devastated areas wide open for more natural calamities to hit the same areas. Going by past experiences, natural calamities seem have the nasty habit of hitting the same areas that had already been devastated by nature-induced disasters. And, with it, taking more precious lives of the locals and destroying whatever they had painstakingly rebuilt, especially their houses and terraced farms. As such, the recent measures to activate the CDGs in Gorkha district should not only be duly commended, but also extended due cooperation and support by all, including, of course, the people. For, though the series of landslips and flash floods that claimed the precious lives of the people and wrought widespread havoc by destroying the public and private properties are the works of this year's incessant monsoon rains, the people are also partly responsible for the nature-induced disasters. More particularly those living in ecologically fragile regions and still engaged in indiscriminate clearing of forests or bringing marginal lands under cultivation. Such destructive activities on the part of some people are verily the precursors of nature-induced calamities. As such, if the people's precious lives and properties are to be safeguarded, the concerned authorities should come up with necessary resources and efforts to implement the concept of CDG in other natural disaster-prone districts. While they are at it, it also goes without saying that they should carry out sustained campaigns to raise the people's awareness concerning the causes, effects of nature-induced calamities.