The Johannesburg Summit
What Nepal Can Learn

By Nirmala Sharma

THE Rio Earth Conference of 1992 was the first global effort to address the alarming situation that brought about environmental degradation. Though isolated efforts were being made earlier at individual levels, it was the first occasion in which almost all the leaders of the world assembled at Rio de Janeiro of Brazil with exclusive concern for the protection of environment of the Earth. As one of the participant countries, Nepal also expressed its commitment for some concrete steps towards sustainable development and the improvement in the degradation of environment in the country. However, no adequate steps seem to have been taken to translate these commitments into practice except for some publicity designed to raise environmental consciousness among the people.

Disparity

Sustainable development was one of the issues discussed at the Rio Conference. The conference had agreed that the life style of the rich and affluent countries characterized by over consumption, misuse of resources and the increase of population had compelled mankind to think of the Earth seriously. This also triggered a spirited discussion on sustainable development. At present, the disparity in the use of resources is inconceivable. The United States, which inhabits only 6 percent of the world population, uses 34 percent of the Earth's resources. The life styles of the Chinese and the Indian societies having the largest population in the world have also raised serious concern. In view of this situation the concept of sustainable development has been mooted in order to cultivate the culture of balanced use of resources in the country.

Sustainable development incorporates the concept of balancing social, economic and environmental situation in the world. The sustainable development also means equality and balance between this and the next generation.

In fact, the sustainable development means using the available resources without compromising with the needs of the coming generation. It does not mean living in perpetual poverty for the sake of the coming generation. It only indicates the simultaneous management of social economic development and the environmental protection. Its main concern is that the present use of resources should not adversely affect the future generation.

The Rio Conference of 1992 endorsed the Rio Declaration, Agenda-21 and other principles regarding forest conservation. They were brought forward as a plan of action for implementing sustainable development.

Now, another environmental conference has been held in Johannesburg, South Africa. Nepalese government officials are also taking part in this conference. Whether to go in for sustainable development or to stick to the present day economy are the two alternatives that the situation has presented to us. This very generation should make a choice of the two alternatives. Whatever course we may take will have a far-reaching repercussion. The future of Nepal and the Nepalese is also linked with the Johannesburg conference. It is the responsibility of the civil society to be adequately aware of this. In the last decade, some efforts were made to translate the theories of sustainable development into practice. The problem of globalization which had not been envisaged in the Rio conference and the decision-making processes linked to have made it difficult to put sustainable development into practice.Reviewing the achievements made by Nepal during the past ten years in the course of implementing the Agenda-21, we do not get an encouraging picture. Despite a lot of publicity on the conservation of environment, it has deteriorated further.

In Nepal, the number of vehicles has increased by 4 times. The level of air pollution in Katmandu and other urban centers has increased. The government has still not been able to implement anti-pollution standard effectively.

The development of clean energy was one of the commitments of the Rio conference. Nepal, however, has not been able to make a remarkable progress in that regard. Nepal is said to have the potential for generating 82,000 megawatts of electricity. But it has hardly generated 400 megawatts, which is less than one percent of the total capacity. Of late, the government has adopted the policy to grant subsidy to bio-gas, solar energy and small hydropower as alternative energy resources. They can be considered to be positive indications.

Similarly, the government has also made some progress in the area of forest conservation. The number of community forest has reached more than 10,000. These forests established on the basis indigenous resources and people's participation have contributed to conserve depleting forest resources. According to an estimate, the area of conserved forest has now reached 18.1 percent. This indicates the improving situation of resource management.

Nepal, however, has not been able to make a considerable achievement in the field of waste management. According to a statistics 426,500 tons of waste matter is produced in 58 municipalities of the country. It constitutes 83 per cent of the total waste production of the country. In Katmandu alone 29 percent of solid waste is produced. But its management has not been effective.
In the 1990s the government of Nepal put forward a goal of providing safe drinking water for all by 2000. But only 40 percent people have access to piped water. What is disturbing is that the investment in drinking water has also decreased.

Requirement

Peace is a main requirement for a successful implementation of development projects. The objective of the sustainable development has suffered a setback because of continuous Maoist terrorist activities. The Maoist insurgency that started in 1996 has engulfed the country seriously threatening the peace and stability of the country.

It is hoped that the Johannesburg Conference will help find a more suitable model of eco-friendly development, which can help solve the problems of development and environmental degradation in the developing countries like ours.

Landslides In Nepal

By Hardayal Singh

NEPAL is divided into four major geographical regions namely the High Himalayas, Mountains, Rolling Food Hills and Plain Area (Terai). Nepal has been affected with the landslides disaster because of the Steep Mountain and hilly ranges that form a large part of its land mass.

Effect

The frequency of the landslides in Nepal compared with other mountain ranges of other countries may be more because our mountains are comparatively young geographically. Landslides, avalanches and other potent geological processes can cause various types of erosions, floods and earthquakes. Some landslides are triggered by river bank erosion and some by flash floods aggravated by landslides in the area adjoining the river banks. Both of these phenomena occur during the monsoon periods but not in the dry seasons. Each year several hundred people and livestock get affected by the landslides or floods during the rainy season.

Landslide is not only a problem in Nepal, but it also causes great problems all over the world where there are hills and mountains. We can see thousands of landslide scars practically almost along all over roads and highways across the country. Some of these are due to human activities such as excessive terrace farming, deforestation and undesired drainages on top of the hill sides as well as from the natural phenomena.

The annual rainfall of Nepal is about 170 mm. Some areas have as much as 400 mm of rainfall and in some parts there is as less as 25 mm. Rainfall causes rock slides, landslides and soil mass creeps. These are seen along roads in different parts of Nepal in different degrees during the rainy seasons. It is natural that major and minor landslides occur in the rainy seasons which sometimes cause heavy damages to roads and other properties. Landslides have a close relation with water, geology and seismology.

During the landslides, some emergency control works are carried out immediately so that the collapsed soil mass would not further slide down. These are then followed by permanent control works such as Breast Walls, Retaining Walls, Planting of Trees and other vegetation on the slopes followed by improvement of drainage structures such as culverts etc. Breast Walls or Retaining Walls can be dry, gabion, crib or partially dry or partially cemented concrete walls to provide better outlets to trapped water and earth pressure held by the wall.

Nepal has about 6,000 numbers of rivers out of which 1,000 are more than 11 km long. The total length of the rivers is more than 45,000 kms. Construction of the road along the river valley and indiscriminate throwing over burden in the river has caused more landslides on the open cut of the road and excessive sediment load in the river which in turn causes more slides.

Soil erosion and landslides in Nepal have been causing very serious problems during rainy seasons. The problem is particularly acute in the hilly regions as well as in the plain terrains. Floods and river diversions have been frequently damaging extenstive productive crop land of the Terai area. It is clear that the problem of soil erosion and landslides if left uncontrolled and unmanaged will worsen, effecting the entire length and breadth of the country thus adversely affecting country's economy.
Gabion walls are also very effective in river-training works to prevent bank-erosion and ultimately the prevention of slides in some cases along the roads whose alignment is along river-banks especially in the flat Terai areas.Even in hilly and mountainous roads, Gabions are effective as retaining or breast walls because these structures have easy outlets for trapped water and earth pressure. They are easy to build by locally trained man power and are very economic compared to other solid concrete structures. For developing countries where cement is too expensive and not readily available all the time, Gabion-walls are most practical substitutes to upkeep the road surface and base intact even during monsoons and are very effective to withheld small to medium slides.

Earthquakes usually cause large scale landslides particularly in hilly and mountainous regions where the slopes are constituted of stratified rocky areas or in places where there are thick loose mass of earth on top of stable rocks, which can easily slip down due to earthquake vibrations. Landslides are commonly seen on the slopes and spurs of mountain cuts by faults. Earthquake shocks particularly in the rainy seasons are more dangerous. Earthquake is sudden jerk vertical or horizontal on the earth created by the Tectonic forces i.e. two colliding plates to release the built up energy below the crust. Even such earthquakes can trigger huge landslides which block the rivers resulting in flood havocs.
In addition to serious damages to human life and livestock, water supply systems etc. can also be disrupted causing multiple problems in a widespread nature. Landslide disasters are related to earthquakes as well as to heavy rains and melting of snows. Though a landslide disaster draws less attention than the earthquakes, the total damages due to landslide disasters worldwide are greater than that of other publicised natural disasters.

Slides occur mainly due to toe-failure where the remedy is to make the uphill side slope steeper so that it may retain itself. Slides also occur due to base failure, which is more dangerous as the road surface also slides downhill.

Remedies

In such cases, changes of alignments are generally the best remedies but are more costly.
There are several techniques controlling landslides. Using Heavy Cylindrical Walls for retaining higher earth pressures, using of Bin walls of steel where steel is easily available, constructing temporary walls or Drum walls from bitumen drums or placing Jute net on a steep slope landslides can be controlled. Construction of two subsequent double pipe culverts of 0.60 cm (according to design) with outlet protection to prevent downstream scouring and erosion, planting of trees on the slopes to help to check creep movement of the slope, terracing slopes below road and planting of grass, and use of bulldozer and labour for landslide clearing to open the road in labour-intensive method can also help control landslides.

A Shameful Deed

By Bishnu Prasad Aryal

A FEW days back I met a smiling girl at a shelter under an NGO. She seemed to be happy. However, in reality she was not happy, as she was a lonely girl in the crowded city. She had a bitter story to tell. When she was a student of class one she was compelled to abandon her study.

Her mother married a man when she was a small child. She even does not know her father's name. He died before she knew him. She has been living with her mother at her stepfather's home. She is the youngest among eight sisters. She said that she would study if she got an opportunity.
It is a story of a 14-year old girl. A few months ago, she had been to one of her elder sisters' home. She helped in household works for her sister and brother-in-law who have a small child. They had a small teashop at the ground floor of a house. A police post has occupied the upper floor of the house.
On the 3rd of August, she was playing with her nephew. A policeman came there and snatched the baby away. He headed towards the office. By dint of panic and absence of his relative, he began to cry. Then her sister and brother-in-law sent the girl to bring the child back as they were busy at the teashop.

As soon as she entered into the police office, the same policeman taped her mouth and seduced her at the premises of the office. Another tall policeman was the witness to all this inhuman act.

After completing his task, the cruel creature in police uniform threatened her not to reveal the incident. If she complied, he would give her Rs. 100,000. But she denied it violently. He regretfully pleaded to her that he would, otherwise, be dismissed from his job.

She said he must be killed for what he did. According to her, the culprit is Netra Bahadur Karki, a policeman at Tundal Devi Mandir, Bishal Nagar, Kathmandu.

At present, the criminal is under custody and the government has assured that the culprit would be punished. Necessary legal procedures are underway. And CAP-CRON, an NGO for children has shown interest to offer legal aid for the victim.

The issue is very touching. Sadly this is not a rare of case. Teachers, fathers, brothers, employers are seducing children, girls and women. Our patriarchal society remains ignorant and negligent about such issues. Though voices against sexual harassment and gender suppression are emerging, they are yet to be effective to control such crimes.

At a time when women empowerment has become a catchword for a number of international organisations, a large number of girls here are falling victim to (s)exploitation. Women and children are badly undermined in traditional societies like ours. The United Nations Child Right Convention (UNCRC) 1989 ensured to implement the humanitarian principles for all under 18. The Constitution of Nepal has also included this provision. Children Act 1992 has been amended under the Constitution.
But due to the lack of implementation such legal provisions have become toothless.

If we analyse the present state of affair, we can trace the need of two kinds of rights. They are social justice and legal justice.

At present, legal justice has been altered into a new dimension but weakness lies in implementation.
In rapidly changing scenario of human civilization and development, the Children Act 1992 has been seen as incomplete and vague with some clauses that have hindered practicality.

To preserve the child rights, the Children's Bench was established in 1999 in 75 districts under juvenile justice. Yet, no case concerned to children has been filed and heard of in those districts, because of the lack of legal clarity.

On the other hand, members of civil society are not keenly aware about the implementation of those laws for them who are detested/condemned from family and local community.

Now, it has become a major issue to revive them in the society without any prejudice and protest so that they can be secured for their future prospect. Only then the smiling face of the girl and her enthusiasm can be protected. It is the responsibility of family, society and the state to do this.