Fresh Water Year to be marked, DNPWC to take the lead

By Bishnu Budhathoki

KATHMANDU, Jan. 18: The United Nations has declared 2003 as International Year of Fresh Water, but there seems to be some confusion on who would be taking the lead to observe the year-long function in Nepal.

Department of National Park and Wildlife Conservation (DNPWC) is marking the International Year of Fresh Water on February 2 along with the World Wetland Day.

“It should be the Ministry of Water Resources, who should be observing the Day,” Laxmi Prasad Manandhar, Conservation Education Officer at the DNPWC, said. When the Ministry remained unconcerned the DNPWC decided to celebrate it with various activities on February 2.

As part of the celebration of World Wetland Day, the DNPWC will organise interaction programme and other extra activities in the capital as well as in the conservation areas. This year’s slogan for the World Wetland Day is ‘No Wetland, No Water’.

The Day aims at creating awareness for the conservation of wetlands and there inhabitants, which are falling into risks of disappearance or even becoming extinct. Considering the real value of eco-system and bio-diversity, such are expected to help protect these sites and there inhabitants.
Wetlands are very important ecosystems for maintaining a balance between the physical and biological factors as well as for bio-diversity. They are also important for socio-cultural and eco-tourism.

In order to preserve wetlands, His Majesty’s Government signed the Ramsar Convention in 1987, aimed at protecting the wetlands, pledging that Nepal would work actively in order to protect and conserve wetlands and the flora, fauna and other rare species found in those sites.

The same year, Koshi Tappu Wildlife Conservation (KTWR) was recognised as Nepal’s first Ramsar site. The designation of KTWR was meant to conserve the ecological character of KTWR through a planned approach, and to promote prudent use of the conservation area.

The KTWR is rich in floral and faunal diversity with 514 species of plants, 21 species of invertebrate, 77 species of butterfly, 200 species of fish, 45 species of lizard (herpetofauna), 461 species of bird and 31 species of mammal.

Besides, there are 10 more wetlands in the Terai area of Nepal. The 16 protected areas in the country include 35 to 40 wetlands that are managed under the national park and wildlife conservation department.

Similarly, 25 river systems and tributaries, 33 lakes, ponds and water mass areas have been identified by the DNPWC as wetland areas.

Manandhar said that the government has recommended for including Bishhazar Tal of Chitwan, Ghodhaghodi Tal of Kailali and Jagadispur Reservoir of Kapilvastu in the list of Ramsar site. But the process has been hampered due to lack of GIS (Geograpical Information Survey) map of those sites.
After the survey is completed, these areas could enlist them as Ramsar sites by the headquarters of Ramsar at Switzerland.

The Ramsar head office aims to recognise 2,000 wetlands around the world as Ramsar sites by 2005.
Until July, 2002, 1,179 sites in 133 countries around the world have been recognised as Ramsar sites.
There are mainly three criteria, provisions and obligations to declare a wetland as Ramsar site: It must be representative of rare or unique wetland in conserving biological diversity; it should support more than 20,000 water birds, endangered species or threatened ecological communities; and it should be the source of earning for the local people.

Maoists attack Budhathoki

RSS

CHAUTARA, Jan. 18: The Maoist insurgents have seriously injured Hem Bahadur Budhathoki, 44, of Tekanpur Village Development Committee of Sindhupalchowk district Friday.

A group of about 10 Maoist insurgents attacked Budhathoki with bullet and Khukuri while he was participating the meeting of Community Forest Users Committee at the local Tauthali Primary School at around 4 p.m.

He was shot one bullet from back side and attacked in his left thigh with Khukuri, according to Ganesh Bahadur Ayer, Deputy Superintendent of Police of Sindhupalchowk district police office.
He was rushed to Bahrabise Primary Health Care Centre, which is at a distance of about three hours and later he was taken to Kathmandu as the treatment was not possible in the local hospital.
His condition is said to be serious.

Notable works on Nepal’s culture

Asia is home to diverse ethnic groups where different languages and cultures live and mingle in harmony. These diverse cultures have been the sources of creation while being a guardian of a priceless legacy of historical and traditional assets.

As so, every country has its own culture, which it observes in its own way. The traditional festive-activities and the ways of the people form the part of culture. A country’s cultural heritage, however, rich and ancient it may be, will not be recognised as such and cannot be appreciated unless it is made known to the world at large through publicity.

Nepal’s cultural heritage is also very rich and ancient, as old as the Himalayas. Cultural borrowings are possible. One country may have borrowed something from the culture of another country. Cultural differences may be seen in clothes, in behaviors, in good manners, in beliefs and in many other things. The differences may be minor but these differences go to make one culture distinct from another. It should and will exist, because it is the cultural differences, which add to the richness and variety of life.

Ethnic castes, festivals, social activities, traditional values are the lenses through which the culture of a country is brought into focus. Several festivals, which the Nepalese still observe in their traditional way, also show that Nepal is rich in its cultural heritage.

Cultural festivals and the activities in Nepal are reckoned not only as occasions to indulge in eating, drinking and making merry but also as occasions when one is to devote some of one’s time to the worship of and meditation upon gods and goddesses in different forms even in this contemporary societies.

As many people have studied about Nepalese culture and its values the subject has been introduced at the various universities of many countries. Thus, Nepal is known world-wide as the City of festivals and temples, birthplace of Lord Buddha — the Light of Asia, the country where the Mt. Everest — the world’s highest snow-covered peak is situated

Among the different castes, every scholar of anthropology who takes keen interest in the people and ethnic culture of Nepal has noticed the Newars of Nepal as unique and interesting. Newars have impressed the world in many ways and exhibited a unique example of co-existence and tolerance.
Newars have contributed a lot to the culture and civilization of the country and bear testimony to the artistic skill and craftsmanship in the Kathmandu Valley’s arts, culture and heritage. Many festivals celebrated in the Valley are actually Newars’ culture which leads to aesthetic sense of cultured way of life. The Newars are highly fascinating people whose study will certainly provide a rewarding and enriching experience in a high degree of civilization.

In this regard, a 60-year-old Japanese national, Professor Hiroshi Ishii has contributed a lot for the promotion and development of Nepali, Newari, Maithili and Nepal’s other castes’ socio-culture activities. He has been carrying out research works on Nepalese culture, lifestyle, socio-economic as well as other related factors especially focusing on Newars’ culture and socio-activities since 1970. Thus, as a reward for his contribution since over three decades for Nepal he has been decorated with Gorakha Dakshhin Bahu.

An expert on Newari culture, lifestyle and festivals, Professor Ishii, who can speak Newari and Nepali languages fluently, did his Doctorate in Sociology-Cultural Anthropology from Tokyo University of Japan in 1978.

Currently, he is a Professor at the Research Institute for Languages and Cultures of Asia and Africa (ILCAA), Tokyo University of Foreign Studies. He is also an author of dozens of Newari, Nepali, Maithili and other castes’ cultures related books published in English, Japanese and Nepali languages.

Recent Economic Changes in a Newar Village (1980), Newar Culture and Society (1983), Institutional Change and Local Response in a Newar Village (1986), Social Change in a Newar Village (1987), Newar (1992), Affinal Prostrations in a Newar Village (1995), Caste and Kinship in a Newar Village (1995), Sana-Guthis (Funeral Organisations) in a Newar Village: Characteristics and Change (1996) are some of his notable credits on Newar and their cultural activities. He has also published various books depicted to socio-economic status, religious aspect of Newar and other people of Nepal. He also has many credits focused on the geo-socio-political issues of Nepal.

Professor Ishii was in capital recently to carry out his further research works of Goddess Vishnu Devi and its festival being observed in seven villages of west/south part of Kathmandu.

Talking with this scribe the other day, Professor Ishii explained about his interest to do further research works on Nepalese culture. He said “Reading anthropological works on India, I became interested in caste societies. With that interest I read some works on Nepal. But they did not satisfy me. (It was in the late 1960s when there were not so many anthropological works published as we find today.) This made me think about the necessity and possibility of study on and in Nepal.

Informing about his subjects on Nepalese culture, he said, “I have been studying rural societies of the Newars, Parbate Hindus and Maithilis, dealing mainly with socio-cultural changes”.

About the similarity between Japanese and Nepalese culture, Professor Ishii said “Both countries accepted Buddhism to a certain extent. But their religious practices differ considerably from each other. There seem to be some similarities in the notion of pollution and purification. I am wondering whether it is so because of the influence of Buddhism/Hinduism or due to some older substratum”.
He also briefed about Shintoism and Buddhism related traditional ritual system, that are being used in Japan and Nepal during the traditional ritual performance.

“However, in general belief, there could be found many commonalities not only in Nepalese Buddhism and Japanese Buddhism but also in Newari and Japanese age-old cultures, festivals and languages too”, he added.

On the exchange of expertise between the two countries he informed, “We have been inviting some Nepalese scholars intermittently. Among them are Professor Dor Bahadur Bista, Academician Tulsi Diwas, Professor Abhi Subedi and Professor Tej Ratna Kansakar. We are also helping in various forms for the mutual development”.

Regarding the financial support from his institution for the development of Nepalese culture, Professor Ishii wraps up his talk by just saying, “not yet”.

In today’s advanced-computerized tiny world, there is a danger that poor nations like Nepal’s age-old rich culture may lose its inherent part as it is imposed to adapt to globally uniformed standards of culture in the present time. The advent of the globalisation era heightens the importance to preserve, develop and learn from the uniqueness and diversity of various cultures as well as to enhance the cultural symbiosis.

Cross-cultural activities in the 21st century should not be limited to history or tradition but also be broadened to identity, respect, learn and incubate new trends of culture emerging from changes.
Learning through these international experiences, we, the Nepalese, should have to work for preservation and promotion of the age-old arts and culture, which could be used as a part of development projects of Nepal, around the world.