Environment Protection
PRIME Minister Lokendra Bahadur Chand has said that His Majesty's Government is always
committed to the protection of environment and has taken all necessary measures to
mitigate all factors that contribute to the degradation of natural environment.
Inaugurating the international seminar on sustainable slope risk management for road
jointly organised by His Majesty's Government and the Paris-based Permanent International
Association for Road Congress in Kathmandu the other day, Prime Minister Chand said that
Nepal has already enacted the Environmental Protection Act with the aim of strictly
restoring, and preserving the natural environment and ecological balance. It is true that
Nepal, of late, has been very sensitive towards conservation of ecology and environment.
Nepal is rich in biodiversity and natural resources. The Himalayan range is the natural
treasure in terms of biological diversity and natural flora and fauna. However, the rich
natural environment and biological diversity have been under pressure recently due to
human activities. The forest resource was once used to be described as the wealth of
Nepal. However, the deforestation was carried out in such a scale over the last few years,
that the tropical forests of Nepal dwindled very fast. As a result, Nepal has less than 25
per cent of land covered with forest. Areas with lush green forests and vegetation both in
terai and mountainous regions have been turned into agricultural areas and human
settlements. The country has already experienced the grave consequences in the forms of
landslides, floods and drought mainly due to the degradation of environment and depletion
of natural resources. Population pressure and poverty are major culprits to blame in
environmental degradation. At the same time, neglect towards environment while carrying
out development activities like construction of roads and bridges, dams and reservoirs has
further added the risk of environmental degradation. Nepal is a mountainous country and if
special care was not taken while constructing roads on the slopes, the mountainous ecology
and environment of the country is likely to be further vulnerable. Against this
background, the seminar on the sustainable slope risk management for roads construction
appears to be very appropriate and timely. As observed by the experts, Nepal is
geologically fragile and has unstable slopes that has been causing problem in designing,
constructing and operating roads. Thus the outcome of the seminar, in which more than 300
representatives from different countries have participated, would provide valuable clues
and information, which would help Nepalese experts and government to overcome these
problems and deal with environmental problems in more effective way while carrying out
development projects like construction of roads.
Other Story
|
