Stop Environmental Degradation

By Prem N. Kakkar

ENVIRONMENTAL degradation is a worldwide problem and facing the most or the severest brunt are the poor developing countries. The Third World include some of the most impoverished nations despite having natural resources like the forest.

It is in this context the Journey to Kathmandu: Sacred Gifts for Living Planet campaign strikes the right chord. There is also a need to focus on the very fact that the World Wildlife Fund’s annual conference was held in Kathmandu. It is an honour for Nepal that such an event took place here.

Nepal with its unique natural heritage and fragile eco-system has a lot to do so that the degradation of the environment does not become very severe. In fact, there is every need of urgency for protecting the environment.

The population growth and a lack of awareness on the part of the majority of the people has been responsible for vast chunks of forest land being cleared. A part of such land is used as farm land but much become waste land and then starts the problem of desertification which in the long run can be very devastating as has been seen in the Sub-Saharan region.

The problem of deforestation and rampant destruction of vast areas of forest land is what has set environmentalists, governments and UN agencies worried. To stem the tide the need
was greatly felt for a strategy to involve the people. To some extent it has worked like the forests managed by the consumer groups.

Now the fact that people themselves must be mobilised for the conservation of the environment is what the WWF has felt. And so the Journey to Kathmandu: Sacred Gifts to Living Planet is a very touching commitment on the part of all the concerned. Religion has an important relation in the life of any community. So religion and conservation of the environment could go together with better effectiveness.

26 sacred gifts were offered which shows the firm commitment of different organisation from various countries as a token for the concern for conservation efforts. When religious leaders join hands in the conservation efforts then the results can be miraculous. Nepal too has offered Royal Bardiya National Park as a Gift to the Earth. The pledge to protect the gift area for posterity was made by no other than Prime Minister Koirala in a keynote speech at the opening session of WWF’s 39th annual meet.

It is not a new thing that many forest areas around temples or shrines are protected. The people have since long believed in living in harmony with nature so the trees or forest land around temples are looked also upon with reverence. Felling of trees is not allowed or that the people themselves feel it their sacred duty to protect them.

But in other cases there has been a marked increase in deforestation activities. When religious leaders come to the forefront, the people will listen to them. The case of the establishment of the Sagarmatha National Park is a living testimony of such efforts. The only need is for more of such activities forthcoming from the religious people for the sake of protecting the environment for posterity.

The Campaign has highlighted that much can be done when everyone contributes his mite from his respective position for conservation efforts. There are
ample instances when things have gone the right way with the cooperation of the local people themselves. The only thing is that
they must be convinced of the benefits that will accrue and they themselves will be the beneficiaries.

THER OTHER VIEWS

I will change the Nepali Congress party into a party which understands the pains of people.

—Former Prime Minister and the leader of the Nepali Congress Sher Bahadur Deuba, on fielding his candidacy for the NC Party President, in Punarjagaran.

Maoists are benefitting a lot from our liberalism. We have been releasing many of their party workers unconditionally but they are demanding the release of their workers one after another.

—DPM and Minister for Home Affairs Ram Chandra Poudel, in Himalaya Times.

A country has to face every kind of problem when she faces war, a war of any kind. Nepal’s Maoist movement which has been waged to politically dominate the country, is creating a great problem without any good reason but to satisfy a single individual.

—Former minister Nilambar Acharya, in Prakash.

Though there are educated people in the media they do not seem to be responsible in its noble aim of informing the public. They (press people) go on a war footing to criticise me when I say that we are not allowed to make people conscious of the political ideologies.

—CPN-UML leader K. P. Oli in Nepal Jagaran.

Under the present circumstances, the communists should not show courage by losing their consciousness.

—Noted left wing scholar Govind Bhatta, in Budhabar.

Girija Babu is an autocratic man. The new generation of the Nepali Congress can’t digest his nature and thus, the party must seek a new leader for its better future.

—Former minister and CPN-ML leader Radha Krishna Mainali, in Ghatana Ra Bichar.

I had entered the Panchayat (partyless system) because I had to feed many children.

—Senior politician Ramhari Sharma who is often known as the living martyr of Nepal, in Jana Astha.

Nepalese politics is gripped by anomalies and aberrations and its effect is also seen in the Nepalese diplomatic sector.

—Upper House MP Ramesh Nath Pandey, in Nepalipatra.

I think Nepalese women can benefit a lot from educational opportunities than their rights to parental property.

—Award winning Nepalese feminist writer Mrs. Kundan Sharma, in Bimarsha.

We don't just have eggs on our face -- we have an omelet all over our suits.

—Tom Brokaw, on the networks' prematurely calling Florida -- twice, in Newsweek.