INTRODUCTION

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C. Environmental issues

The main environmental issues in Nepal are related to excessive dependence on the one overstretched natural resource base, coupled with a high rate of population growth, a predominance of stagnating subsistence agriculture, growing urbanization and some recent industrialization. From the policy perspective, issues exist that are related to a lack of recognition for the proven ingenuity of the population in managing the fragile ecosystem, and of the limitations in capacity of the public sector to directly manage the common resources. Although the government diagnosed some of the underlying problems as early as the late 1950s and early 1960s, and undertook some isolated and generally fragmentary efforts to address those problems, a concerted realization of the urgency of some of the environmental issues facing the country only emerged with the Fifth Five-Year Plan period (1975-1980).

Some groundwork was carried out, however, on soil conservation and watershed management, national parks and wild life protection during the Fourth Five-Year Plan period (1970-1975). A separate department was created for each of them, in addition to launching a few pilot programmes for soil conservation and watershed management as well as the establishment of seven national parks and wild life reserves (National Planning Commission, 1975). During the Fifth Five-Year Plan period priority was given to capitalization of the infrastructure already created for increased production and utilization of the workforce, and to regional balance and economic integration of various regions. However, as part of the measures for environment protection, efforts were also made to adopt a comprehensive population and employment policy, and to strengthen activities related to soil conservation, watershed management and the establishment of new national parks and protected areas (National Planning Commission, 1975).

The recently prepared Agriculture Perspective Plan (Agricultural Projects Services Centre/John Mellor Associates, 1995) shows that the agricultural sector of Nepal has been growing annually at around 3 per cent in recent years, while the population has increased by 2.5 per cent annually. That somewhat insignificant per capita growth in what is the predominant economic sector of Nepal, which employs over 80 per cent of the economically active population and contributes more than 40 per cent to GDP, prevents both the absorption of the nearly 250,000 new entrants to the workforce each year and the growing demand for food from being met.

The failure to achieve a reasonable and sustained rate of growth in the agricultural sector has led to the expansion of cultivation on economically less productive and environmentally fragile land which would otherwise remain under some kind of permanent vegetation cover. It also means that farms are being continuously subdivided and fragmented, with a resulting negative impact on household food security. In addition, the expansion of cultivation on ecologically sensitive uplands has led to an accelerated erosion of productive soils, the undermining the productivity of farmland and an increase in sedimentation in downstream areas.

The other two areas of environmental concern are: (a) growing urbanization; and (b) industrialization. Environmental degradation, particularly in the urban and peri-urban areas, has become a matter of serious public concern and the establishment of squatter-like manufacturing and housing units is considered to be the main source of the problem. Although Nepal is one among the least urbanized developing countries, with the urban population accounting for less than 10 per cent of the total population (1991 census), urban population is projected to double in less than 15 years at its present growth rate, indicating that Nepal is already on the threshold of "urban transition". Between 1981-1991, the urban population increased by 77 per cent compared with 20 and 23 per cent increases in the rural and total populations, respectively. It has been estimated that growth in the urban population resulting from natural increase was only 31.9 per cent during 1980-1985 and 32.5 per cent during 1990-1995, compared with 68.1 and 67.5 per cent as a result of non-urban to urban migration, international migration and urban boundary expansion during the same periods, respectively. However, statistical information necessary for estimating the magnitude of the problem is extremely scanty. Air and water pollution and the problem of urban waste disposal in the Kathmandu Valley are regularly reported in local, national and international newspapers, thus illustrating public concern in that area.

The Kathmandu Valley, which is physiographically a closed "bowl" in the sense that it is surrounded by high hills on all sides, covers only 597 sq km and yet is home for about 1.5 million people. The urban population in the valley has been estimated to be growing at 10 per cent per annum. Infrastructural facilities are reported to be unable to cope with the demands of such a high rate of growth. The estimated amounts of various harmful chemicals released annually into the atmosphere of the Kathmandu Valley are: sulphur dioxide, 6,345 tons; carbon monoxide 1,442 tons; nitrogen oxide, 405 tons; carbon, 631 tons; and fluoride, 451 tons. According to another estimate, the lead content in the air of the urban areas of Kathmandu in 1994 was about 0.54 micrograms per cubic metre, or 0.04 micrograms per cubic metre higher than the minimum safe level set by the World Health Organization (WHO).

Similarly, the dust content in the air of Kathmandu is considered to be three times higher than the acceptable safe level. Yet another indicator is the E. coli content in the water supplied through the public distribution system, which has been reported at 4,500 organisms per millilitre, whereas the acceptable upper level is only 1 per millilitre.

The industrial sector of Nepal is small, contributing less than 10 per cent to GDP, but it is gradually expanding. More than 50 per cent of the industrial establishments are located within the Kathmandu Valley, and most of the remainder are concentrated in the central and eastern plains.

Industries rarely employ preventive measures against pollution. In the absence of any effluent and discharge standards, all solid wastes and effluents are released untreated directly into the surrounding land area and water bodies; that approach has already created a major environmental threat. In addition, smoke emissions have also become a source of air pollution in some localized areas.

While the lack of adequate financial and human resources necessary for tackling the growth in urban environmental problems (for example, the supply of safe drinking water, and the management of sewage and solid waste) are genuine problems in many municipalities, the absence of a clear policy and poor interagency coordination often act as more severe limiting factors.

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