In 2020, the city of Mumbai joined the C40 Cities Network, a collective of 97 cities around the world taking climate action at the sub-national level. Subsequently, the city launched the Mumbai Climate Action Plan in 2022, becoming India’s first climate action plan to set net-zero targets for 2050. Conversation on international climate policy is often dominated by federal policies and international negotiations with representations most often from national governments. Yet, cities play a critical role to reach the Paris Agreement targets.&nbsp; More than half of the world's population, or around 4.4 billion inhabitants, currently live in cities, and this trend is only expected to continue moving forward. By 2050, cities will be home to more than 70% of the world´s population and the majority of its industry. Although cities make up only 2% of our world, they consume the majority of global energy and produce <a href="https://unfccc.int/blog/seven-ways-cities-can-take-climate-action#:~:text=Cities%20only%20cover%202%25%20of,the%20way%20our%20cities%20function.">approximately 60% of global greenhouse gas emissions</a>, primarily through the transport and building sectors. Increasing urbanisation strains infrastructure and services, and eventually impacts sustainability and people´s livelihood. With most of the absolute growth in population taking place in Asia, urban low-lying coastal areas are particularly vulnerable to the effects of climate change. Rising temperatures, sea level rise, and extreme weather events like floods or droughts disrupt the complex infrastructures of cities. High levels of air pollution and waste management burden the livelihood of millions of urban dwellers and exacerbate their existing vulnerability to climate impacts.&nbsp; Cities are where most people live and work, where they host businesses and industries and have the best ground-level understanding of the need to balance development and urbanisation hand in hand with tackling climate change. This means cities can also be and need to be, a part of the solution. With cities being policy laboratories and incubators for climate actions, it is vital to change the way cities function while nurturing the narrative that cities can take the initiative to tackle climate change. The decisions cities take to combat climate change today will shape the future.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20230606060640_443a8816857ea122311cdd4d77d91227aa7a6a72982b3b2ce846b099fd4ada6b.jpg" data-media-id="editor_1" data-image-id="20230606060640_443a8816857ea122311cdd4d77d91227aa7a6a72982b3b2ce846b099fd4ada6b" data-rendition-name="original" width="513" height="389" loading="lazy" alt="Climate action in cities"> <figcaption>Sizing Up the Carbon Footprint of Cities (Source: NASA)</figcaption> </figure>  Kruti Munot, Project Manager at GIZ in Brussels who works with city governments on climate action says, “Cities play a key role in tackling climate change, and there is a continuous need to integrate climate into city planning, scale climate finance for urban infrastructure, and build capacities for local-level leadership to meet the Paris Agreement targets.”&nbsp; While the conversation around city-level action on climate change may not yet be mainstreamed, it is happening with efforts undergoing at various levels. According to the Global Covenant of Mayors, there are more than 12,700 cities <a href="https://www.globalcovenantofmayors.org/our-cities/">committed to reducing emissions</a> by 2050, and both the G7 and G20 now have specific high-level meetings on urban topics.&nbsp; The Mumbai climate action plan, for example, envisions a climate-resilient Mumbai by 2050 with a focus on mitigation and adaptation strategies in sustainable waste management, urban greening and biodiversity, urban flooding and water resource management, energy and buildings, air quality, and sustainable mobility.&nbsp; Mumbai is one of eight South Asian cities that are part of C40 Cities, <a href="https://www.c40.org">a global collaboration platform</a> of about 100 mayors from the world´s leading cities, committed collectively to city-level climate actions. Mayors of C40 Cities use a collaborative approach to cut their cities’ emissions in half by 2030, share best practices and facilitate access to finance to improve urban resilience and foster green jobs in cities.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20230606060640_a79b2b70e3bad0d7509e1c2ff3ccea451e540e98504d1d1815aa8e0d0fc7dcc5.jpg" data-media-id="editor_4" data-image-id="20230606060640_a79b2b70e3bad0d7509e1c2ff3ccea451e540e98504d1d1815aa8e0d0fc7dcc5" data-rendition-name="original" width="626" height="353" loading="lazy" alt="Mumbai climate action"> <figcaption>Climate Action Plan 2022 (Source: Mumbai Government)</figcaption> </figure>  A traveler visiting Portugal´s C40 Cities member Lisbon might nowadays enjoy an unusual sight during their stopover: Flocks of sheep graze on the city´s meadows. Lisbon faced diverse environmental challenges ranging from droughts to flooding and extreme urban heat and water scarcity. In 2019 the city rolled out a project called life lungs, a <a href="https://life-lungs.lisboa.pt/en/">city-level climate initiative</a> that aims to make Lisbon greener and “cooler” by accelerating three simple tools: trees and biodiverse meadows, a water management system, and flocks of sheep.&nbsp; While a water management plan balances Lisbon´s heavy precipitation and water scarcity, biodiverse meadows and trees were planted to provide more green urban space, shade, and overall combat urban heat islands within the city. On these, meadows flocks of sheep are used as a traditional method to control vegetation and help with soil conservation.&nbsp; Cape Town in South Africa tries to connect the dots between city-level climate action, a circular economy, and private-sector engagement. The city runs a local initiative that supports the private sector in identifying and classifying its waste before trying to find ways to reuse it. The initiative has already diverted 100,000 tonnes of waste from landfills while avoiding more than 300,000 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions.&nbsp; Nur Sultan in Kazakhstan counts on its fleet of electric busses while Peshawar in Pakistan has added a 26km bus corridor with park-and-ride facilities, green areas, and bicycle lanes to ease traffic and congestion. Car-free Sundays are another example of city-level climate action all around the world. Jarkata designates every Sunday in one area to be car-free, while Kigali´s car-free day twice a month is part of its efforts to make Kigali a greener city. Initiatives to tackle climate change at the sub-national level are not new and there are <a href="https://www.adb.org/sites/default/files/publication/705086/100-climate-actions-cities-asia-pacific.pdf">many more examples</a>, including from developing Asia, that can be utilised as part of a coherent and inclusive city-level climate action plan and strategy.&nbsp; Alongside the focus on reducing emissions by decarbonising the energy sector, advancing waste management, and promoting low-carbon transportation solutions, it is equally important to ensure such action plans incorporate climate resilience and support both climate adaptation as well as loss and damage.&nbsp; Global collaborations play an important role in transferring knowledge, and success stories on climate action to build urban resilience through a global network. Platforms such as<a href="https://www.c40.org"> C40 cities</a>, city-level disclosures through the <a href="https://www.cdp.net/en">Climate Disclosure Project</a>, and the <a href="https://www.globalcovenantofmayors.org">Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate and Energy</a> are important to set up frameworks for cities to follow and facilitate city exchanges.&nbsp; This conversation is particularly important for Nepal as it has ambitious climate policies such as the <a href="https://climate.mohp.gov.np/attachments/article/167/Second%20Nationally%20Determined%20Contribution%20(NDC)%20-%202020.pdf">nationally determined contribution</a> (NDC) to the Paris Agreement and the <a href="https://unfccc.int/sites/default/files/resource/NAP_Nepal.pdf">long-term strategy</a> for net-zero emissions by 2045. At the same time, Nepal also <a href="https://www.thethirdpole.net/en/climate/analysis-how-decentralisation-in-nepal-is-undermining-climate-action/">recognises the importance of local governments</a> to integrate disaster risk management and climate actions, including both climate adaptation and mitigation, under the Local Disaster and Climate Resilient Planning (<a href="https://www.opml.co.uk/files/Publications/a1594-strengthening-the-disaster-risk-response-in-nepal/harmonising-climate-adapatation-and-disaster-risk-reduction-initiatives.pdf">LDCRP</a>) framework. Nepal’s Waling municipality has developed a resilience roadmap aligned to Paris agreements and SDGs with an aim to transform the town into a resilient city by 2030 with focus on waste management, creation of green jobs and businesses, saving lives and critical infrastructure from disaster risks and decongesting the core area for more open space and greenery. The municipality is currently managing more than 11 tons of solid waste on daily basis. The work of SDG-sub platform on Sustainable Cities supported by UNDP has recognised sensitivity of functional attributes of cites to externalities and shocks as a determining factor of city resilience.&nbsp; However, despite the good intentions behind local-level climate action, there are <a href="https://www.thethirdpole.net/en/climate/analysis-how-decentralisation-in-nepal-is-undermining-climate-action/">several bottlenecks</a> that have hindered progress. Some of these include a lack of coordination between central and local government, overlaps and differences between central and local policies, challenges with climate budget allocation, and a lack of technical capacity at the local level to drive climate action.&nbsp; Climate policies in the local level are also primarily focused on adaptation and climate resilience, as opposed to climate mitigation. While this makes sense for the majority of local governments in Nepal, Kathmandu Valley’s urban population is growing at <a href="https://tomorrowscities.org/sites/default/files/resources/2020-11/Tomorrow%27s%20Cities%20Working%20Paper%20%231.pdf">around 6.5% annually</a>, indicating one of the fastest-growing urban areas in South Asia. With rising population and emissions, cities and urban areas also need a strong focus on climate mitigation.&nbsp; Nepal’s ambitious climate goals and impressive 43% of forest cover means little to the 80% of population who reside in urban areas that are rampant with unmanaged urbanisation and high pollution. City-level climate action is necessary to bring change in urbanised areas that are most in need of climate action.&nbsp; Vijaya Singh, Assistant Resident Representative at UNDP Nepal agrees and affirms that “cities and urban centers in Nepal play a critical role in tackling climate change and it is right time for the municipal governments to think of resilient city planning to contribute to emission reduction targets, addressing challenges such as air and water pollution, and provide a host of other co-benefits.” Cities in Nepal, such as Kathmandu, even have a unique opportunity to support the country's access to much important climate finance which is a key condition for Nepal to meet its climate targets and be resilient to the climate crisis. A clear roadmap and strategy on climate action can help mobilise financing not just through the generation of a bankable pipeline to attract climate finance but also through a <a href="https://cff-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/storage/files/EDsd35B78syp19aUcji1Rz37HKMHpsVaNrMODbgy.pdf">variety of financing options</a> ranging from public to private sources of finance.&nbsp; Such a strategy can come from the national level as national approaches can be more efficient than city-level actions but needs to be complemented with implementation plans and roadmaps in the city level, tailored to the unique circumstances of each city, to ensure the centralised approach is executed, individualised and taken forward in the local level.&nbsp; Suman Basnyat, Infrastructure Finance Specialist and an advisor to a former Minister of Energy, Water Resource and Irrigation, flags that “city-level governments in Nepal still depend on national funding and therefore are spared the fiscal space for large-scale local climate actions. It holds true for all layers of government in Nepal. This fact opens up a huge investment potential for the private sector on city-level climate action but this also needs to be based on reasonable reciprocity of risk and return.”&nbsp; Green bonds have emerged as key debt instrument to mobilise climate finance globally, and this conversation is picking up at the national level in Nepal. A green municipal bond is a <a href="https://oneplace.fbk.eu/financing-energy-efficiency/financing-energy-efficiency/transnational-methodological-framework/financing-models-for-energy-efficiency/green-municipal-bonds/">fixed-income financial instrument</a> for raising capital through the debt capital market. The Green City Bonds Coalition has developed a guidebook on <a href="https://www.climatebonds.net/files/files/How-to-Issue-Green-City-Bonds.pdf">how cities can issue a green municipal bond</a> which can be issued to fund green projects in cities for a range of projects including climate-friendly urban infrastructure, such as low-carbon buildings, metro rail systems, wastewater treatment plants and renewable energy.&nbsp; China provides an example of green bonds. With China being the world´s second-largest green bond market, local governments can make use of a <a href="https://www.climatebonds.net/files/reports/cbi_gfo_china_05b.pdf">green “municipal special purpose bond”</a> to raise money for climate action. These green bonds are not directly issued through the municipality itself but through companies capitalised and owned by the local government such as state-owned enterprises.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20230606060640_f9b1360686c4ffa06ed369b2cf87040ff93d170c2d544d2280b3562e8f996fac.jpg" data-media-id="editor_20" data-image-id="20230606060640_f9b1360686c4ffa06ed369b2cf87040ff93d170c2d544d2280b3562e8f996fac" data-rendition-name="original" width="780" height="355" loading="lazy" alt="Green bonds"> <figcaption>Green Bond Issuances by Entities (Source: Climate Bonds Initiative)</figcaption> </figure>  Mathias Lund Larsen, a Senior Research Consultant at the International Institute of Green Finance in Beijing, notes that “growth in the green bond market has been an important contributor to financing China’s infrastructure gap through green financing. At the local level, state-owned enterprises owned by local governments typically are the ones issuing green bonds.”&nbsp; Although<a href="https://www.undp.org/nepal/publications/background-policy-paper-green-financing-nepal"> far-fetched at this stage</a> for a country with a shallow capital market, poor credit culture, and debt-management practice, a clear roadmap can also pave the way for Nepali cities with adequate fiscal capacity to eventually attract financing for climate mitigation actions through municipal climate and green bonds, although a bond is just one instrument as part of the broader financing toolbox.&nbsp; Mathias adds, “while ambitious, it is important for city governments in developing economies to understand and ideate the role it can play in tackling climate change and ways to mobilise finance towards that endeavor.” The opportunities are plentiful for cities in Nepal to drive climate action at the heart of where it is most needed and enable the inflow of critical climate finance to turn Nepal’s ambitious climate policies into a reality. This needs to be complemented by clear recognition of city-level action in national climate policies, with due harmonisation to ensure effective implementation, and tailored roadmaps in the city-level to take this forward. Starting a conversation is the first step that needs to be followed by significant capacity building efforts to ensure sub-national and city level climate action planning scales up in Nepal and urban residents can benefit from improved climate mitigation and resilience. Rastraraj Bhandari works on climate finance and carbon markets, and contributes regularly to Nepali Times on issues related to climate change. Simone Weichenrieder works on the intersection between climate resilience, private sector engagement and conservation finance.

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Comment

Nepali cities must champion climate action

Dearest Miti,
The past few weeks were spent with my face buried in your book. And something about lolling with a book in a bed lit by the sun, reminded me of your room in Ganeshbasti. You remember how the patterned, frosted glass on the window trapped sunlight, like we were inches away from being singed?&nbsp;
We spent hours on your bed chatting, reading and sometimes sleeping, limbs piled up in a bunch, while the Usha fan hummed above us, and then woke up to Rita’s very sweet, condensed tea.
Our homes were different. Even in how we drank teas. At mine, tea was less milky, with a faint hint of sugar.
At your place, the bed was the communion. If not yours, we would be sitting on M Auntie’s, chatting, drinking tea and listening to her “blasphemous” ideas about the gods-- Ram was a wife-beater and Bishnu was a good-for-nothing rheumatic.
At mine, beds were strictly meant for sleeping at night. It was an unspoken rule. And so it was never my room that we hung out in, but yours, re-reading your Sachi stories, the one about the imposter hermit and the one about a woman who liked to climb trees-- the one forsaken by her family and society. You wrote so many stories!
Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/suburban-tales/walk-of-shame">Walk of shame</a>, Pratibha Tuladhar
Now, reading them in a new light in your novel, I finally understand that the journey had begun so long ago and you were arriving at this point the whole time. We were becoming over the years and perhaps shaped one another?
You fetched new things to my sight. One time you said, it is remarkable that in these times of discrimination, two of your closest friends are Tarians. Back then, I wondered what friendship had anything to do with discrimination.&nbsp;
Growing up in a tole of mostly guy friends, who eventually joined the British Army or went abroad to study or enlisted in the Chakre Milan gang, I hadn’t thought of the why. But many things set in perspective when you came into my life.&nbsp;
Janakpur, for instance, came into existence for me when you did. It is true. When you said your village was Sabaila, I experienced the longing for the name of a village I could also call mine. But there has only ever been Kathmandu for me. All these years, Sabaila was to me a name until your book gave it the colour; brown fields, brown everything.
Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/suburban-tales/vignettes-from-war">Vignettes from war</a>, Pratibha Tuladhar
In contrast is Kathmandu with its “width not enough to last a run”, with its sudden gorges and hills. Your descriptions are replete with gorgeousness and nostalgia, it makes me pause at phrases and wonder when you learned to write like music.&nbsp;
As a young, somewhat confused girl, your words were my reprieve. I had needed throughout my lonely schoolyears, to find friendships that filled the cracks in me as your poems and stories did.
And so when you left for the US, I found myself caught in a blankness, a bit like Preeti in your novel feels when Sachi leaves-- anger and brokenness that nothing mends. And year after year, you carry it like a secret stone in your pocket, until time passes you by and you can’t remember when or where you put it away. Once in a while, you slip a hand absentmindedly into your pocket.
Reading your book made that spot abundant.&nbsp;
Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/suburban-tales/we-are-fire-breathing-dragons">We are fire-breathing dragons</a>, Pratibha Tuladhar
You also brought the little monkey back to life. I wince when Adi and Preeti stand before the rowdy brick-sellers, trying to rescue the monkey, and Adi is called “Marsiya”.
In another section of the book, you describe the word as being a swear word. I immediately want to call you and explain that the word Marsya in Newa, means someone from abroad. Marse means abroad. In that sense, Marsya would mean an outsider, while the word might also be a derivative of Madhesiya, meaning a Tarian. The word is not a slur in itself but can be used as one, just as you could call me an Urani to identify my “caste” but you could also call me “Urani!” as a slur.
Words can take on different meanings within communities as they get woven into a complex tapestry of how each new user adds meaning and intent to it.
I want to call and explain, but how long since we talked about anything? Since you left?
It is probably the fate of all female friendships-- your characters, Kumud and Meena, Sachi and Preeti. Female friendships are to be mourned years after they were alive.&nbsp;
Your novel traces many uncomfortable ideas and conversations avoided. You use the word “Mongoloid”, a term now obsolete and offensive. You also describe Pahadis as people who “share features with Tibetan and their Chinese neighbours”.
These terms used as perceptions by your characters point at the fissures between the people in different parts of Nepal. There’s hostility and a lack of trust. It is as if being Nepali means instantly being aware of our ethnicity and differences. Nepali language isn’t good enough as a binder because once we step into the privacy of our own homes, it is a language we leave at the threshold.
The concept of Kathmandu then, is a temporary one. &nbsp;
Manmohan and his Indian friend Mr Katyal think of it as the backyard where money is to be made, it lacks belongingness. And home, is an imagination.
Yet you create a nest for the readers with the years spanning across political seasons. The Kathmandu of our childhood is tactile, even with its mangled timeline, that annoys the journalist in me.&nbsp;
Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/suburban-tales/write-fearlessly-she-said">Write fearlessly, she said</a>, Pratibha Tuladhar
&nbsp;Nepal Police did not wear blue until after the 1990s democratic movement. The Hrithik Roshan riots did not occur close to the democratic movements. And the Rajiv Gandhi embargo had everything to do with a failed treaty and little with “Christian wrath”.
Your character, ADC Gurung tells his wife he will buy her land in Ganeshbasti. But the tole only got its name in the 90s after Gurung was jailed and his property was confiscated and was meant to be turned into a park with a Ganesh temple. But Gurung was able to secure his land after release and the temple was never built. Until this day, Ganeshbasti does not have a Ganesh temple.
While somewhat misplaced, the political narrative becomes the spine for a compelling story about a woman’s fight and anger against a world that inflicts trauma on her just because she is her. It points at the complexity of geopolitics in South Asia and how it barely changes.
I have come away sore from the reading.
There have been memories of madnesses. There has been tenderness. Then storms, bickering and banter. I learned that all great stories come from truth, but that truth can be a mangled version of reality.
Your book is brave.
I love the possibility of a female Utopia. Because isn’t it what every woman desires? To be free to be? To climb trees. To be needed with nothing. &nbsp;
All your anecdotes are hyperbole, Miti. In hyperbole, are possibilities.
Love,
P

Suburban Tales

We used to be flowering trees

The most emblematic case from Nepal’s armed conflict is of <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/news/she-would-have-been-33-this-year" target="_blank">Maina Sunwar</a>, but it quietly slipped away from the Supreme Court docket last week.&nbsp; On 23 May the presiding judges said they could not hear the case because of a conflict of interest. It has been three years since the Supreme Court has continuously adjourned <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=15409" target="_blank">Maina Sunwar</a>’s case hearings.&nbsp; Contrast this to <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/news/who-is-resham-chaudhary" target="_blank">Resham Chaudhary</a>, whose crime occurred 11 years after <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/blogs/thebrief/2015/02/17/remembering-maina/" target="_blank">Sunwar</a> was killed in 2004. His case was processed by the District Court, High Court, Supreme Court and he was released from prison on a presidential pardon.&nbsp; Maina Sunwar and Resham Chaudhary both involve criminal cases against a backdrop of political armed struggle, and involve the security forces. They raise similar legal questions such as: What degree of murder was committed? Who were the commanders that ordered them, what was their responsibility?&nbsp; &nbsp;Read Also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/who-is-resham-chaudhary">Who is Resham Chaudhary...</a>, Shristi Karki One marked difference in the cases is that in Maina Sunwar’s case the <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/blogs/thebrief/2013/02/16/still-waiting/" target="_blank">perpetrator was the Nepal Army</a>, whereas in Resham Chaudhary’s case members of the security forces were victims. The contrast of how these two cases moved through the courts exposes some bigger concerns in procedures followed and decisions made in criminal trials in Nepal.&nbsp; There has been a consistent stream of analysis that pins the delays in cases processing through the court system to human resource deficit. particularly the failure to appoint judges. This is only one part of the problem. &nbsp; Cases are listed for hearing by the court’s administrative staff. Each week all courts produce a list of cases that will appear before the judges called the ‘Weekly Cause List’.&nbsp; For example, the Supreme Court releases a list of around 200 cases to be presented before judges that week. The cases are listed in order of priority meaning that realistically only the first 90 cases have a chance of being heard that week. The rest are adjourned. These cases need not be listed in the next week’s cause list but rather are likely to be listed after at least a month.&nbsp; Court administrative staff, as opposed to judges, use their discretion to sequence cases on the weekly cause list. The Chief Justice and administrative heads of the courts supervise the weekly lists and can change the order of cases.&nbsp; Whilst there are laws providing guidance on how to prioritise cases on the list such as processing cases affecting women, children, prisoners and elderly quickly, it is largely discretionary. Decision making remains mostly opaque at all levels.&nbsp; Moreover, it is common understanding amongst lawyers that this lack of transparency in drawing up cause lists opens up room for undue political influence and corruption by administrative staff in either moving up cases or pushing them down the list. Cases can be essentially buried through this function of procedural decision making by administrators.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20230603130652_2a8fb07731cbdd5da02da1cb329ea210e014973b09efd3c1e825147a26c179b2.jpg" data-media-id="editor_6" data-image-id="20230603130652_2a8fb07731cbdd5da02da1cb329ea210e014973b09efd3c1e825147a26c179b2" data-rendition-name="original" width="400" height="406" loading="lazy" alt="Maina Sunwar"> <figcaption>Maina Sunwar, who was killed in detention at Nepal Army barracks in 2004.</figcaption> </figure>  Maina Sunwar’s case has been in the courts since 2007. The military has challenged the legitimacy of civilian courts to hear this case after it conducted its own court martial. This petition has lingered at the Supreme Court which in turn has adjourned this hearing five times since 2019. The reason being that the case was listed too far down the order in the cause list.&nbsp; &nbsp;In contrast, Resham Chaudhary’s case was processed in about six years. The speed at which the two cases have moved through the courts raises questions about what legal and non-legal factors affected the court administrator’s decision-making in listing these cases.&nbsp; In Maina Sunwar’s case decision, the Patan High Court and Kavre District Court established that <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=941" target="_blank">military personnel Amit Pun and Sunil Adhikari under the command of Bobby Khatri</a> abducted, tortured, killed and disappeared 15 year old Maina inside the Panchkhal barracks.&nbsp; The judges acknowledge the torture that led to the death of Sunwar is a violation of international human rights law deserving of a life sentence. However, in a remarkable display of sympathy towards the military, the judges state that a life sentence would be excessive for the perpetrators who were working under extraordinary pressures of the armed conflict.&nbsp; The life sentence was lowered to five years of imprisonment by both courts, the same punishment for the commanding officer Bobby Khatri and his subordinate officers. International human rights law is clear on its absolute prohibition against torture under all circumstance and stipulates the duty of the state to safeguard children during an armed conflict.&nbsp; A sentence mitigation, after citing Nepal’s obligation to follow these laws in the judgment, is a baffling leap in legal logic. No military personnel has yet served this sentence.&nbsp; High Courts in Nepal should be persuaded (as opposed to bound) by previous rulings in similar cases as a matter of legal principle. It is interesting that the political consideration that mitigated sentences for <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/from-nepali-press/mother-fights-for-justice-Devi-Sunar,2837" target="_blank">military personnel in Maina Sunwar’s case</a> are summarily dismissed in Resham Chaudhary’s case judgment.&nbsp; After all, the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/tikapur-s-protracted-trauma" target="_blank">2015 killings in Tikapur</a>, for which Resham Chaudhary was handed a life sentence, is termed a political struggle (as opposed to a criminal act) by the Tharu community. The judges are within their rights to declare an incident a criminal act as opposed to a political act.&nbsp; However, judges either needed to examine legal parameters of political armed struggle vis-a-vis existing criteria under international laws such as whether the group has a structure, organisation or military command. Or, they needed to propose a set of legal criteria for political acts that fit the Nepali context which can be used for subsequent cases before the court. This legal engagement to separate a criminal act from a political act is significantly underdeveloped in Resham Chaudhary’s case judgment.&nbsp; The legal value of the Maina Sunwar and Resham Chaudhary case was immense. They presented an opportunity for Nepal’s Supreme Court to deliberate and set legal standards on some pertinent legal questions relating to political movements that would assist future cases.&nbsp; These include questions like separating sporadic criminal uprisings from political violence, establishing the gravity of death by torture, defining the parameters of command responsibility in security forces and political groups amongst others.&nbsp; However as Maina Sunwar’s case stalls and Resham Chaudhary’s presidential pardon potentially lifts the Supreme Court’s obligation to issue a full length decision, the engagement with legal elements of justice remain compromised.&nbsp; Aastha Dahal is a Kathmandu-based lawyer with a PhD in criminology from the University of Cambridge.

Comparing Maina Sunwar and Resham Chaudhary cases

In the past few weeks as Nepal faces trying times with falling growth and high inflation, Kathmandu has witnessed numerous seminars, conferences and workshops with the discourse revolving around the economy and investments.&nbsp;
The consensus that Nepal needs foreign direct investments (FDI) to grow was once again repeated, and the familiar litany of reasons about why it has not been able to. Policy advocates and regulators have understood that the lack of urgency is compounded by procedural inconsistencies and added to the already deficient investment environment in the country.
It is a welcome change from what used to be flippantly accepting things as given that there is now a sense of urgency, with procedural inconsistencies and lack of harmonisation between various Acts and regulations openly discussed.&nbsp;
Furthermore, the desire from government stakeholders to learn and attempt to be part of the solution is also beginning to happen. &nbsp;Whatever policy changes have been introduced in the past have been piecemeal and address the few rather than the entire industry, thus leaving dual regulatory approaches aimed at similar players. &nbsp;
To attract FDI in a competitive global market means Nepal has to demonstrate that it is serious about bringing in investments with a more consultative and collaborative approach with investors. &nbsp;A departure from procedural to a result-oriented focus is needed.&nbsp;
Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/invest-in-investment">Invest in investment</a>
To put issues in perspective, Nepal needs US$20 billion in investments to meet SDG (the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals) targets by 2030. If net-zero decarbonisation targets are to be met by 2045 another US$7 billion will be required annually.&nbsp;
Looking at our investment history and poor government capital expenditure, the gap is long and wide. &nbsp;Last week’s budget showed that in the nine months of this fiscal year, Nepal was able to book a lamentable US$9 million in FDI (equity) investments, a decrease of 98% from the corresponding period last year.&nbsp;
Nepal is in fact the lowest market in South Asia for FDI with 0.3% of the regional average. &nbsp;What is it that we can do to fill the gap?&nbsp;
First: we need to move away from the notion that Nepal only needs large investments. This has proven to be a mistake, and time series data have proven that smaller investments, in aggregate, make a larger impact to economies.&nbsp;
We talk about an ‘enabling environment’ but without the right tools. &nbsp;We place restrictions on interest on debt ceiling (Libor +5.5), without risk premium adjustments, we do not have an active secondary market for bond trading, nor do we have a yield curve, an integral part of the bond market. &nbsp;
Read also: <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/regular-columns/Comment/making-nepal-fdi-friendly,853">Making Nepal FDI friendly</a>, Shyamal K Shrestha
In order to attract green financing, Nepal needs to develop its bond market. Billions of dollars of green climate funds are waiting to be tapped. Sovereign risk rating has been mooted, but to be rated in an adverse economic environment could further deteriorate investment potential due to a lesser than expected rating. &nbsp;
Hedging is another instrument that needs further research on. A commercial bank recently showcased the first risk hedging mechanism for an investment of $8 million. &nbsp;This can be the beginning to expand on its modality. &nbsp;&nbsp;
Subordinated debt instruments have been introduced, but on a special nod basis, this now needs to be institutionalised as it is the most applicable form of investments after equity in a market that has volatile forex reserves.&nbsp;
Viability Gap Funding has yet to be implemented and has been in active discussions for a few years now. &nbsp;This needs to come into effect to encourage solar installations in the country.
Moving forward, to attract FDI, Nepal needs to tap into the funds that are available for the growth of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and climate change. &nbsp;Alternative investments such as Private Equity Venture Capital (PEVC) have been around in a structured manner in Nepal for nearly a decade now. These funds have blended finance components and have attracted climate funding as well. &nbsp;
Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/from-the-nepali-press/why-there-is-no-foreign-investment-in-nepal">Why there is no foreign investment in Nepal</a>
PEVC is a new asset class and can address the issues of penetrating into SME financing by incorporating environment, social and governance issues into their investment process. &nbsp;SMEs are the backbone of any economy, PEVC comes with the ability not only to scale up the enterprise with risk capital, but with the ability to bring technical know — how to enhance not only the enterprise, but also the entrepreneur. &nbsp;A differentiator from all other forms of financing available till date in Nepal.&nbsp;
Blended finance is a way of de-risking investments especially in frontier markets. <a href="https://bo2.com.np/" target="_blank">Business Oxygen (BO2)</a> is an example of blended finance with subordinated debt investments of IFC (World Bank Group) taking the lead and Climate Investment Funds along with FCDO as co-investors. &nbsp;
On a larger scale, the 216MW Upper Trisuli1 is another example of blended finance with IFC, a Korean consortium and local investments. &nbsp;So far, we see that development finance Institutions have been taking the lead in Nepal as their risk appetite is greater than commercial investors and they are eager to help develop the financial markets. &nbsp;
In order to be sustainable, we need to step on this and attract commercial capital from all over the world. To do this there has to be political will to make that pivot.&nbsp;
The recent budget has tried to address some issues in a cosmetic manner, and once again it lacks the overall approach to the problem. &nbsp;Nepal has outdone many countries in its macro-economic indicators, with sound forex reserves and a stellar history of debt payments to its creditors. This story needs to be propagated along with the drive for change to attract potential investors.&nbsp;
Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/guest-column/so-you-d-like-to-do-business-in-nepal">So you’d like to do business in Nepal?</a>, Ritu Pradhan Malla

Siddhant Raj Pandey

Alternative investments to attract FDI

Opportunity dances with those who are already on the dance floor. - H. Jackson Brown Jr  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20230602090644_54bb8c4943210cdb8565f3408b8b4400514729440f8ed81954296b6c3057c871.jpg" data-media-id="editor_0" data-image-id="20230602090644_54bb8c4943210cdb8565f3408b8b4400514729440f8ed81954296b6c3057c871" data-rendition-name="original" width="2677" height="2682" loading="lazy" alt="Opportunity"> </figure>

Miss Motivation

Opportunity

Nepal’s Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal’s three-day official visit to India starting Wednesday is being keenly watched in Kathmandu and these borderlands of the Tarai.
Relations between the two asymmetric South Asian neighbours at the moment are neither ‘chilly’ nor ‘warm’. Things have got a lot more cordial since UML Prime Minister K P Oli was replaced by a Maoist-Nepali Congress coalition led by Sher Bahadur Deuba in 2022.&nbsp;
The visit comes as Prime Minister Dahal tried to keep his shaky 9-party coalition intact, by even getting a presidential pardon this week for an MP convicted for the killing of policemen in Kailali in 2015.&nbsp;
Disillusionment with Nepal’s three mainstream parties has manifested in the rise of the independent RSP, while the RPP is trying to promote ex-king Gyanendra as a symbol of national unity, stability and the revival of a Hindu kingdom, hoping to ride the Hindutva wave in India.
Indeed, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s aggressive Hindu-right agenda is having a ripple effect across the border. Despite his BJP’s defeat in the Karnataka polls earlier this month, Modi seems to be on a roll because of India’s buoyant economy.
It has become somewhat of a tradition for a new prime minister in Nepal to fly to New Delhi on his first pilgrimage to pay his respects to rulers there, even if it is someone who is prime minister for the third time.
Questions have been raised about whether Dahal should necessarily &nbsp;follow this practice, but Dahal nevertheless cancelled what was to be his first visit to China in March to attend the Boao Forum in Hainan.
Dahal has to finely balance the need to appease Indian leaders to extract concessions on river projects, air routes, infrastructure assistance, while at the same time playing to the gallery back home by not kowtowing too much.
The chronic problem in India-Nepal relations has been a trust deficit in both capitals about each other. What does Nepal expect from India, and what does India want to do in Nepal? Bilateral relations should not depend on which leader or party is in power in New Delhi or Kathmandu, it should have continuity and be determined by what will benefit citizens of both countries.&nbsp;
In 2014, India had appeared to change its approach to Nepal by appearing magnanimous during Prime Minister Modi’s first visit, but the goodwill he built collapsed with the blockade and bilateral relations chilled as non-political actors started directing policy.
It will not work if one set of leaders in Nepal sanctifies India, while another vilifies it. This might serve their immediate political interest, but will do long-term harm to mutual ties. Leaders are also fickle and erratic in their stance: Prime Minister Dahal is the same person who during the conflict threatened to wage a ‘tunnel war’ against India.
Dahal’s visit to Delhi also comes at a time of heightened geopolitical tension in the region with growing Sino-US polarisation, India’s involvement in the Quad and the danger of Nepal being forced to choose sides between its neighbours. Nepal will need to deploy all its diplomatic skills to play its role in this new world stage.
India’s rulers may also need to ponder why the traditional close ties with Nepal have become frayed. True friends talk things over, and it is in the interest of both neighbours to rebuild trust. New Delhi strategists appear sanguine that whatever the noise on social media, its tactics in Nepal are working.&nbsp;
But many Nepalis still feel that India acts like Big Brother and pushes its weight around, promises a lot and delivers little. Dahal needs to take this up at the highest levels during his visit and obtain tangible results to reboot relations to at least 2014 levels.
Nowhere is the people-to-people relations between India and Nepal felt as keenly as in the Tarai. The open border, close cultural and family links and trade bind the two countries together.&nbsp;
However, even here there is a feeling that India is unfeeling. Every year, poorly-designed road, railway and flood control embankments in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh inundate Tarai towns. Every monsoon the Kathmandu media suddenly becomes ultra-nationalistic, laying all the blame on Indian state governments.&nbsp;
The Indian media also whips up anti-Nepal feelings by holding Nepal responsible for ‘unleashing water from its dams’ even though Nepal does not have any dams to let water out from and the border barrages are controlled by India.
Indeed, the national media (and increasingly social media posts) on both sides of the border are largely to blame for undermining the friendship between the people and governments of the two countries. Media should instead focus on evidence that embankment-building worsens water-logging in farms and towns on both sides of the border.
These floods are bound to get worse if the deforestation, sand mining and quarrying of the Chure Range resumes. Nepal will not just be exporting boulders and aggregates, but also increased sediment that will worsen floods and further lower the water table in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh.&nbsp;
In 2010, President Ram Baran Yadav raised the issue of Chure conservation during his visit to New Delhi, but the demand in India for raw material to feed its construction boom is so great that Nepali contractors with political patronage want to plunder the fragile Chure ecosystem.
Even when relations between New Delhi and Kathmandu were strained in the past, there was a belief that people-to-people bonds were strong. That narrative is now increasingly frayed. Indians and Nepalis are needlessly harassed by each other’s border security.&nbsp;
Nepal-India relations have always been defined by how well or badly governments in their capitals get along. Rather than Indian or Nepali people, leaders of the two countries determine the state of relations.
How well neighbouring countries get along is determined by geography, history, culture, trade, politics, religion. And those factors have kept ties across the border stable all these years, but Nepalis in the Tarai are asking: does New Delhi determine its policy towards Nepal by seeing how they will be affected, or by maintaining its influence on the movers and shakers in Kathmandu?
The marriage of Ram from India and Sita from Nepal are often cited to prove how close Nepal-India bonds are. The Buddha was born in Nepal but got enlightenment in India. But when leaders talk about Janakpur-Ayodhya, or Lumbini-Bodh Gaya, they seldom take into account the people who live there.
Bilateral relations should not be limited to periodic summits between the leaders of India and Nepal, they need to translate into action on the ground that makes the lives of the people of the borderlands more convenient and sustainable through better connectivity and environmental safeguards.&nbsp;
Chandra Kishore is a Birganj-based political commentator. His monthly column BORDERLINES appears in Nepali Times every month. &nbsp;@kishore_chandra

Chandra Kishore

Borderlines

Nepal PM to India to reboot ties

Your wings already exist. All you have to do is fly. -Unknown  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20230526190540_f002bc605048beaa4b25a771da399166ce4f8e07ba8e872d69113b18a5499efb.jpg" data-media-id="editor_0" data-image-id="20230526190540_f002bc605048beaa4b25a771da399166ce4f8e07ba8e872d69113b18a5499efb" data-rendition-name="original" width="2700" height="2700" loading="lazy" alt="Wings Miss Moti"> </figure>

Wings

The Himalayan Rescue Association Nepal (HRA) is a voluntary, non-profit set up in 1973 to reduce casualties among trekkers and porters in the Himalaya.
Its aid-post in Pheriche at an altitude of 4,250m has been saving lives of Nepali and foreign hikers for 50 years. It is staffed twice yearly during the trekking season by volunteer doctors.&nbsp;
Another permanent aid-post in Manang at 3,550m has been treating patients since 1981. Ivan Somlai and Basanta Thapa were instrumental in opening the Manang aid post.
The HRA started Everest ER medical camp at Everest Base Camp in 2003 to mark the 50th anniversary of the first ascent of the world’s highest mountain in 1953.
Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/news/without-sherpas-there-is-no-mountaineering">“Without Sherpas, there is no mountaineering”</a>, Bhadra Sharma
&nbsp;Everest ER provides medical support to the porters, climbers, expedition staff and visitors and promotes safety. Luane Freer spearheaded the establishment of Everest-ER. HRA also has a temporary medical camp at Gosainkunda lake during Janai Purnima Festival to provide free medical care to Nepali pilgrims. Young Nepali volunteer doctors from the<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/high-alert"> Mountain Medicine Society of Nepal (MMSN)</a> have been working here since 1997.&nbsp;
For the first time, HRA staffed the Manang, Pheriche Aid-posts and HRA Everest-ER with all Nepali volunteer doctors in spring 2021 due to the pandemic.
The HRA has published pamphlets on mountain safety, especially dealing with the prevention of altitude illness and updated information on prevention and treatment.
Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/news/on-mt-everest-s-70th-records-and-fatalities">On Mt Everest’s 70th, records and fatalities</a>, Pradnya Pradhan
Major credit for the foundation of HRA goes to John Skow, an American national, who in 1973 went to Khumbu on completion of his assignment as a Peace Corps volunteer in Nepal. It saddened him to see trekkers severely ill from altitude illness, which is 100% preventable.
He organised a meeting of officials from the ministry of health, doctors and trekking companies which figured out that this was in the best interest of their clients and hence good for business. 
Joining HRA were John Dickinson from Shanta Bhawan Hospital and Mr Tek Chandra Pokharel from the trekking industry.
The charismatic Peter Hackett was one of the first doctors to volunteer at the Pheriche aid post. Based on his experience of seeing patients there, he co-authored a milestone article in 1976 (including a placebo controlled, double blind, randomised controlled trial using Diamox) in the journal Lance, ‘The incidence, importance, and prophylaxis of acute mountain sickness’.
Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/news/the-pinnacle-of-determination-and-courage">The pinnacle of determination and courage</a>, Bhadra Sharma
This paper is a classic in its field and clearly helped establish the relevance of the HRA in tackling altitude illness in all its spectrum, from the relatively benign acute mountain sickness to life-threatening <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/Nepali-Times-Buzz/Altitude-illness-awareness,1381">high altitude pulmonary edema (HAPE)</a> and high altitude cerebral edema (HACE) in the Himalaya.
An example of the usefulness of the HRA was recently illustrated this spring season. A comatosed porter was brought to the Pheriche aid post by passing fellow porters who appeared to know nothing about him except that he was found very drowsy and somnolent in a teahouse. The HRA staff got to work right away and determined, with the help of a portable butterfly ultrasound, that the patient had HAPE which probably led to HACE.&nbsp;
He was treated suitably with oxygen and dexamethasone. In two days the patient, under the competent care of the volunteers, was able to walk and was subsequently helicoptered out.
Since its inception in 1973, the HRA has quietly helped countless sojourners to the high Himalaya and saved many lives. Many Nepalis used to dismiss altitude illness as a “bideshi” (foreign) disease, Nepali trekkers, mountaineers, porters, pilgrims and soldiers now take it much more seriously. &nbsp;&nbsp;
Read also:<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/billi-bierling-s-life-cycle"> Billi Bierling’s life cycle</a>, Pradnya Pradhan
Buddha Basnyat, MD is Medical Director of HRA, and Gobi Bashyal is CEO.

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High Himalayan rescue

Life is a series of waves to be embraced and overcome. -Danny Meyer  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2023052110058_f2ede85d0ba7bbce20072647416b872dcde0b918041b42d25956bfdecabac013.jpg" data-media-id="editor_0" data-image-id="2023052110058_f2ede85d0ba7bbce20072647416b872dcde0b918041b42d25956bfdecabac013" data-rendition-name="original" width="2700" height="2700" loading="lazy" alt="Life"> </figure>

Life

There is no path to happiness: happiness is the path. 
-Gautam Buddha