<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022120710128/639058669c7e80680e0ce19ejpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1504" height="1000"/>As Nepal enters the last lap in federal and provincial races, candidates and their cadres seem more excited than voters. Across the Inner Tarai here and in the plains bordering India, voters are disillusioned and indifferent about the polls.First off, most people we talked to said they did not want to vote for the same old candidates they elected five years ago, and have been around for the past two decades. Moreover, there is confusion about which candidate is representing which party, and who is loyal to whom, because the coalition is made up of parties with diametrically opposing ideologies.With such unholy alliances, Hetuada’s UML voters are now being asked to cast ballots in favour of a candidate batting for a return of the Hindu monarchy. Nepali Congress (NC) supporters have been told to vote for Maoist candidates, some of whom tortured and killed people during the conflict.Voters have given up trying to fathom why political parties and candidates who fought and suffered for the establishment of a secular, federal Nepal now cross over to those want to scrap those provisions. Individuals contesting the elections as independents because they did not get party tickets have muddied the waters even more.Except for die-hard party supporters, the electorate understands that the elections are not about principles or resolving everyday problems any more, but propelling the same old leaders back to power.Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/election-climate-in-nepal/">Election climate in Nepal</a>, Shilshila Acharya“The NC is likely to get a good number of seats in <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/the-politics-of-province-2/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Madhes Province</a>, but independents have a strong chance in some constituencies,” predicts Govinda Devkota of Narayani Samudayik FM in Birganj, who thinks the JSP partnership with the NC could garner 10-12 seats with the UML-LSP alliance and Unified Socialists trailing.The dominant trend is that Madhes-based parties like the JSP and LSP have lost their lustre, and the established national parties like the NC, UML and Maoists now hold sway over the Madhes vote through their alliances. Still, among younger voters there is visible discontent against both Madhes-based parties and the national parties, and they are fed up of electing the same underperforming and corrupt leaders again and again.<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022120710128/639058699c7e80680e0ce19fjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="372" height="355">“During the Madhes Movement (of 2015) many people here were killed but their sacrifice got us nothing. Only the leaders and political parties are reaping the benefits all in the name of Madhes,” says Munna Saraaf, a youth activist and actor in Birganj.Saraaf has been travelling to Ilam, Kohalpur and several other places performing on stage to raise awareness about voting the right candidates to power, and is also vocal about extravagant campaign spending which could make the Madhes a hotbed for corruption.“There are no new educational organisations, employment opportunities, projects or industries where the youth can be involved productively. It was better during the king’s time. But we must change that and cast our votes for competent candidates,” he adds.The coveted Parsa constituency has Pradeep Yadav, the former minister from JSP contesting against the governing coalition’s Laxman Lal Karna of LSP, and the rebel independent candidate who defected from the NC, Ajay Dwivedi.“Pradeep Yadav won five years ago but his voters are not happy with his performance. Karna, does not have the leadership qualities. Therefore voters may end up supporting the independent Dwivedi,” says Gobinda Devkota.The participation of women candidates is even less in the Tarai than the already low national average. In Parsa district, only Karima Begum who is contesting as an independent and the JSP’s Salma Khatun have a significant presence. “The others are neither heard nor seen,” says Sushma Sharma a reporter with Prateek Daily in Birganj.But the 2022 Nepal election is defined by <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/coalition-collision/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">electoral coalitions</a> regardless of party ideology or dogma. Anjali Thapa, president of Press Center Makwanpur in Hetauda says: “The campaigning methods and the agenda in this year’s election are very different. Both the ruling coalition and the opposition have formed alliances to win.”For example, Kamal Thapa of the RPP-N is contesting under the UML’s ‘Sun’ symbol. Pitted against him is Mahalaxmi Upadhyaya (Dina) from the governing coalition who is expected to gather votes from both the Maoists, NC and the US. Even so, some NC supporters who do not agree with the alliance with the Maoists could go over to Kamal Thapa’s side, while other UML dissidents may not support a candidate they regard as an oppressor of the people.All this points to a mixed outcome which could lead to further instability and horse-trading post elections. At the end of the day, all most voters want are competent and honest leaders who provide jobs, better infrastructure and affordable education and medical facilities. They could not care less about alliances.Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/battle-of-ballots/">Battle of ballots</a>, Shristi Karki

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Voters cynical about electoral alliances

<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022111413118/63722fa99c7e80680e0c252ajpeg.jpg" alt="" width="2000" height="1333"/><figcaption>A healthy, diverse natural forest in Chitwan with three vegetation layers. All phoos: LILA NATH SHARMA.</figcaption></figure>It was sunny afternoon in December in 2018, I was sitting on a pile of logs at the Janakalyan Community Forest Office in Nawalparasi, waiting for its chair Kabiram Bhandari. I had just finished a three-day survey in the forest that his community had protected since 1996.It had not been easy to formally manage and protect aforest on which villagers depended on for fodder and fuel. At that time, the forest was severely degraded due to Illegal felling, encroachment, and <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/protecting-nepals-forests-from-fires/">wildfires.</a>It took Bhandari, with support from the District Forest Office (DFO), 20 years to formally hand over the management of the forest to the local community. The logging mafia was livid, and he got multiple threats.With the declaration of the community forest, encroachment stopped, logging declined, villagers collectively controlled wildfires, and underserved communities at the edge of the jungle were provided access to forest products.Women and indigenous groups were represented in forest management, local institutions were strengthened and revenue from the sale of forest products were channeled into maintaining roads, water supply and supporting schools.This story of one community forest in Nawalparasi is shared by thousands of such locally protected forests around Nepal, and is <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/who-now-owns-nepals-forests/">a success story</a> that has won international acclaim and contributed to Nepal’s forest area <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/tree-mendous/">doubling in the past 25 years</a> through forest protection and restoration for biodiversity conservation though decentralised and participatory management.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022111413118/63722fad9c7e80680e0c252bjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1920" height="1080"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>Kabiram Bhandari arrived, smiling as usual, and asked if I had finished my assessment of his forest. I could sense that he was expecting an affirmation of his struggle to protect and manage his community forest.A forest is not just a clump of trees to count and measure their girth in cubic feet, and convert that at prevailing hardwood timber prices into rupees. A forest is a social, ecological and evolutionary organism. Instead of counting trees in a forests, my training in biodiversity made me count the number of species: how many of them are rare and threatened species of plants or animals, how many are non-native.The condition of a forest is different depending on what parameters we use to examine it. Tree data within a forest is therefore a manifestation of national priority of community forests, and in this case a report card for the effort of people like Kabiram Bhandari in Nawalparasi – and the paradoxical goals of protected and unprotected forests and Nepal.To protect, but how?Nepal’s community management of forests started with <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=12130#.YsmZvi9Q1CA">a few pilot projects in the late 1970s</a>, and was soon <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/community-forest-comes-in-handy-earthquake-reconstruction,2927">replicated nationwide</a> in later years. It has since been widely hailed as a model of forest protection and biodiversity conservation.However, the protectionist approach of forest management is also biased in favour of high value species to the detriment of varieties that are deemed or perceived to be of inferior value.The Dipad Community forest in Makawanpur district had recently been subjected to the much contested concept of ‘scientific forest management’. The custodians of the community forest regarded its shrubs, vines and climbers as not being ‘good’ for the forest. In fact, the undergrowth in this ‘scientifically managed’ forest was made up of only sal seedlings and saplings.Further east, the Jalthal Community Forest of Jhapa district looked more like a monoculture plantation of sal trees. “See, there are no bushes, no thorns,” said the management committee’s Chiranjibi Poudel.Be it Nawalparasi, Makawanpur, Jhapa or other other community managed forests of Nepal’s Tarai, the story is the same ­— the drive to protect sal at the cost of other species. There were fewer tree species with higher commercial value in them.In the Nawalparasi forest, for example, of the 141 tree trunks I measured, 133 were of sal. The other eight species were badkamle, kyamuna, siris and putalikath. Sal makes up 94% of the species also in other Tarai community forests, which are devoid of shrub or liana.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022111413118/63722fb19c7e80680e0c252cjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="624" height="416"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>Read also: <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=12130#.YsmZvi9Q1CA">The greening of Nepal</a>, Marty LoganThe Jalthal Community Forest in Jhapa is a rectangular block 10 km long and 5.5 km wide, spanning about 6,000 hectares and located at the lowest elevation in Nepal. Jalthal is currently being managed by 22 community forest user groups and has biodiversity that is disproportionate to its physical area.Jalthal appears at first glance to be well conserved by communities. Encroachment by squatters and influential people has been stopped. Tree density has increased, with thicker canopy cover. There are fewer forest fires, poaching of wildlife and timber have been controlled. Collection of fuel and fodder is regulated, and revenue from the forest is invested in inclusive local development.The downside is that forest biodiversity has not been adequately protected, and degradation has continued. Invasive plants are affecting the indigenous vegetation of which there are only a handful of mature individuals left. <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/protecting-pangolins-from-being-eaten-to-extinction/">The critically endangered pangolin</a> is still being illegally hunted. Community forest management does not adequately consider these biodiversity aspects of protection.The very name Jalthal implies that the forest has wetlands within it, but not much priority is given to protecting these water bodies which support biodiversity. Wild stands of latahar tree found in Eastern Nepal and eastward up to Malaysia are being depleted, with an absence of its sapling layer.Tree density has increased, but with an overwhelming share of sal. The forest is therefore homogenising. Even old growth stands of sal have been modified to make them look like a plantation forest. Healthy forests are supposed to be mixed species, but the story of Nepal’s community forestry is one of selective protection of certain species to the detriment of others.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022111413118/63722fb39c7e80680e0c252djpeg.jpg" alt="" width="2000" height="1500"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>A clean monoculture forest that looks like a plantation of exotic species is not what a community forest is supposed to be. Local people rely on forests daily for diverse products, with fodder being the most important. On typical day this spring, more than 2,000 people entered the Jalthal forest mostly for fodder and firewood.In the monsoon, over 500 people visit the forest everyday just to collect fiddlehead fern and other leafy vegetables.We found that people entered the forest for 12 types of products ranging from mushrooms to medicinal plants, edibles to timber.A ‘scientifically managed’ forest does not support these needs, and prioritises timber species for special protection. Liana like bhorla and bebre lahara and small trees like khasreto are not seen much anymore. Important fodder trees like kutmero, sadan and khanyu have declined. In fact, besides sal, there is a proliferation of eucalyptus and teak.Community forests are designed to support local needs, while managing and improving the vegetation. Given their multifunctional nature, Nepal’s community forests were supposed to promote diversity and coexistence of multiple species. Higher diversity entails wider ecosystem services and resilience.Managing forests only for timber overlooks the dependence of local people for a wider spectrum of ecosystem services. Besides timber, high value introduced medicinal plants are also the focus of forest management like lemon grass and citronella, turmeric oil to bio briquette, rhododendron juice to paper plates.Promoting enterprise and generating income is not a bad thing in itself, but this cannot be done at the expense of protecting an indigenous forest. I have seen a dozen or so community forests where local people have benefited from these new forest products, but only from daily wages, not to fulfil their traditional needs. Promotion of fodder trees, for example, would have been much more useful.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022111413118/63722fb69c7e80680e0c252ejpeg.jpg" alt="" width="2000" height="1333"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>How we understand a forest shapes our management objectives, decisions and routine activities.What was the original goal of Nepal’s community forestry program? Why have forests in the Tarai and elsewhere adopted similar management methods irrespective of local conditions and needs?Out definition of a forest seems to be restricted to having as many high value trees and medicinal plants as possible. There is rarely any attention paid to preserving biodiversity. The status of a forest does not just depend on a tree census, but past management of community sal forests focused mainly on maintaining or increasing tree density and cover. A ‘successful’ forest was one with increased density of sal, overlooking the forest as a complex ecosystem.Preferential protection of sal is an outcome of our policies and worldview on forests that treats a forest only as an economic resource, not an ecological treasure. The result is promotion of only high value species, be it timber or herbs, and overlooks wider spectrum of forest ecosystem services.Hariyo Ban Nepal ko Dhan was a popular slogan in Nepal’s forestry development in the 1980s. The word dhan ended up monetising forests. A new motto now is Ban Marfat Samriddi (prosperity through forests)and this is the thinking that has turned forests into a resource to be mined for timber.Nepal’s decade-long scientific forest management initiative was finally abandoned last year, but not before it hailed regeneration density in logged areas as a success, even when it was found that the original forest had been replaced by sal saplings. Treated blocks were poorer in species diversity compared to the original forests.The original conservation-oriented approach of forest management in community forests focused on retaining trees, and increasing crown and tree density. But the increase in density of the common most structural species was an outcome of the preferential protection by both Forest Department and user groups.A native sal forest is truly diverse in its associated flora and fauna with at least three vertical layers of vegetation. The canopy later has the taller trees, medium-sized trees make up the sub-canopy layer, and then there are shrubs and grasses in the forest floor which changes with the seasons.In tropical forests, liana, vines and climbers make up another important component, with some of them woody, massive and long lived – mainly in sal riverine forests. Old growth trees also support orchids and ferns with some sal supporting as many as seven species of orchids. Some trees have up to four species of ferns.Old growth forests are also rich habitats for birds, amphibians, reptiles and many insects like beetle and spiders. Old trees have cavities in the trunks and branches which shelter for animals like monitor lizards, owls, wood peckers, parrots and hornbills. Higher up in the food chain are the bigger mammals. Diversity in vegetation entails diversity in fauna as well.Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/protecting-nepals-forests-from-fires/">Protecting Nepal’s forests from fires</a>, Dev Narayan Mandal<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022111413118/63722fba9c7e80680e0c252fjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="2000" height="1333"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>Nepal’s forests are multipurpose, and people depend on them for a range of direct and indirect products. A sal is itself a multipurpose tree. A mixed and diverse forest not only delivers multiple services we need, but also has higher resilience to cope with climate uncertainty and plays a vital role in meeting food security.Today’s high value timber forest could not be further removed from the concept of what a natural forest should be. But it also has to be said that without community management, even these forests would probably be degraded and encroached.Our forests need to reflect the need to adapt to the climate emergency, and not just meet the economic needs of communities and the nation. We should build on Nepal’s community forestry success to restore natural woodlands.We therefore need to reimagine our forests. How an ecologist regards a forest is different from how an economist sees it. Nevertheless, sustainable forest management can balance diversity with meeting the need for revenue.This means conserving a forest with original biodiversity that also meets local needs. Such a forest would be diverse enough to sustain a wide spectrum of biota. Maintaining diversity does not cost more, in fact it protects Nepal’s natural wealth for this and future generations.Lila Nath Sharma has PhD in ecology from University of Bergen Norway and is with ForestAction Nepal.

Safeguarding the soul of sal

Hiding their head in the sand

<figure><img width="3675" height="2453" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110151116/636d08689c7e80680e0a6016jpeg.jpg" alt=""/><figcaption>Photo: MONIKA DEUPALA</figcaption></figure>The death of five children by drowning last month in Dhanusha made headlines. A week later, two boys drowned in a pit left by a brick kiln in Mahottari. On Friday, five people died of drowning in Banke and Chitwan.<a style="font-size: 15px; letter-spacing: 0.01em;" href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/turning-on-the-heat/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Hot summers</a>, rivers in spate, and pits left by sand miners and brick kilns make up a deadly combination which means that drowning is a common occurrence across the country, particular in the Tarai. There is no nationwide tally, but <a href="https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/870497/status-of-drowning-in-nepal-a-study-of-central-police-data" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">a 2015 survey</a> based on Nepal Police data found that there were 1,507 cases of drowning between January 2013 and December 2015.Nepal is among the most vulnerable countries to drowning with a death rate of 5.4 per 10,000 population, according to the world Health Organisation (WHO). The rate for Bangladesh and India are 4.6 and 3.8 respectively. It was much lower for Sri Lanka and the Maldives at 3.2 each, and 2.1 for Bhutan.In 2019, over 144,000 people drowned in the Asia-Pacific region, accounting for 61% of global drowning deaths, according to the <a href="https://apps.who.int/iris/handle/10665/343073" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">first regional assessments on drowning prevention</a> released ahead of World Drowning Prevention Day, which is being marked for the first time on 25 July 2021.Drowning claimed the lives of an estimated 70,000 and 74,000 people in the Southeast Asia and Western Pacific regions, respectively, and experts warn that <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/nepal-villages-learn-to-cope-with-climate-crisis/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">climate change</a> places already vulnerable communities and people at increased risk of drowning.More frequent and extreme weather events due to the climate crisis can lead to <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/disasters-in-nepal-come-in-waves/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">frequent and intense floods</a>, increasing the exposure of populations to potentially hazardous situations along waterbodies. “Despite many lives being lost each year, drowning remains a largely unrecognised threat to health and well-being,” says Poonam Khetrapal Singh, WHO Regional Director for south and southeast Asia. She adds: “We need to work across all sectors to develop national water safety plans and policies and implement tested and low-cost water safety interventions to prevent drowning and save lives. No child or adult should lose their life to drowning.”In Asia, most drowning deaths <a href="https://www.who.int/data/gho/data/themes/mortality-and-global-health-estimates/ghe-leading-causes-of-death" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">occur among children and men</a>. Of the 70,000 drowning deaths in the region in 2019, more than a third were among children aged under 15 years. On average, men were three to four times more likely to drown than women. Even in case of rescue or resuscitation, the survivor often suffers from severe brain damage resulting in memory problems, learning disabilities and permanent loss of basic function.The <a href="https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/global-report-on-drowning- preventing-a-leading-killer" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">best practices on drowning prevention</a> include day care for children, the use of barriers for controlling access to water, public awareness campaigns focused on behaviour change, and policies and legislation on water safety, including regulation of recreational boating and maritime transport.In Dhanusha tragedy, one of the girls had problems staying afloat in a pond and her four other friends died one after another while trying to save her. Construction contractors have left large gaping holes along river banks and road embankments that fill up during the monsoon and become death traps for children.WHO is initiating <a href="https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/preventing-drowning-an-impl ementation-guide" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">prevention measures</a> for children that include survival swim and water skills training in Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Thailand, community-based daycare for young children in Bangladesh, India and Thailand, and improved information systems and public awareness campaigns focused on behaviour change in Thailand."We are proud to be able to highlight, through these two reports, examples from our member states of leadership, innovation and strong partnerships within and beyond the health sector on drowning prevention,” says Takeshi Kasai, WHO Regional Director for the Western Pacific.

Death by drowning on the rise

<figure><img width="1800" height="1350" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109121140/636b91fe9c7e80680e06f121jpeg.jpg" alt=""/><figcaption>A landslide in Jajarkot last year. Photo: RSS</figcaption></figure>By any measure, the past year has been disastrous for Nepal. The Covid-19 lockdowns devastated the economy, the 2020 monsoon killed a record number of people, and this year the second wave hit with full force even as governance was paralysed by a prolonged power struggle in the ruling party. Now, Nepalis are bracing themselves for their <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/preparing-for-floods-during-a-lockdown/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">second monsoon season during the pandemic</a>, one which meteorological modellers say could dump above normal precipitation over most parts of the country.The other difference with last year is that the second Covid-19 wave is even more virulent and widespread. This means crowded shelters after a flood or landslide will be hotspots for new infections at a time when only 4% of the population is vaccinated.“Covid and floods are contradictory in nature, as one needs physical distancing while the other makes it impossible to do so. This will add to the existing burden,” says epidemiologist Lhamo Yangchen Sherpa.She adds: “We can’t prevent floods, but we can reduce its impact. We must concentrate on identifying risk groups and their emergency evacuation, set up shelters with physical distancing, stockpile tents, food and emergency medicines including oral rehydration salts and water purifiers.”Even though last year’s southwest monsoon was said to be 'normal' in Nepal, it <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/deadly-monsoon-in-nepal-turns-deadlier/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">triggered numerous flash floods and landslides</a>, killing at least 400 people and destroying over 1,000 houses. Entire villages in Sindhupalchok, Jajarkot, Myagdi, Baglung, Kalikot and Bajura districts were buried. The South Asian Seasonal Climate Outlook Forum (SASCOF) has forecast ‘above normal’ rainfall for most of Nepal this year, with more than usual precipitation in most of the Mahabharat and Himalaya, and slightly deficient rainfall in the eastern Tarai. <figure><img width="2081" height="1260" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109121140/636b92019c7e80680e06f122jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>"There is a possibility of floods, landslides and other water-related disasters occurring together during the third and fourth week of July this year when the second wave of the pandemic will still be peaking,” states the government’s National Monsoon Preparedness and Response Plan 2021. The probability of flash-floods and landslides are even higher this year because of <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/nepal-is-going-up-in-smoke/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">the wildfires</a>. There were 7,000 fires affecting 75 of Nepal’s 77 districts from November 2020 to May 2021, the highest number ever recorded.  The fires reduced forested slopes to ashes, incinerated the undergrowth, thus reducing the absorptive capacity of the soil. When the rains come, the water will therefore rush down the slopes instead of seeping into the topsoil. “This year’s rainfall is forecast to be higher than last year's average. Based on this analysis, it can be estimated that there will be a significant increase in <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/in-nepal-either-too-much-or-too-little-water/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">landslides and floods</a> during this year's monsoon,” says meteorologist Shanti Kandel at the Department of Hydrology and Meteorology. She adds: “Forecasting is preparedness in some ways. But it has to be effectively communicated, so if we are to wait until landslides have occurred to act, it’s too late and there is no point.” <figure><img width="1050" height="701" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109121140/636b92049c7e80680e06f123jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>In the past, <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/disastrous-management-in-nepal/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">the government has faced criticism</a> for prioritising relief over prevention. This could change with the formation of the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority (NDRRMA), which works primarily on preparedness and mitigating risk, while delegating more rescue responsibility to first-responders in local governments.“In earlier years landslides were not discussed as part of our monsoon preparedness plan, only floods were, and this year we set landslides as a priority for preparedness and response also looking at the intersection of wildfires, Covid-19 and the monsoon,” says Anil Pokhrel, who heads NDRRMA that has produced a workplan for monsoon preparedness and response. The NDRRMA with DHM recently trained officials in 36 municipalities in nine of the most high-risk districts (Myagdi, Gorkha, Kalikot, Rasuwa, Sindhupalchok, Bajhang, Jajarkot, Syangja and Dailekh) on Impact Based Forecasting which predicts extreme weather events so that at-risk groups can be ready. “We are dealing not just with floods and landslides this time, but also Covid-19. Local communities are setting up rapid response teams to best prevent an outbreak in shelters and maintain health protocols, and spreading awareness through FM radio in local languages,” says Liladhar Adhikari of the NDRRMA. Despite the ‘above normal’ forecast in the models, climate scientist Ngamindra Dahal expects the monsoon to even out unless Nepal experiences cloudbursts over the Mahabharat and Chure ranges. These sudden heavy showers have been the cause of the deadliest floods and landslides in recent years. “We now have the technology to predict localised cloudbursts through Impact Based Forecasting which is crucial in saving lives, all we need now is real-time action so local communities get advance warning,” says Dahal.But predicting and determining the impact of floods and landslides only from the perspective of weather gives us an incomplete picture. The climate crisis has changed precipitation patterns and made extreme weather events more frequent and destructive. <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/dont-just-blame-god-for-floods-and-landslides/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Poorly designed and built roads, bad engineering</a>, and unplanned settlements have disturbed fragile mountain slopes, making them more disaster-prone.“We have in recent times recorded 105mm rain per hour in Surkhet, 100mm in Bajhang and 73 in Kulekhani which is a clear indication that the monsoon is getting more intense, but we are only now trying to understand this trend,” says Dahal. “We need to see whether there are indeed more frequent cloudbursts, or if the disasters are more noticed because they affect new settlements in floodplains and roads that follow river banks.” <figure><img width="1174" height="770" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109121140/636b92079c7e80680e06f124jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>At the NDRRMA, Liladhar Adhikari agrees that in addition to rapid response and rescue, a new development model is crucial in preventing multiple hazards in the long term. “New infrastructure has to adhere to environmental safeguards so that they do not drastically alter the rural landscape and make them more vulnerable to disasters.”Unfortunately, Nepal’s approach to development has been at the expense of nature preservation. The annual budget announced last week <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/the-nature-of-pandemics/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">will allow quarrying</a> on the already-unstable slopes of Himalayan foothills to export stones and aggregates to India.Epidemiologist Lhamu Yangchen Sherpa has been to several emergency shelters recently, and points out that there is an <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/uneven-pandemic-impact-on-nepali-women/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">additional burden on women during disasters</a>.  She says: “Like before and during this coronavirus crisis, women are especially vulnerable in the aftermath of a disaster, we must support them with security in shelters, physical and mental health care during this monsoon in the middle of a pandemic.”

Sonia Awale

Nepal braces for monsoon-pandemic double hit

<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110131144/636cf22b9c7e80680e09d8edjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1333" height="1000"/><figcaption>Photo: THE STAR/THE PANGOLIN REPORTS</figcaption></figure>Over 172 million infections and nearly 4 million lives later, the exact origin of the Covid-19 pandemic is still a matter of debate. But scientists have a pretty good guess.Early studies pointed to bats as the source of the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/why-nepal-must-watch-about-coronavirus-but-not-panic/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/why-nepal-must-watch-about-coronavirus-but-not-panic/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1622851284763000&amp;usg=AFQjCNEHJ6TOsHS0_g69zkioRcZxJDNFig">2019 novel coronavirus</a> and epidemiologists say the virus could have jumped to an <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/protecting-pangolins-in-the-pandemic/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">intermediary species like the pangolin</a>, which is a delicacy in certain parts of China, and on to humans.There is now a better understanding of how the rise of zoonotic diseases is associated with the destruction of nature and the flourishing illegal wildlife trade. This could be how the cross-species transmission of SARS-CoV-2 took place in late 2019, but there is little political will to stop the destruction of nature.<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110131144/636cf22e9c7e80680e09d8eejpeg.jpg" alt="" width="535" height="279">“There will always be a risk of pandemics as long as there is demand for bush meat and the destruction of biodiversity,” says <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/the-day-of-pangolins/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Tulshi Laxmi Suwal</a> of Nepal’s Small Mammal Conservation and Research Foundation who has been involved in pangolin research.Scientists are still debating the natural origin hypothesis for the emergence of SARS-CoV-2 in late 2019 in Wuhan, but the absence of an intermediary host and lack of a chain of mutations in the SARS-2 is shifting attention to the lab-leak theory once again.Whatever the root cause, this is not the first pandemic and it will not be the last if the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/between-existence-and-extinction-in-nepal/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">planet’s current rate of biodiversity loss</a> continues. The link between the destruction of nature and the rise of new infectious diseases is now recognised, a trend exacerbated by the climate crisis.“The coronavirus pandemic is a much-needed wake-up call but people have short-term memory, they will soon forget the connection to habitat destruction,” says environmentalist Kumar Paudel of the Greenhood Nepal. “Politicians can’t keep destroying the ecology for the sake of economic growth.”Indeed, Finance Minister Bishnu Paudel’s <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/new-nepal-budget-sparks-electric-comeback/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">new budget</a> announced this week places emphasis on infrastructure and development at the expense of nature preservation. It will allow further plunder of the fragile Chure Hills for quarrying to reduce the $10 billion trade deficit with India.This tendency has seeped down to local governments which are building poorly-designed roads, view towers and concrete monuments at breakneck speed.New highways, irrigation canals, transmission lines and now new rail tracks are <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/in-conservation-nepal-is-not-out-of-the-woods-yet/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">slicing through national parks</a>.The most serious destruction is of the last tract of native forests in the eastern Tarai for the construction of the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/nepal-must-save-nijgad-forest-to-receive-climate-funds/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">mammoth Nijgad project</a> for which Paudel set allocated money for infrastructure, international investor selection, land acquisition and site clearing.On the occasion of World Environment Day on 5 June, nine of Nepal’s development partners <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/importance-of-ecosystems-for-people-and-the-planet/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">issued a statement cautioning the government</a> about the project.‘It is important to ensure that decisions ... for large projects such as Nijgad Airport, are based on sound economic, financial, climate, environmental and social impact analyses in line with Nepal’s established economic, environmental and social regulations, as well as climate and other commitments,’ the statement reads.It is signed by the embassies of Australia, Britain, EU, Finland, France, Germany in Nepal as well as the Kathmandu offices of the Asian Development Bank, United Nations and World Bank in Nepal.With the monsoon approaching, there is the threat of a repeat of last year’s deadly flash floods and landslides triggered by haphazard construction of roads and embankments. These are not ‘natural disasters’ but the result of <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/dont-just-blame-god-for-floods-and-landslides/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">bad engineering and unsustainable exploitation of nature</a>.“Covering everything with concrete is not development, and our development model is suicidal, the coronavirus pandemic is just the latest example of this,” explains naturalist Tirtha Bahadur Shrestha. “Even urban life needs to be integrated with natural elements like water bodies, trees, groundwater recharge.”Conservation need not be anti-development. Green policies actually boost the economy: in Nepal protecting charismatic big mammals promoted ecotourism and created jobs, <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/tree-mendous/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">community forests</a> yielded ecosystem services by augmenting ground water recharge, a shift to renewable energy can reduce petroleum import.Switching to <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/nepal-lockdown-proves-air-quality-can-be-improved/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">electric public transport and battery vehicles</a> to reduce the petroleum import bill by just 10% would save Nepal Rs21 billion a year – besides promoting domestic clean energy from hydropower, and improving air quality.“We need to link conservation with economy to drive the change, nature-friendly policies and conservation education must be at the forefront,” adds Shrestha.Yet, Nepal’s current economic model threatens the conservation successes that have earned the country international praise. By allowing logging in community forests, building dams in national parks, clearing vast tracts of forests to build <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/does-nepal-need-a-4th-international-airport/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Nijgad airport</a>, and destroying rivers through sand mining will undo decades of achievement.The theme of this World Environment Day on 5 June is ‘Ecosystem Restoration’, and despite lip service Nepal’s government is too distracted by politics to act on this motto.Warns Kumar Paudel: “If we do not change our ways, many more health and environmental crises await us in the near future.”

The nature of pandemics

<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109121136/636b914f9c7e80680e06f0dejpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1333" height="1000"/><figcaption>Photo: THE STAR/THE PANGOLIN REPORTS</figcaption></figure>Over 172 million infections and nearly 4 million lives later, the exact origin of the Covid-19 pandemic is still a matter of debate. But scientists have a pretty good guess.Early studies pointed to bats as the source of the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/why-nepal-must-watch-about-coronavirus-but-not-panic/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/why-nepal-must-watch-about-coronavirus-but-not-panic/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1622851284763000&amp;usg=AFQjCNEHJ6TOsHS0_g69zkioRcZxJDNFig">2019 novel coronavirus</a> and epidemiologists say the virus could have jumped to an <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/protecting-pangolins-in-the-pandemic/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">intermediary species like the pangolin</a>, which is a delicacy in certain parts of China, and on to humans.There is now a better understanding of how the rise of zoonotic diseases is associated with the destruction of nature and the flourishing illegal wildlife trade. This could be how the cross-species transmission of SARS-CoV-2 took place in late 2019, but there is little political will to stop the destruction of nature.<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109121136/636b91529c7e80680e06f0dfjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="535" height="279">“There will always be a risk of pandemics as long as there is demand for bush meat and the destruction of biodiversity,” says <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/the-day-of-pangolins/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Tulshi Laxmi Suwal</a> of Nepal’s Small Mammal Conservation and Research Foundation who has been involved in pangolin research.Scientists are still debating the natural origin hypothesis for the emergence of SARS-CoV-2 in late 2019 in Wuhan, but the absence of an intermediary host and lack of a chain of mutations in the SARS-2 is shifting attention to the lab-leak theory once again.Whatever the root cause, this is not the first pandemic and it will not be the last if the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/between-existence-and-extinction-in-nepal/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">planet’s current rate of biodiversity loss</a> continues. The link between the destruction of nature and the rise of new infectious diseases is now recognised, a trend exacerbated by the climate crisis.“The coronavirus pandemic is a much-needed wake-up call but people have short-term memory, they will soon forget the connection to habitat destruction,” says environmentalist Kumar Paudel of the Greenhood Nepal. “Politicians can’t keep destroying the ecology for the sake of economic growth.”Indeed, Finance Minister Bishnu Paudel’s <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/new-nepal-budget-sparks-electric-comeback/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">new budget</a> announced this week places emphasis on infrastructure and development at the expense of nature preservation. It will allow further plunder of the fragile Chure Hills for quarrying to reduce the $10 billion trade deficit with India.This tendency has seeped down to local governments which are building poorly-designed roads, view towers and concrete monuments at breakneck speed.New highways, irrigation canals, transmission lines and now new rail tracks are <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/in-conservation-nepal-is-not-out-of-the-woods-yet/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">slicing through national parks</a>.The most serious destruction is of the last tract of native forests in the eastern Tarai for the construction of the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/nepal-must-save-nijgad-forest-to-receive-climate-funds/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">mammoth Nijgad project</a> for which Paudel set allocated money for infrastructure, international investor selection, land acquisition and site clearing.On the occasion of World Environment Day on 5 June, nine of Nepal’s development partners <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/importance-of-ecosystems-for-people-and-the-planet/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">issued a statement cautioning the government</a> about the project.‘It is important to ensure that decisions ... for large projects such as Nijgad Airport, are based on sound economic, financial, climate, environmental and social impact analyses in line with Nepal’s established economic, environmental and social regulations, as well as climate and other commitments,’ the statement reads.It is signed by the embassies of Australia, Britain, EU, Finland, France, Germany in Nepal as well as the Kathmandu offices of the Asian Development Bank, United Nations and World Bank in Nepal.With the monsoon approaching, there is the threat of a repeat of last year’s deadly flash floods and landslides triggered by haphazard construction of roads and embankments. These are not ‘natural disasters’ but the result of <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/dont-just-blame-god-for-floods-and-landslides/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">bad engineering and unsustainable exploitation of nature</a>.“Covering everything with concrete is not development, and our development model is suicidal, the coronavirus pandemic is just the latest example of this,” explains naturalist Tirtha Bahadur Shrestha. “Even urban life needs to be integrated with natural elements like water bodies, trees, groundwater recharge.”Conservation need not be anti-development. Green policies actually boost the economy: in Nepal protecting charismatic big mammals promoted ecotourism and created jobs, <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/tree-mendous/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">community forests</a> yielded ecosystem services by augmenting ground water recharge, a shift to renewable energy can reduce petroleum import.Switching to <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/nepal-lockdown-proves-air-quality-can-be-improved/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">electric public transport and battery vehicles</a> to reduce the petroleum import bill by just 10% would save Nepal Rs21 billion a year – besides promoting domestic clean energy from hydropower, and improving air quality.“We need to link conservation with economy to drive the change, nature-friendly policies and conservation education must be at the forefront,” adds Shrestha.Yet, Nepal’s current economic model threatens the conservation successes that have earned the country international praise. By allowing logging in community forests, building dams in national parks, clearing vast tracts of forests to build <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/does-nepal-need-a-4th-international-airport/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Nijgad airport</a>, and destroying rivers through sand mining will undo decades of achievement.The theme of this World Environment Day on 5 June is ‘Ecosystem Restoration’, and despite lip service Nepal’s government is too distracted by politics to act on this motto.Warns Kumar Paudel: “If we do not change our ways, many more health and environmental crises await us in the near future.”

<img width="1418" height="798" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110131128/636cee999c7e80680e09ae3djpeg.jpg" alt=""/>The B.1.617.2 strain of SARS-CoV-2 that started entering Nepal from India in early April first affected the border cities and districts in the plains, but is now spreading rapidly into the mountains and even the remotest villages. From a rolling seven-day average for the past week of about 8,000 daily, Thursday’s caseload showed a decrease to 6,731 nationwide. Recoveries also rose to 7,226, exceeding the daily new infections for the second time this week.  The <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/covid-19-numbers-slightly-down-in-nepal/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">national infection rate has been pulled down</a> by the decrease in the Tarai, but it is spiking dramatically in Nepal’s mountain districts, where health facilities are even more rudimentary. Most infections and fatalities in these remote areas are not even tallied, which means the official statistics are certainly an underestimate. <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/rural-nepal-fights-back-covid-19/">Rural Nepal fights back Covid-19</a>, Masta KC Even though the national total showed a<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/jabs-for-jobs/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"> drop on Thursday</a>, for example, Kathmandu saw an increase of 500 over the previous 24 hours to 1,139 new cases. Similar increases have been reported in Pokhara, Surkhet, Okhaldhunga and even the remotest villages.  When the number of daily new cases in Kailali on the Indian border was 527 on 17 May, to the north in Achham there was only one new case. Now, the tables are turned. On Thursday, new cases in Kailali had dropped to 31, while Achham recorded 68 new coronavirus infections. Similarly, while Kanchanpur in the plains saw only 45 new cases on Thursday, it had shot up to 86 in Baitadi. The daily caseload in remote Rukum West district  has nearly doubled in the past ten days from 24 to 51, and from 21 to 47 in Dailekh. <img width="1452" height="754" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110131128/636cee9c9c7e80680e09ae3ejpeg.jpg" alt="">Banke, Dang and Rupandehi in Lumbini Province were all hotspots of Covid-19 till two weeks ago with hospitals overwhelmed with patients begging for beds and <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/nepals-life-or-death-o2-quest/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">oxygen</a>. This week, the infection rates are down and the virus has now moved to the province’s more northern districts. Rolpa had only 7 new cases on 17 May, but on Thursday it recorded 56. However, despite the drop in cases in the plains, hospitals in the Tarai cities are still full because of critical patients in need of <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/helping-nepalis-breathe-again/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">ICU and oxygen</a> being referred from the mountain districts to the north. Some of the increase in the mountains could be explained by the fact that more tests are being done there now, but public health experts say the positivity rate is also very high in west Nepal hinterland. In one village in Rolpa, 23 of the 25 people tested last week came out Covid positive.Gandaki Province had only 293 new cases on 17 May, but ten days later the province recorded 1,159 infections. Gorkha district has seen a big spike in cases, from 23 ten days ago to 500 on Thursday.The most dramatic example of how serious the situation has become is the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/lost-in-reconstruction/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">village of Barpak</a>, which was the epicentre of the 2015 earthquake that destroyed 90% of its homes and killed 72 people. In the past two weeks, 12 people, mostly elderly, have died in the densely-packed village at an elevation of 1,900m.Locals say there are multiple funerals every day, and there is a danger that these burial processions themselves become spreader events. Most of those who have died were not tested, but had Covid-19 symptoms. The local health post in Barpak does not have oxygen or an isolation centre, and the seriously sick have no option since hospitals in Gorkha are also full. Locals are locked up in their homes, and reports say, many are refusing to be tested.In Karnali Province, those who can afford it are borrowing money to airlift seriously ill relatives to hospitals in Jumla or Surkhet after their oxygen saturation levels fall dangerously low. None of the district hospitals in Mugu, Dolpo or Humla have ICUs or oxygen supply. As the virus spreads in those communities, families of critical patients can only hope and pray. <img width="800" height="556" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110131128/636cee9f9c7e80680e09ae3fjpeg.jpg" alt="">At the other end of Nepal, in the roadless village of Ghunsa at 3,200m in the Kangchenjunga Conservation Area, Covid-19 has infected someone in every one of the 40 households. The local health post is overwhelmed, but has managed to porter in some oxygen cylinders to treat the more serious patients. The trans-Himalayan districts of Manang and Mustang were the only ones with no Covid-19, and no lockdown. Manang had zero cases ten days ago, but on Thursday 76 people tested positive. Even though Kathmandu Valley has seen a flattening of the peak, surrounding districts are seeing a steep spike in the past week. The daily caseload in Makwanpur has gone up from 17 to 101, and from 85 to 342 in Dhading in just seven days. Most of the critical cases from these districts are being taken by ambulance to city hospitals in Kathmandu.The second wave of the pandemic is subsiding in the Tarai, with Province 2 recording only 480 new cases, when it was averaging 600 daily cases till two weeks ago. Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/at-the-covid-19-frontlines-in-rural-nepal/">At the Covid-19 frontlines in rural Nepal</a>, Priti Thapa

In Nepal, virus climbs from plains to mountains

<img width="1418" height="798" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109111152/636b86909c7e80680e067860jpeg.jpg" alt=""/>The B.1.617.2 strain of SARS-CoV-2 that started entering Nepal from India in early April first affected the border cities and districts in the plains, but is now spreading rapidly into the mountains and even the remotest villages. From a rolling seven-day average for the past week of about 8,000 daily, Thursday’s caseload showed a decrease to 6,731 nationwide. Recoveries also rose to 7,226, exceeding the daily new infections for the second time this week.  The <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/covid-19-numbers-slightly-down-in-nepal/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">national infection rate has been pulled down</a> by the decrease in the Tarai, but it is spiking dramatically in Nepal’s mountain districts, where health facilities are even more rudimentary. Most infections and fatalities in these remote areas are not even tallied, which means the official statistics are certainly an underestimate. <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/rural-nepal-fights-back-covid-19/">Rural Nepal fights back Covid-19</a>, Masta KC Even though the national total showed a<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/jabs-for-jobs/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"> drop on Thursday</a>, for example, Kathmandu saw an increase of 500 over the previous 24 hours to 1,139 new cases. Similar increases have been reported in Pokhara, Surkhet, Okhaldhunga and even the remotest villages.  When the number of daily new cases in Kailali on the Indian border was 527 on 17 May, to the north in Achham there was only one new case. Now, the tables are turned. On Thursday, new cases in Kailali had dropped to 31, while Achham recorded 68 new coronavirus infections. Similarly, while Kanchanpur in the plains saw only 45 new cases on Thursday, it had shot up to 86 in Baitadi. The daily caseload in remote Rukum West district  has nearly doubled in the past ten days from 24 to 51, and from 21 to 47 in Dailekh. <img width="1452" height="754" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109111152/636b86939c7e80680e067861jpeg.jpg" alt="">Banke, Dang and Rupandehi in Lumbini Province were all hotspots of Covid-19 till two weeks ago with hospitals overwhelmed with patients begging for beds and <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/nepals-life-or-death-o2-quest/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">oxygen</a>. This week, the infection rates are down and the virus has now moved to the province’s more northern districts. Rolpa had only 7 new cases on 17 May, but on Thursday it recorded 56. However, despite the drop in cases in the plains, hospitals in the Tarai cities are still full because of critical patients in need of <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/helping-nepalis-breathe-again/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">ICU and oxygen</a> being referred from the mountain districts to the north. Some of the increase in the mountains could be explained by the fact that more tests are being done there now, but public health experts say the positivity rate is also very high in west Nepal hinterland. In one village in Rolpa, 23 of the 25 people tested last week came out Covid positive.Gandaki Province had only 293 new cases on 17 May, but ten days later the province recorded 1,159 infections. Gorkha district has seen a big spike in cases, from 23 ten days ago to 500 on Thursday.The most dramatic example of how serious the situation has become is the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/lost-in-reconstruction/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">village of Barpak</a>, which was the epicentre of the 2015 earthquake that destroyed 90% of its homes and killed 72 people. In the past two weeks, 12 people, mostly elderly, have died in the densely-packed village at an elevation of 1,900m.Locals say there are multiple funerals every day, and there is a danger that these burial processions themselves become spreader events. Most of those who have died were not tested, but had Covid-19 symptoms. The local health post in Barpak does not have oxygen or an isolation centre, and the seriously sick have no option since hospitals in Gorkha are also full. Locals are locked up in their homes, and reports say, many are refusing to be tested.In Karnali Province, those who can afford it are borrowing money to airlift seriously ill relatives to hospitals in Jumla or Surkhet after their oxygen saturation levels fall dangerously low. None of the district hospitals in Mugu, Dolpo or Humla have ICUs or oxygen supply. As the virus spreads in those communities, families of critical patients can only hope and pray. <img width="800" height="556" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109111152/636b86969c7e80680e067862jpeg.jpg" alt="">At the other end of Nepal, in the roadless village of Ghunsa at 3,200m in the Kangchenjunga Conservation Area, Covid-19 has infected someone in every one of the 40 households. The local health post is overwhelmed, but has managed to porter in some oxygen cylinders to treat the more serious patients. The trans-Himalayan districts of Manang and Mustang were the only ones with no Covid-19, and no lockdown. Manang had zero cases ten days ago, but on Thursday 76 people tested positive. Even though Kathmandu Valley has seen a flattening of the peak, surrounding districts are seeing a steep spike in the past week. The daily caseload in Makwanpur has gone up from 17 to 101, and from 85 to 342 in Dhading in just seven days. Most of the critical cases from these districts are being taken by ambulance to city hospitals in Kathmandu.The second wave of the pandemic is subsiding in the Tarai, with Province 2 recording only 480 new cases, when it was averaging 600 daily cases till two weeks ago. Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/at-the-covid-19-frontlines-in-rural-nepal/">At the Covid-19 frontlines in rural Nepal</a>, Priti Thapa

<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109111144/636b850f9c7e80680e0677d1jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1920" height="1080"/><figcaption></figcaption></figure>In early April, the coronavirus cases were at an all-time low and we were reporting from Janakpur, and the surrounding border region for two episodes of Himalmedia’s Saglo Samaj weekly tv magazine program.But we did not know that the surge in India was already <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/this-is-war/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">beginning to affect the Tarai</a>. After we returned to Kathmandu, we found out that our fixer in Janakpur had tested positive for Covid-19. All of us at Saglo Samaj on that trip quarantined for a week.None of us showed any symptoms, so we got back to work, this time to report on <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/we-knew-the-tsunami-was-approaching/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">the second wave</a> that had by then started to affect Kathmandu Valley. The number of cases was doubling every three days, and the number of fatalities nationwide was shooting up.A day before the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/lockdown-2-0/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">lockdown</a> was to go into effect on 29 April in Kathmandu Valley, we made a round of hospitals to film long queues of people who had either come in for a PCR test or the VeroCell vaccine. From the way they were crowding, it looked like they had forgotten about physical distancing.Next, we went to the capital’s main bus park (pictured). It was filled with people thronging the ticket booths to get home before public transport stopped. Alas, it looked as if half of them would be taking the virus with them to the remotest corners of Nepal.Several people in the ticket queues had no masks, or if they did were wearing them around their chins. Some had their masks dangling from one ear lobe, as if it was an amulet to protect them from the disease. This reminded me of my time in Janankpur where people were also not the least bit concerned about <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/how-nepal-can-survive-2nd-covid-wave/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">following safety measures</a>.https://youtu.be/qMsyRZEOstYI had followed all safety measures, wearing masks and even a face visors when we were in crowded areas. I never left my room without my sanitiser. So I was a bit surprised when I started feeling fatigue and got a slight fever. I tested positive.On the fifth day, my body started swelling up, I lost all sense of smell or taste. I had an unfamiliar cough, and it kept me from sleeping. My chest hurt like someone was pinching me.I measured my blood oxygen level obsessively. I looked at the potted jade and money plant in my room and it was reassuring that they were supplying me with additional oxygen. Alone in my room, I tried to keep my spirit up.My editor told me to rest, and told me I could finish my report after I got better. One part of me wanted to just rest, but another goaded me to work since there was no risk. After all, I thought, I am down, not out.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109111144/636b85139c7e80680e0677d2jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1466" height="814"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>I am feeling better now, and writing my report helps me forget about <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/microcosms-of-a-pandemic/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Covid-19</a> and let my antibodies get on with the job of defeating the virus. Work has also helped keep my morale high, since I am communicating about the risk and impact of the pandemic.I hope to meet you all soon in another episode of Saglo Samaj.

tarai

Voters cynical about electoral alliances

Safeguarding the soul of sal

Hiding their head in the sand

Death by drowning on the rise

Nepal braces for monsoon-pandemic double hit

The nature of pandemics

The nature of pandemics

In Nepal, virus climbs from plains to mountains

In Nepal, virus climbs from plains to mountains

I’m down, but not out