Case

The South Asian country of Nepal and its capital Kathmandu were facing various upheavals and socio-political changes in the last two decades, including a complicated process of democratization, the sudden collapse of monarchy and a civil war between government forces and Maoist insurgency, as well as the effects of neoliberal globalization and modernization. These events and processes represent the driving forces of an ongoing rural-to-urban migration from Nepal’s countryside to its sprawling cities, with Kathmandu, as the political, economic and cultural center of Nepal as main destination, making it one of the fastest growing cities of South Asia. Nepal is currently transitioning from a rural based to a predominantly urban economy, which results in people coming to the cities in hope of job opportunities and socioeconomic mobility (Shrestha & Shrestha, 2020). In addition, the fighting between government forces and maoist insurgency in the 1990s mostly took place in rural areas, also driving people to the cities in search of security (Rademacher 2011; Sengupta 2011).

Fig: Maoist training (Source: The Kathmandu Post (Pradhan, 2019)) 8 | Bagmati | Urban Rivers and Public Space The rate of urbanization began to increase in the Kathmandu Valley during the late 1950s and took more pace after the 1970s due to new road constructions, but the conflicts of the Maoist insurgency in the 1990s led to even further increment of urban growth. Intense densification and urban expansion into the surrounding countryside led to a five-fold increase of Kathmandu’s built up area between 1955 and 2000 (Sengupta, 2011). This process of mostly unplanned urbanization led to a continual undersupply of affordable housing, rising inequality and not least had a significant impact on the local environment (Shrestha & Shrestha, 2020). All these aspects contribute to the socio-political and ecological setting that defines the Bagmati river and its urban river banks.

Originating from the north of the Kathmandu Valley and replenished by rainfall and springs the Bagmati river flows through Kathmandu where it converges with Bishnumati river right in the city center before it runs further south to India, eventually joining the Ganges. Dotted with Hindu and Buddhist temples and already present in the founding myth of Kathmandu, Bagmati has a high cultural and historic value for Kathmandu and the whole nation of Nepal (Rademacher 2011). Since the 1990s the rivers of Kathmandu are in a process of continually degradation and gradually more and more people are voicing concerns over the state of the rivers and call for measures of restoration. Degradation here has an ecological as well as a cultural dimension as severely reduced water flow and quality and significant morphological changes endanger the sustainability of the river’s ecosystem as well as the cultural and religious values of it.

The discharge of industrial and municipal untreated sewage, widespread dumping of garbage, sand mining in riverbeds and banks for the booming construction industry and human

Fig: Land use land cover map of Kathmandu Valley (Source: Ishtiaque, Shrestha and Chhetri, 2017)

encroachment on the banks, floodplains and riverbeds exposed by channelization are identified as the main causes of river degradation inside the urban area (Rademacher 2011). These Aspects of degradation are all linked to the city’s rapid and unplanned urbanization that confines the sewage, garbage and housing infrastructure to an insufficient level (Khadka, 2020).

While the poor water quality is foremost a problem for the river ecosystem and the people living close to it, the morphological changes, the garbage pollution and the fetid odor affects also culturally valuable sites like the Pashupatinath temple, the most sacred Hindu site in Nepal, destination for pilgrims and used for cremation ceremonies at the river shore (Rademacher 2011). The various stakeholders concerned about the state of Bagmati and its surrounding share the assessment that the state and ongoing process of river degradation is disastrous, but the differing groups disagree on the question, what forms the most pressing aspect of this degradation and it should be approached (Rademacher 2011). The following sections highlight the situations and perspectives of the major groups connected to the fate of Bagmati; the people living in informal settlements on the riverbanks, NGOs supporting the inhabitants of these settlements, the activists engaged in cleaning and restoring the river, and governmental agents and international NGOs working on the reconceptualization of the riversides through the construction of green public spaces and beautification projects.