Environment

ENVIRONMENT ENVIRONMENT

As the temperature heats up in Nepal, the nation’s tourism and agriculture sectors are taking a big hit. The air quality of Kathmandu continues to deteriorate, and the city was recently ranked the worst in terms of air pollution level compared to other cities around the world.

Global warming uncovers mountain

peaks: The rising temperature has left Nepal’s mountains bare due to the increasingly irregular snowfall. According to the regional programme manager at ICIMOD, the temperature of the country has been rising at the rate of 0.6 degree Celsius per decade. This has adversely affected the hospitality and tourism industry – which has also been hit the hardest by Covid-19. Likewise, the impact of receding snowfall has been felt by the farmers as well, who heavily depend on melting snow to water their crops. Additionally, these farmers rely extensively on the region’s cold climate to protect their crops from getting destroyed by insects and diseases since low temperature dampers the reproduction rate of these pests. The warming temperature has thus exposed their crops to greater numbers of pests.81

Worsening air quality: From 4-5 January, Kathmandu Valley had the highest Air Quality Index (AQI), indicating the harmful level of air pollution contaminating the city. The pollution monitoring stations located around the capital city recorded PM 2.5 readings that overwhelmingly exceeded the cap of 25 μg/m³, set by the World Health Organization (WHO). It was further discerned that the air quality during the morning time, when businesses/offices open up, is worse than in the afternoon.82

Use of pesticides increases amid

change in climate: The climate change impact on agriculture has been detrimental. The increased exposure of crops to new and resistant pests has in turn compelled farmers to use more pesticides and this could worsen as climate change progresses. Nepal has seen an annual increase in the pesticide imports of 15 % as a result of commercial farming and climate change impact. Majority of these pesticides are used on vegetables. The Nepal government has done nothing so far to actively check the excessive use of harmful pesticides.83

OUTLOOK

The impacts that have been felt due to climate change should alarm the authorities and push them to form sound policies to mitigate the heightening climate crisis. Furthermore, they should work towards controlling the air pollution level of the capital city through stricter regulations on issues like vehicular emissions and construction activities.