Foul Air, Waiting for Rain and A Government in Slumber

A gloomy weather and a foul air. A burning sensation in your eyes, long after the March 28 protest during which our state fired date-expired teargas shells at protesters to bring the situation under control. Acrid smell and difficulty in breathing....
 

These are some of the tell-tale signs suggesting that all’s not well with the air we breathe, with or without data from firms like the IQAir that consistently have Kathmandu as one of the most polluted cities. 

Obviously, this is due, in part, to wildfires raging in different parts of Nepal. For want of adequate firefighting equipment covering large swathes of forests, the Nepali state has limited options like mobilzing poorly-equipped security apparatues, local communities and then waiting for divine intervention from Lord Mahadev and Lord Indra to bless us all with rains and prevent those fires from devouring human settlements.

We all breathe but one air that moves without any regard for national boundaries. So, a surge in pollution in the neighborhood is bound to affect Nepal and vice-versa.

In the good old days, people used to offer puja to the two great lords to shower humanity with rain and organize yagyas (fire rituals) for the purpose. But those are old-fashioned ways that don’t work in these times of climate change and global warming, right?

Amid worsening air quality in Kathmandu and other parts of this great republic, with or without some great data suggesting it, it is but natural for the citizenry to wonder aloud as to what our officialdom at local, provincial and central levels had been doing all along. After all, this is not an overnight development, right?

By the way, are our local governments and local communities, including forest user groups, so incapable as to not assess the risks that dried grasses and leaves accumulating in forests possess? Do they need experts to find that a live matchstick or a live cigarette butt is enough to destroy a forest within their jurisdiction?      

As for the central authorities, had they been taking a nap before another season of forest fires began?  

Nepal Verified News caught up with Shiva Kumar Wagle, spokesperson for the Ministry of Forest and Environment, to seek answers.

He had this to say: We have been doing our bit to control the situation. Some major factors are behind this situation. There’s a regional dimension to worsening air quality. Vehicular emission, forest fires and dust pollution are contributing to it. We try to douse forest fires immediately after their eruption. Random emission testing of vehicles and action against the polluters are also part of our pollution control measures. Awareness-raising activities have also been going on, calling people to stay alert in view of a serious situation, asking them not to leave their homes unless it’s absolutely necessary.

Bhusan Tuladhar, environmentalist, says: Wildfires are one of the main reasons behind worsening air quality, so there’s a need to control those blazes.  
Wildfires have erupted in a number of places in the country, still there are a large number of areas where wildfires have not erupted.

Tuladhar suggests these immediate mitigation measures: 

In places where there’s no eruption, it’s necessary to check and identify most wildfire-prone areas. In such places, we need to launch campaigns. Clearing dried leaves, grasses and fodder, clearing fire-lines is a way to reduce the possibility of wildfires.

Secondly, there’s a need to launch widespread awareness campaigns in coordination with local communities, local representatives and forest user groups. This is because most of the forest fires are man-made. Wildfires won’t stop unless people become aware of the threat their activities pose.

Third, vehicular emission is also behind foul air. In most of the urban areas, 20 percent of vehicles account for 50 percent of emission. Pollution can be curbed by identifying the most polluting vehicles and removing them from the road. 

For this, we have rules and standards in place like the green sticker system.

If we can implement this system in an effective manner, by checking and intercepting vehicles on the road, it can make a difference. Kathmandu metropolis is doing this, Lalitpur metropolis is also doing a bit of it. But there’s a need to launch this kind of activity in a big way. Stakeholders like the Department of Environment and the Department of Transport Management under the government of Nepal should launch a widespread campaign, especially in the context of diesel engines as they account for a big share of emissions.
 

Fourth, the practice of burning waste and agricultural residues should be stopped without delay by employing strict measures. No technology is required for this, stepped up monitoring and inspection as well as awareness-raising activities are enough.

Fifth, wearing mask is a way to protect oneself from air pollution and a campaign is necessary to promote this habit.

These things can be and should be done immediately.

Long-term measures

In the long run, a host of measures can be taken, according to Tuladhar. But these steps have to be taken in a planned manner.

In the case of the Kathmandu valley, the Council of Ministers approved the Kathmandu Valley Air Quality Management Plan 2020 five years ago. The plan has listed 137 activities for improving air quality and they should be implemented.

As for improving air quality throughout the country, no nationwide action plan in place as of now.

There’s a need to develop a comprehensive plan for improving air quality throughout the country, and invest in its implementation.

Such a plan must include a range of topics such as electrification of public transport, more effective consumption of energy in industries, etc.

Govt caught napping

Wildfires and increasing air pollution are not a new thing for Nepal. They happen every year. There was an evident lack of preparedness for dealing with a recurring situation.

Our repeated efforts to get comments from Dipak Gyawali, spokesperson for the Department of Environment, went in vain as his phone was switched off and so did the efforts to talk with Gyan Raj Suvedi, the director-general of the department, denying us the opportunity to get some nuggets of wisdom from them.