KATHMANDU – Experts have underlined need of widening current approaches and perspectives to understand the rivers.
They urged stakeholders to see rivers with the broader perspectives as rivers are directly related to social, political, environmental and economic aspects.
They warned that several development activities have brought about disasters in the river basins, raising serious environmental consequences.
The experts expressed their views in a program organized on Sunday by Nepal Forum of Environmental Journalists (NEFEJ) on ‘Environmental aspects of Seti River basin and Role of Media’ in a bid to highlight value of river basin and reveal the environmental concerns, drawing attention of policy makers.
Ramesh Bhushal, secretary of NEFEJ, and Prof Dr Subodh Sharma, dean of Kathmandu University presented papers on Seti river basin. The papers were widely discussed by the participants.
Addressing the program, Minister for Forest and Environment Shakti Bahadur Basnet said that rivers have multi-dimensional aspects, which can influence various sectors. “Rivers are symbols of development, prosperity, civilization and history,” he said. “The government is preparing to bring river system programs on Koshi, Karnali, Gandaki and other rivers.”
Minister Basnet claimed that the ministry is transparent, urging the stakeholders to inform about the factors that is destroying and polluting environment.
“Our priority is good governance and prosperity. If there are activities taking place against environment, please inform us on time,” he said.
“Though the rivers and wildlife affected human life, human being started conservation by understanding their importance,” he added. “Nature and human beings are intertwined. So we need to research the traditional knowledge too.”
Presenting paper, Bhushal suggested how journalism reporting can reveal the reality of river basins. “We have to carry out news on depth about rivers, which are abundant in Nepal but it has not been done yet,” he added.
Dean Sharma said that 19 pressure\stressors in Setigandaki have been identified along the river stretches. “They have been categorized into five broad groups: Solid wastes (relative importance (RI): 31.3%), hydromorphological degradation, ecological disturbances (RI: 26.1%), and sanitation activity (RI: 21.6%), effluents (RI: 16.4%) and activities and facilities (RI: 5.2%),” he said. “The activities have threatened the environment, impacting seriously.” According to Sharma’s report, the urban coverage of the Seti watershed has increased by 60 percent from 24.03 km² in 1990 to 54.20 km² in 2013.
Similarly, a study of 2009 on Seti River revealed that 81 percent of aquatic animals were found dead. “We only talk about conservation of big animals like tiger, rhino and elephant but don’t care about other small animals,” said Sharma. “Environment is as important as water for human health.”
Guna Raj Luitel, chief editor of Nagarik daily, insisted that reporting on environmental issues should be carried out after a depth study.
Arjun Dhakal, president of NEFEJ, said that the river basins have played vital roles from history to now. “The use of bulldozers in recent years has created threat to environment and it will invite disasters in future,” he said.
Shanta Ram Gyawali, program director of Hariyo Ban, said that the existence of rivers is at threat due to given priority on development construction and hydropower. “We have to adopt the conservation measures to save the biodiversity in high and low lands differently,” he added.
Team leader Subas Devkota of Hariyo Ban, FECOFUN said that various aspects about river, wildlife and human life need to be discussed. “We should not forget the rivers impact not only animals and environment but also human being. So we need to focus on environmental issues,” he said.
Sahaj Man Shrestha, station manager of Sagarmatha Radio, said that the local people’s lifestyle, traditional knowledge, and skills as well as their livelihood should be incorporated in river system programs.
Arun Bhakta Shrestha, program director of International Center for Integrated Mountain Development said that income sources of local people and disaster reduction should be managed while working in the river areas.
Subodh Gautam, Executive Director of NEFEJ, drew attention of Minister Basnet about vital concerns of forests and environment. “How will the government compensate the loss occurred in Kathmandu-Terai fast track? What is the approach on crusher industries and mine? How can these problems be solved?” he questioned.
Rabindra Pandey, Audio-Visual Director at NEFEJ, pointed out the need to organize seminar programs of officials of the Ministry of Forest and Environment and offices under it on the importance of environment and biodiversity.
Krishna Prasad Acharya, director general of the Department of Forests, Man bahadur Khadka, DG of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation, Sandesh hamal of WWF and Narendraman babu Pradhan of IUCN among others participated in the program.
