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issue. These deficiencies stem from the generalweakness of the public administration system itself—over-staffing, low salaries, political interference inappointments and transfers, inadequateperformance recognition, and others are systemic.These in turn affect resource management. Thecapacity to monitor the implementation of laws andpublic expenditure is weak at all levels. Inadequatesupervision, poor financial management, dilatorygovernment procedures, and lack of coordinationamong government entities all lead to poorperformance generally and to a serious neglect ofenvironmental issues in particular.Nepal needs to build up its capacity for nationaland regional development so that it can participateeffectively in the global economy. There is a need tostrengthen the public and private sectors,institutions, systems, processes, procedures, andpractices that support development efforts. Improvedcapacity is needed to entrench and sustain goodgovernance, design and manage effective policiesand programs, manage the environment, addresspoverty, and apply science and technology todevelopment problems. Capacity is also needed toaccelerate regional development and for Nepal toparticipate with other regions as an effective partnerin the global economy.Policy ReformsNepal began its work in environmental protectionand conservation of natural resources in the 1970s.However, the policies, strategies, plans, andprograms of the ensuing 30 years have not beenoverwhelmingly effective. The policies themselveswere unable to address cross-cutting issues;continuous interference by political parties, theinability of national level advisory bodies to functionproperly, and the inability of policy-level institutionsto implement policy due to lack of fundamentalresources all contributed to this failure. Key nationalagencies like the NPC and sectoral ministries havenot been proactive in implementing approvedpolicies and programs, and the Government hasfailed to attract the participation of the private sector.These shortcomings in policy planning andimplementation should be addressed quickly by (i)reviewing all existing policies on the environmentand updating them as needed to make them relevantto present needs, (ii) revisiting monitoring andimplementation mechanisms, (iii) attracting thebroader participation of private sector institutions,NGOs, local bodies, and community-basedorganizations (CBOs) in the process, and (iv)coordinating national environmental policies withdonors’ policies where possible.Institutional StrengtheningStrengthening environmental institutions involvesovercoming existing endemic weaknesses andrevitalizing institutions. In this regard a TechnicalAssistance (TA No. 2847-NEP) on InstitutionalStrengthening of Ministry of Population andEnvironment was provided by <strong>ADB</strong>. One of therecommendations from this Technical Assistancewas implemented as the Integrated EnvironmentManagement Program and funded by DANIDA. Inspite of this, various other aspects still need to beencouraged.Major stakeholder institutions in theenvironment sector include public sector bodies,corporate bodies, and others operating outside of thepublic sector (see Appendix 14.2). The unsatisfactoryperformance of these institutions is due largely totheir lack of capacity. These institutions are weakand their organizational structures often do not fullycorrespond to their mandates. Advisory bodies oftendo not perform professionally, and policymaking andcorporate bodies are often not held accountable.These institutions also suffer from a lack of skilledprofessionals, lack of funds, shortage of technicaland logistic facilities, weak interagency coordination,and conflicting and overlapping mandates. At thesame time, the Government has failed to empowermunicipalities and to creatively engage privatesectororganizations such as national andinternational NGOs, local bodies, and communitybasedorganizations in meaningful dialogue.MOEST is already overburdened by its role offormulating and implementing policies, plans, andprograms. It might be possible to alleviate some of thisburden and to streamline the environmentalmonitoring process by empowering and strengtheninglocal bodies and institutions to take over some of theroutine monitoring tasks. MOEST would remain themain coordinator of these efforts without having todirectly implement them, and could encourage agrowing pool of environmental experts to superviseimplementation of measures to mitigateenvironmental impacts. As the expertise of this groupgrows, they will increasingly be able to give field-levelfeedback to MOEST and to advise it on environmentalpolicy. Similarly, district development committees(DDCs) and village development committees (VDCs)can be empowered to act more autonomously withinthe framework of local self-governance and can begiven the tasks both of bringing environmental andnatural resource management concerns to theattention of MOEST and of carrying out some localenvironmental monitoring. Involving the VDCs wouldgo a long way to ensuring that information acquiredthrough broader public consultation was brought tothe attention of policymaking bodies.212 Environment Assessment of Nepal : Emerging Issues and Challenges
To overcome the constraints imposed byconflicting mandates, it might be necessary to reviewcritically the existing legislative measures, devisetheir enforcement modalities, and consolidate alllegal provisions under a single comprehensiveumbrella legislation. Such integration might facilitategovernance and harmonize the regulation of allenvironmental actions taken nationwide. Anotherpossibility would be to consider the establishment ofa National Pollution Control Board/Authority (to be atleast partially managed by the private sector) whosechief responsibility would be to oversee pollutionissues and enforce compliance with environmentalstandards. Similarly, with growing awareness on thepart of the public it may now be timely to considercreation of an independent Environmental RightsCommission to protect the environmental rights ofcitizens.Technical training is needed at all levels, andMOEST and other agencies involved in environmentalmonitoring need more and better skilledprofessionals to carry out their mandates. Theseneed to have career development opportunities andto be encouraged and rewarded. They also need tobe supplied with appropriate tools and equipment sothat they can carry out their assigned tasks. Researchand laboratory equipment are in short supply allaround, and this situation needs to be addressed.Improvements to the Legislative SystemA large number of environmental acts andregulations have been promulgated in Nepal (seeChapter 9) to facilitate the implementation ofenvironmental plans and programs, but these havehad only limited success. This legislation now needsto be updated and amended to make it responsive tothe present-day requirements of complex environmentalconcerns. In addition, new regulations areneeded to help Nepal take full advantage of WorldTrade Organization (WTO) membership.Trade and EnvironmentNepal recently became the 147th member of theWTO. The main aim of membership is to improveNepal’s economy by opening up trade with theworld. Before being able to reap the full benefits thatWTO membership implies, policymakers andbusinessmen need to be aware of how to make themost of these opportunities and how not to beovercome by open trading. One of the commitmentsmade by Nepal was to amend the EnvironmentProtection Act 1996 to compliment requirements ofWTO agreements related to trade and environment;this is discussed below. Nepal also needs to developadditional environmental standards for protectinghuman and plant life, and to consider issues liketrade related intellectual property rights (TRIPS),which have threatened the rights of developingcountries’ farmers rendering them more vulnerableand marginalized. Another thorny and delicate issueunder the WTO is that of agricultural subsidies,which many poor WTO members believe harm theirexports. Building the capacity of environmental cellsin the Federation of Nepalese Chambers ofCommerce and Industries and other majorassociations of commerce and industry will berequired. Industries should be motivated to adoptand comply with International StandardsOrganization (ISO) standards and ecolabeling ofindustrial products.Enforcement of Environmental LawsThe environmental laws and regulations that do existare only weakly enforced. Nepal’s poor performancein the environmental sector has, in large part, beenthe failure to fully empower regulatory bodies toenforce regulations, monitor compliance, andimpose penalties. The environmental commitmentof institutions nominally responsible for enforcement,such as NPC and MOEST, is weak andenforcement is piecemeal; there is a lack ofcoordination among the different agencies.A strong institutional base is needed to monitorand strengthen the legal instruments applied toenvironmental conservation. In many cases lawenforcement is thwarted due to poor institutionalinfrastructure, the lack of institutional decentralization,or the constant shifting of responsibilities fromone institution to another. A strong, transparent, andeffective monitoring system is needed to supportproper enforcement of laws and regulations. Forexample, to comply with international treaties, a listof rare and endangered species has been prepared.The difficulty, however, is that there is no scientificmonitoring to ascertain whether these species areactually still endangered or rare. Surveillance of legalinstruments both internationally and nationally islacking. Creating a repository of all the relevantenvironmental information in the country andmaking it accessible to all stakeholders throughelectronic means would help to make the systemmore transparent and easier to enforce. The sectionbelow on an “Environmental and Natural ResourcesInformation Network” begins to address this issue.Strengthening the EIA/SEA FrameworkUnder the provisions of the Environment ProtectionAct and Environment Protection Regulations, thetechnical, industrial, and socioeconomic impacts ofdevelopment projects on the environment and theChapter 14: Emerging Priorities213
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About the OrganisationsAsian Develo
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© 2006 International Centre for In
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AcknowledgementsWe would like to ex
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PM2.5PAHRSSAARCSACEPSEASO 2TSPUKUND
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Chapter 6: Energy Resources 65Intro
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List of FiguresFigure 2.1: People a
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Table 6.1: Energy Consumption and P
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forests are also used for infrastru
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as data gathered by different agenc
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Table 2.1: Population Growth Rates
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mortality rates for rural and urban
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Agglomeration village in the centra
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soil erosion, and depletion of wate
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provision remains inadequate becaus
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Malnutrition remains a serious obst
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Table 2.24: Existing and Projected
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Table 2.28: Income Poverty Indicato
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Table 2.31: Change in Employment St
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In 2004, the average annual househo
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Mountain areas have the most food i
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Schaffner, U. 1987. “Road Constru
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Table 3.1: Agricultural Economic De
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Table 3.4: Estimated Soil Erosion R
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B. PradhanImpacts of land degradati
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Carson, B. 1985. “Erosion and Sed
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The trend of forest coverage in the
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BiodiversityState of BiodiversityNe
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The Government has given legal prot
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Different ways of maintaining biodi
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———.2004. State of the Enviro
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Appendix 4.1: Table continuedMajor
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Appendix 4.2: Protected Plant and W
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Table A4.2.3: Nepal's Share in Plan
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to intense weathering, and percolat
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Table 5.5: Water Supply and Water T
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Table 5.9: Water Quality of Shallow
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species are reported to be endanger
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Ministry of Water Resources (MOWR).
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Definition, Forms, and UnitsEnergy
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Table 6.5: Hydropower PotentialRive
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Chilime Hydroelectric Project: An E
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load occurs from 6 pm to 9 pm with
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assessment of wind energy and lack
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Review of Dams and Development by t
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IUCNElizabeth Khaka, UNEP-NairobiRu
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therefore reflect the three guiding
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is a seasonal dust storm. Anthropog
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Figure 7.3: Average Air Quality, Ja
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matter, hydrocarbons, and NO x (Nae
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Figure: 7.9: Vehicle Registered in
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Brick Kilnchlorofluorocarbons (HCFC
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Climate ChangeA region’s climate
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Figure 7.14: Mean Annual Precipitat
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Table 7.3: National Ambient Air Qua
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India. Available: http://www.cleana
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———.1999. “Ambient Air Qual
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Appendix 7.1: World Health Organiza
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Table 8.1: Criteria for Urban Statu
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accommodate the rapidly increasing
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managing solid waste. They are part
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In most municipalities, hazardous w
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in worsening public health conditio
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objects of archaeological, historic
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Min BajracharyaB. PradhanVehicles a
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Department of Health Services (DOHS
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Table 9.1 describes the major highl
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the period to up 2017. The document
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earthquakes; and awareness raising
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Sub-regional LinkagesOther developi
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Figure 9.1: The Key Environmental I
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(iv)(v)(vi)plants, and other non-ti
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environmental governance can be bet
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can vary considerably. Both sides h
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Dhungel, D.N., and A.B. Rajbhandari
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Table A9.1.2: Industry-Specific Tol
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. Cultural Heritage8. Convention fo
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Appendix 9.3: Some Prominent Enviro
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Some funding arrangements made by t
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(NARDF 2004) for a period of 1 to 3
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Table 10.2: Annual Income and Expen
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Table 10.4: Users’ Share in Benef
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From Hands Around Everest bookFrom
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Table 10.8: Subsidy Rate for Biogas
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microorganism communities and the n
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subsidies (Mason 1996). All these a
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addressed only part of the problem.
Page 176 and 177: historical practice of community-ma
Page 178 and 179: moved or relocated. The fact that s
Page 180 and 181: Kathmandu Valley and receives a lar
Page 182 and 183: cooperative ventures provided neith
Page 184 and 185: further poaching has not been repor
Page 186 and 187: http://www.pugwash.org/reports/pac/
Page 188 and 189: United Nations. 2003. World Populat
Page 190 and 191: how other countries with substantia
Page 192 and 193: (i) Broad-based and sustainable eco
Page 194 and 195: Although progress is encouraging, m
Page 196 and 197: Nepal’s Changing Pattern of Trade
Page 198 and 199: Table 12.2: Trade/ GDP RatiosFY1981
Page 200 and 201: Table 12.5: Percentage Share of Maj
Page 202 and 203: well as other provisions in specifi
Page 204 and 205: Future Implications for NepalIncrea
Page 206 and 207: International Trade Forum (ITN). 20
Page 208 and 209: - Gross domestic product per unit e
Page 210 and 211: Time Series InformationGenerally tw
Page 212 and 213: Table 13.1a: Different Datasets Col
Page 214 and 215: elevant due to its multidisciplinar
Page 216 and 217: Figure 13.6: Examples of Applicatio
Page 218 and 219: Judith DobmannThere are many source
Page 220 and 221: ———.2003. Mapping Nepal Censu
Page 222 and 223: sustainable livelihoods requires an
Page 224 and 225: and haphazard. Population pressures
Page 228 and 229: population must be assessed. MOEST
Page 230 and 231: Appendix 14.1: List of Key Environm
Page 232 and 233: (vii) The EIA report approving agen
Page 234 and 235: Goal 1: Eradicate extreme poverty a
Page 236 and 237: Nepal’s Progress Towards the MDGs
Page 238 and 239: Goal 4: Reduce child mortalityReduc
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