• Introduction
• Purpose of Unite
• Structure of Unit
• Terms to Know
• Concept of Sustainable Development
• Key Components of Sustainable Development
• Policies of Nepal's Government for Sustainable Development
• Activities
• Conclusion

INTRODUCTION <TOP>

Wherever there are humans, there is "development." Wherever there is development, humans are interacting with the environment. People satisfy their basic needs by using the earth's natural resources - water, air, plants, fish, wildlife and soil. They use these resources for firewood, drinking, bathing water, farming, building furniture and houses, medicine and food. In the process of satisfying human needs, however, people can severely harm or destroy the environment that supplies these resources. Too often, human activity damages the environment's capacity to satisfy human demands. When this happens, the quality of people's lives inevitably suffers.1

Nepal is not different from other countries; every nation around the world faces environmental problems. Fortunately, however, environmental problems are no longer considered inevitable. The more community organizations, citizens and government leaders take responsibility for their own community or country's natural resources, the more our resources have a chance of lasting. Throughout the world, we are beginning to look for ways to develop our country in a sustainable way. This means we are finding ways to improve the quality of our lives today, using our water, air, soil and plants, without destroying these essential resources to allow our children and our children's children to one day use these resources to survive.

PURPOSE OF UNIT <TOP>

This unit intends to help students identify and describe some of the key environmental problems in Nepal. Just as importantly, however, this unit is designed to help students identify ways in which we, as citizens of a democracy and members of our communities, can take responsible action to address these important environmental problems.
After studying this unit you should be able to:

• Identify and describe some of the most important environmental problems in Nepal
• Explain why our natural resources are so important to our existence
• Identify how we, as citizens of our country, can help protect our resources to improve the quality of our lives and future generations

STRUCTURE OF UNIT <TOP>

This unit is divided into the following sub-units:

• Concept of Sustainable Development
• Key Components of Sustainable Development
• Policies of the Nepal Government for Sustainable Development
• Activities
• Conclusion

TERMS TO KNOW <TOP>

Please pay attention to the key words listed below. Become familiar with their definitions and how they are used in the text. You will need to understand these terms to answer the questions at the end of this unit.

Ecosystem
Development
Sustainable Development
Air Pollution
Noise Pollution
Deforestation
Rubbish
Biodegradable
Recycle
Water Quality

CONCEPT OF SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT <TOP>

Our Ecosystem

The world we live in is a world of interdependence. Animals and plants live together because they need each other. People are part of this system because we depend on animals and plants to live.
We depend on non-living things like the sun, soil and water to grow our plants. We use plants to eat, preserve our food, and care for our sick. We depend on water to drink. Without clean water we would die.

INTERCONNECTION 1

INTERCONNECTION 2

All living things, together with all non-living things, form our Ecosystem. People are a part of this ecosystem, and we must take care of the various parts of this system on which we depend to give us what we need to survive and be healthy.

People depend on essential resources like:

Water
Sunlight
Soil
Air
Plants

The answer most likely is that humans would not survive.

For this reason we need to do everything we can to protect our natural resources. If humans keep destroying our natural environment at the rate that we are doing today, we will not have any resources remaining for future generations.

Activity

Your teacher will break the class up into groups. Each group should come up with a scenario like the ones described in INTERCONNECTION 1 and 2. Each interconnection should have at least 5 parts and humans should be at the end of the chain of connections. Your group should draw out the interconnections using arrows and pictures. When you are finished, present your interconnection to the class.

Development

Development is when humans interact with the environment, removing natural resources and using these resources for people's well being.

In Nepal, we see our government, the Nepali people and local and international groups attempting to develop our country by building bridges, constructing houses, introducing new techniques to more effectively farm the land, helping to dispose of rubbish in a healthy and safe way, educating our children and creating industries that produce products to sell within and outside of Nepal.

Development projects such as these intend to help us improve the quality of our lives. They try to make our day-to-day activities easier and more productive.
Unfortunately, if development is carried out carelessly, without conscious thought or within communities where the people know little or care little about their environment, then development can do harm to our natural resources.

The same projects that are intended to help improve our country can help destroy the essential resources that we need to survive.

For instance, cars were built to help people travel faster and easier from one place to another. Unfortunately, we do not take care of our cars very well. We add gasoline mixed with other chemicals and we let our engines become old. So, when we use our cars, our cars end up releasing chemicals into the air that pollute the air and make it difficult for us to breathe. The cars create toxins that once in the air, poison our lungs.

The more people drive cars, especially in the cities, the more cars pollute the air and the more people's bodies become ill from the toxins.

If we took better care of our cars, they would not be so polluting to our vital natural resource, air, and we would protect ourselves, and our children, from all sorts of illness caused from air pollution.

Sustainable Development

The concept of sustainable development means that we develop our country in a way that does not harm our essential natural resources.

Sustainable development requires that we improve the quality of our lives today, using our water, air, soil and plants, but not destroying these essential resources so that our children and their children's children will be able to use these resources in the future to survive.

Sustainable development means that we interact with our environment in a way that allows us to live happily and healthily.
Answer the questions below.

1. What is our ecosystem?
2. List some of the natural resources that humans need to survive. Explain how we use these resources to survive.
3. What is development?
4. How can it be helpful for people?
5. What are some potential problems with development?
6. What is sustainable development?
7. Give an example of developing in a sustainable way.

Write a song, either by yourself or in groups of two, about the need to develop our country and the possible problems development can create. Include in the song reasons why it is so important to protect our natural resources. Write the song in your copy and either show it or sing it to your teacher, friends and family members.

KEY COMPONENTS OF SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT <TOP>

It takes a long time to permanently damage our natural resources. If the destruction we create today through cutting down trees, polluting our water and air and destroying our soil does not harm us directly it most definitely will destroy the quality of life for our children and our children's children.

It is difficult to believe that what we do today has long-term effects for our country. Often we think that our actions matter only for the present. For this reason, we often act carelessly, without conscious thought that we are destroying the most essential resources we need to survive.

Below is a description of some of the key environmental problems facing Nepal. Not all problems are mentioned. After reading the descriptions see if you can come up with other environmental problems that face your communities.

Our Soil

Good quality soil is essential to allow us to produce healthy, nutritious crops to eat. Healthy soil allows plants to grow that produce oxygen for human consumption. But humans often destroy the soil by building too many roads.

Another way we destroy the soil is by allowing our animals to graze too much in the same places. Our animals take all the nutrients out of the soil and the soil is not able to grow plants anymore.

We destroy the soil by using bad fertilizers. We also destroy the soil by planting too many crops year after year on the same land, not allowing the soil to regain its own nutrients.

We destroy the soil by cutting down all the trees. The trees provide the soil with nutrients, just as the soil gives nutrients to the trees, which make the trees grow. Trees soak up the water from the rains. Without trees, the rainy season can lead to landslides and flooding.

As humans overuse the soil without caring for it properly, we destroy it and limit its productivity.
Already in Nepal, it is becoming more and more difficult to find land suitable for agriculture. Increasingly, farmers are forced to clear land on hillsides and other lands that are unproductive. Soon we will run out of good places to plant our crops or feed our animals.

Over time, food, trees and other plants will stop growing on our soil.

Our Forests

In Nepal, forests ranging from lush tropical jungles to desert scrub provide people with a wide range of valuable products. Nepalis take timber, fruit, nuts, and other foods from the forests. We eat the animals that live in the forests and the plants that grow there. The plants and trees in our forests produce the oxygen that we breathe. The forests also soak up the water from the rain to help prevent flooding and landslides throughout the country.

Forests provide recreational opportunities for walking and hiking as well as scenic beauty. Many of our forests are popular tourist attractions, and thus a source of income for our economy.

Unfortunately, throughout Nepal, timber companies and people living in or near the forests cut down the forests and trees far faster than the plants can grow back. This is called deforestation.

We take wood from the forest for firewood and to build our houses. We bring our animals to the forest to eat. We clear away large plots of land in the forest to make space for villages. We build roads that cut through the forests.

Because we are overusing our natural resources, if we do not replace them, we may ultimately lose all the forest products that we now use for food, medicine, firewood and planting.

Problems are already beginning. For instance, today a huge wood shortage exists in the Himalayas. Shortages force people to spend an ever-increasing amount of time searching for wood and to take every branch within reach. In some places, not a tree or bush is left standing.

Where wood fuel has been used up, for example in the Terai, people resort to alternatives such as animal dung. Dung is a valuable agricultural fertilizer; but when it is burned rather than plowed into the soil, agricultural productivity suffers.

Our Rubbish

Most of the rubbish created by humans are foodstuffs and are biodegradable. That means that if left in the soil exposed to air, the foodstuffs would break down and provide nutrients to the soil. Some people in Nepal separate the biodegradable rubbish from the rest of the rubbish to return it to the soil.

Other wastes created by humans can be recycled which means it can be made into something else, or used again. These wastes include: plastic, rubber, paper, aluminum and glass. Responsible industries are buying back returned plastic, glass and paper and increasingly citizens are separating these items from the rest of the rubbish for
re-use.

Some wastes are neither biodegradable nor recyclable and should be put in places far from humans. Many countries use landfills to store their wastes. Landfills are huge holes in the ground.

In Nepal, almost all the waste, no matter if it is biodegradable or recyclable, gets either thrown on the streets and left there, burned or collected and disposed of in dumping spaces close to cities and water supplies.

Much of this rubbish contains highly toxic chemicals that can be very harmful to humans. Due to a lack of a good alternative, hospital waste, which includes dangerous toxins, is thrown out on the street and mixes in with the city's rubbish.

Leaving rubbish on the streets is unhealthy for humans. Rats and other animals are attracted to the rubbish and catch diseases that they then spread to people.

Putting rubbish near cities or near water supplies pollutes the air and water. The hazardous chemicals contained in the rubbish get transported into the air or water and passed on to people.

Burning rubbish especially in the cities can also be harmful as it creates additional air pollution, making it difficult for us to breathe and making us sick.

In rural areas, however, burning non-toxic rubbish can be a good way to clean up our villages.

To conserve our natural resources, food wastes should be returned to the soil. This adds both nutrients and organic materials to the soil, increasing its fertility, which we so desperately need.

We should reuse or recycle the wastes that can be reused or recycled.

Wastes that are not biodegradable or recyclable should be disposed of in a landfill. The landfill should be far from the community, either by distance or by a screen of plants. Animals should not be allowed to feed at the site as the diseases they get can spread to people.

Our Water

Water is one of the major natural resources in Nepal. Our country has more than 6,000 rivers.

We use our rivers as a source of water for drinking, bathing and cooking. Water helps our crops grow and our forests thrive. Without water, people would die. Water is the most essential of all our natural resources.

Unfortunately, our water quality is often not fit for cooking, drinking or bathing. Drinking water in most rural areas is biologically contaminated. For example, the Bagmati River, which drains into the Kathmandu Valley, is highly polluted even before it reaches the city.

The water flowing through our cities and some rural areas includes various types of bacteria, disease causing agents and organic matter such as sewage and animal waste. This poor quality water makes people sick.
Poor water quality results mostly from a lack of good rubbish disposal and sewage sites. Sewage is the term used for human wastes and it can be properly disposed of by using latrines and cleaning systems. However, most often in Nepal, instead of being processed and cleaned, sewage from households and individuals gets directly released into our river system.

The poor quality of our water harms people's health, ruins our soil and hurts our crop cultivation.

Our Air

Our air is a special combination of gases, which most living things need to survive. About 78% of the air in our atmosphere is nitrogen gas and about 21% is oxygen gas. The remaining one percent is made up of small amounts of other gases, of which carbon dioxide is the most important.3 When our air contains smoke, chemicals like pesticides and exhaust fumes, the air is harmful for us to breath.

Although our air is an extremely important natural resource, and essential for us to live, we pollute the air we breathe in both urban and rural areas.

In the cities, air pollution mostly results from vehicle exhaust, industry fumes and the burning of rubbish and fuels. Vehicles that are poorly maintained and that use poor quality gasoline cause increased pollution in our air.

In the rural areas, women often burn coal or other fuels in their kerosene burners or fire pits. Their houses do not have many windows and the women breathe in the smoke coming from their kitchens. The air they breathe is polluted with poisonous chemicals that are harmful to their health.

Air pollution in urban and rural areas causes illnesses for humans. Bronchitis, pneumonia and other respiratory problems are common in Nepal.

Noise

Although noise pollution does not cause any direct damage to people, it can harm us psychologically. We become less efficient, more irritated and more stressed when our surroundings are noisy. The more people in the cities, the more noise they create.

The causes of noise pollution in cities include: cars and tempos, heavy trucks, drivers honking their horns and dogs barking.

If we take better care of our cars, use noise-reducing devices, and honk our car horns only when necessary, we can lower the loud and bothersome sounds in the cities.

The People

Over the years, the size of Nepal's population has increased considerably. As our country continues to grow in population, we need more of our natural resources to provide for everyone in the country. Because we are not using our resources as effectively as we could, the more people we have in our country and on our planet, the more we destroy our environment for ourselves and future generations.

Review the following chart and answer the questions below.

Growth of Population in Nepal

Source: Central Bureau of Statistics

1. Create a graph using the numbers in the chart above. Connect all the points on the graph with a line.
2. What was Nepal's population in 1911?
3. What was the population in 1961 and 1991? Does the chart show an increase between these years?
4. How much has the population increased from 1911 to 2000? If so, what does this mean for Nepal's environmental resources?
5. Noting the expected increase in Nepal's population over the next twenty years, what effect do you think that will have on the quality of our air, our forests, our water and noise in the cities?
6. Can you think of any ways to minimize these harmful effects?
7. Knowing that an increase in population will harm our environment, do you have any ideas of how to control our population?
   There are many ways in which we notice environmental damage. In many parts of the country, the water we drink is unhealthy and the air we breathe is not clean.

Look around your community and identify ways in which your community's environment is either damaged now or looks like it will be in the future. Use some of the examples of pollution we mentioned above to help you identify problems. Also see if you can come up with other types of pollution in your communities. Ask people who live in your neighborhood if they notice the types of pollution you identify. Find out if the pollution bothers them and if they feel they can do something to help. If you find someone who does think pollution is a problem ask what types of solutions they propose. After you have interviewed at least five people, write about this entire experience in your copy. Write what you found are the environmental problems in your community and what others had to say about these problems. Write if they, or you have any ideas on how to solve these problems. Add pictures to your story and fill-up at least 2 pages with writing.

POLICIES OF NEPAL'S GOVERNMENT FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT <TOP>

In 1990, while writing our democratic constitution, the writers included language that encourages our government to do what it can to protect Nepal's natural resources. The Constitution discusses the importance of preserving our environment, such as land, air, water, plants and the protection of rare wildlife, forests and vegetation. The Constitution also requires development activities to be conducted in a sustainable way, a way that does not harm the country's natural resources.

The Government of Nepal passed the Environment Protection Act of 1997 and other environmental protection rules. The government also established the Environment Protection Council in 1993 to help in the planning and design of environmental policies. In 1995, our government created the Ministry of Population and Environment tasked with the responsibility of helping to design and implement environmental protection laws and policies.

In various government proposals, our democratic lawmakers set priorities for protecting our natural resources. For instance, the government encourages environmental education in all school levels as well as citizen participation in the decision-making of government leaders and development workers. The government created a framework for policies emphasizing the sustainable use of resources giving priority to the safe provision of food, pure drinking water, education, population control and environmental education.

Our democratic government encourages the people of Nepal to get involved in the development of our country. The government supports Nepalis' participation in the decision-making of government leaders, community organizations and development workers.

ALL PEOPLE within our democracy can help to protect our natural environment:

• Community members living in an area where development projects occur
  
• Government leaders supervising or approving projects
  
• Forest workers
  
• Community based organization leaders
  
• Teachers
  
• Students

Tachen is an environmental teacher; he is talking to some students at a local school. See what they say.

Answer Tachen's question from the previous page in your copy. Come up with at least 4 ideas and explain the ideas in at least 5 sentences each.

Now read the story below and answer the questions following the story.

1. What was the problem in the forest nearby Nayagoan?
2. Why did the villagers in Nayagoan not want the trees in the forest to be cut down?
3. Why were the Purannogoans cutting the trees? Did they know that they were creating a problem?
4. What did the villagers of Nayagoan do about the problem in the forest? Who did they organize a meeting with?
5. What compromise did everyone decide upon?
6. Do you think it is a good compromise? If so, why?
7. Do you think the citizens of Nayagoan approached the problem in a good way? If so, why? If not, why not?

Democratic governance offers citizens opportunities to protect their environment. Within a democracy, everyone, including government officials, must abide by national laws that protect environmental resources.

As citizens of our country we can help ensure that everyone is following environmental laws. We can:

• SPEAK OUT about a development program's environmental impact, if we think the project is creating a problem;
• INFORM our government representatives of our opinions;
• COLLECT signatures on a petition for or against a project;
• PRAISE public programs that are done in an environmentally safe way;
• REQUEST financial statements and other documentation from our officials or a development organization working on a project;
• ENCOURAGE the government to pass new legislation to protect the environment;
• GATHER community members together to discuss environmental issues, or a specific environmental problem; and
• CONDUCT a publicity campaign to raise public interest on a particular environmental issue.

Can you think of other opportunities within our democracy to do things that help protect the environment? List at least 3 in your copy.

Activity

Research and write a letter to your local official informing him or her of an environmental problem in your area and requesting that he or she work to address the problem. Include in the letter some possible solutions to the problem you find. Remember to praise the official for the work he or she has already done in various areas.

ACTIVITIES <TOP>

Mainly for individual and group work:

1. Everything around us, living and non-living, is called our environment. All environments are made up of a set of parts, which work together, and depend on each other. Such a working structure is called a system.

a) Describe (or act out) a music group, which is giving a concert or performing on TV. What would happen if i) the microphones didn't work ii) the
guitarist didn't come iii) the electricity supply went off iv) the singer was ill?
b) Can you describe the environment of interconnection 2 in the textbook? Try to picture it, with a pond, fields and so on. What would happen if i) all the snakes were killed ii) spraying killed all insects?
c) In what way are a) and b) both systems?

2. What enables rice to grow? List at least 4 things.

3. What is pollution?

4. What kinds of pollution do people produce?

5. What is the name of the Ministry involved with environmental issues?

6. Read the following and answer the questions.

a) Which country is this about?
b) Write 2 sentences giving general information about this country.
c) What is meant by 'native' forest?
d) What is the difference between forest vegetation and crops?
e) How does the salt get into the soil?
f) What are the severe problems facing farmers?
g) How could this salinity problem be stopped?
g) Why do you think this is not happening?
7. What source of energy do you use for cooking? Is it a source that one day will be finished, or is it one that will always be there?

8. Name 3 sources of energy, which will always be available and 3 that are being used up. Which source is better for Nepal and the world?

9. Where does your water come from, and how does it reach your home?

10. Keep a record of the amount of water your family uses in a day, and what you use it for.

11. Name 4 ways we can destroy soil.

12. What can forests and jungles provide for humans? Write 2-3 sentences explaining if trees are cut what will result.

13. Make a list of the types of rubbish and approximate amounts that your family throws away each week. Where and how is it disposed of?

14. Classify rubbish into 3 groups.

15. What does it mean to recycle something?

16. Give local examples of recycling.

17. Why is the disposal of sewage such an important issue for any government?

18. What kinds of sanitation/sewage disposal are used in your locality? Are there parts of your community with no access to good sanitation?

19. Why are respiratory (lung) diseases so deadly and widespread in Jumla, Humla and Mugu?

20. What is the difference between development and sustainable development?
21. New roads are being built to all district centers. In pairs, one of you think of all the advantages of such roads, and one of you think of the disadvantages. Be careful to include all environmental issues. Think about the people living in the areas where the roads are being built. What if the roads are built through a forest?

22. Your elected representative has money to conduct a development project in your VDC. What type of project would you want? How can you affect your official's decision of what project he or she chooses? Are there other people in your community who can help?

23. Before a dam is built in Nepal, what should be done? Who should the builders talk to? Who can help to decide where the dam should be built? Who can help decide how the money from the dam should be spent?

24. Let's say all the people in your community decided it was best to begin a sanitation program to improve the health of community members. They decided that it is important to build latrines and make sure people wash their hands with soap after using the latrines and before cooking. How should your community members create such a sanitation program? Make plans that include community organizations, government officials, villagers, members of parliament, schools, the media, etc.

25. What kind of environment would your 'dream city' have? Of course, a perfect place can never be achieved, but we can always work to improve what we have. What do you think could be done to improve your current environment? How would you go about doing it?

26. China and Russia both have poor records of environmental preservation. What kind of governments do they have? Who do you think within these governments make decisions about environmental policy? Do you think a different kind of government may be more effective improving environmental conditions in the country. If so, why? If not, why not?

27. How does democracy make it possible for us to improve the environmental
conditions in our country?

CONCLUSION <TOP>

In this unit you have learned that:

• All living and non-living things form our ecosystem. People are a part of this ecosystem.
• People depend on essential resources such as water, sunlight, soil, air and plants. We need to protect these resources or people will not survive.
• Humans interact with the environment by removing natural resources and using them for people's well being.
• Sustainable development means that we improve the quality of our lives today, using our water, air, soil and plants, but not destroy these essential resources so future generations can use them.
• We destroy the soil by building too many roads, allowing animals to graze too much in the same places, using bad fertilizers, planting too many crops year after year on the same land and cutting down trees.
• Our forests are essential as a source of oxygen for the air and to help prevent flooding and landslides. Cutting down trees for any purpose, over picking timber, fruit, nuts and other food products and letting animals graze too much in the forests destroy this essential resource.
• Some rubbish created by humans is biodegradable and can be returned to the soil. Other rubbish can be recycled and still other rubbish may be toxic and should be stored far away from humans.
• Our water is often not fit for drinking, bathing or cooking.
• Poor water quality results mostly from a lack of good rubbish disposal and sewage sites.
• Vehicle exhaust, industry fumes, the burning of rubbish and fuel, the burning of coal and the use of kerosene burners and fire pits creates air pollution.
• Air pollution is very dangerous for our health.
  Noise pollution can harm us psychologically as we become less efficient and more irritated and stressed.
• As the population increases in Nepal, we have the potential to damage our natural resources even more. We can take personal responsibility for
  cleaning our environment by planting trees, cleaning-up our trash and
  disposing of it in appropriate ways, taking care of our cars to limit the exhaust they create and not wasting our natural resources.
• All the people within our democracy can help to protect our scarce natural resources. This includes: community members living in an area where development projects occur; government leaders supervising or approving projects; forest workers; community based organization leaders; teachers; and students.
• As citizens in a democracy we can help ensure that everyone is following environmental laws. We can:

  - SPEAK OUT about a development program's environmental impact, if we think the project is creating a problem;
  - INFORM our government representatives of our opinions;
  - COLLECT signatures on a petition for or against a project;
  - PRAISE public programs that are done in an environmentally safe way;
  - REQUEST financial statements and other documentation from our officials or a development organization working on a project;
  - ENCOURAGE the government to pass new legislation to protect the environment;
  - GATHER community members together to discuss environmental issues, or a specific environmental problem; and
  - CONDUCT a publicity campaign to raise public interest on a particular environmental issue.

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