Journal articles on the topic 'Sustainable Development Plan (Mustang, Nepal)'

In the recent years, transdisciplinary research and development have received increased attention, also in renewable energy planning and design. In contrast to theory-driven research, transdisciplinary approaches relate to the real-life phenomena and societally relevant problems. Transdisciplinary collaboration (TDC) emphasizes the mutual learning process between researchers and actors from outside academia, and the common creation of knowledge that is solution-oriented, socially robust and transferable to both scientific and societal practice. The following article discusses a transdisciplinary collaboration project on planning and designing a Solar Street Light solution in the village of Jhong, Mustang. The project is part of the MSESSD program at IOE, which has the goal to plan and implement renewable energy solution in rural areas in Nepal. The goal of the solar street light project was to contribute to Jhong’s approach of becoming a sustainable settlement. The article analyses three TDC phases of the project: 1. Gather information, discuss the problem with stakeholders and translate material, functional, operational requirements into scientific researchable questions. 2. Documenting strategies to develop a mutual learning process and 3. Assessing results for both for the stakeholders and for academic practice. Findings of the project indicate that transdisciplinary collaboration in renewable energy projects can help to operationalize learning between different actors and realize applicable results on contextualized levels. However, planned outcomes may vary and from a scientific perspective, methodologies for TC are not clearly defined or systematized yet, terminologies are vague, and de facto power relations in the field can obstruct the collaboration process. The last part of the article will point out some of the future challenges and possibilities for transdisciplinary research and development.

Contemporary researches have revealed that traditional institutions are very strong in governing natural resources. They possess rich pool of indigenous knowledge which is valuable to adapt extreme environmental conditions. On the other side, it is less studied about how indigenous knowledge can be used and how traditional institutions can be mobilized in planned climate change adaptation initiatives at local level. In the mean time, Mustang district has prepared climate adaptation plans for all communities and declared as the first district to have such plans. On this backdrop, this study has explored climate change, state of adaptation and role of traditional institutions impacts in Mustang. The findings of the study revealed that climate change in Mustang is at much faster pace than in other regions. Local people have practiced autonomous adaptation and used indigenous knowledge in diversifying livelihood opportunities. The traditional institution- Mukhiya and mother groups have played important role in adaptation process through good governance of critical natural resources- forest, land and water. They practiced equity in participation and benefit sharing. The planned adaptation process has initiated by formal institutions following a participatory approach. But, these adaptation plans have neither recognized the role of Mukhiya nor mentioned about the use of indigenous knowledge in adaption processes. This paper concludes that indigenous knowledge integrated with scientific knowledge; and mobilization of traditional institutions together with formal institutions can excel adaptive capacity development in efficient and more sustainable way. Thus, this paper urges for formal recognition of traditional institution and integration of indigenous knowledge in planned adaptation initiatives.

Integrated Conservation and Development Projects (ICDPs) have been undertaken in many countries due to expectations of their supporting both natural resource sustainability and livelihoods. However, they have been challenged by critics over the years, who claim that conservation goals take precedence over local development in practice, thereby worsening the vulnerability of resource-dependent people. Nonetheless, one ICDP implemented in Nepal, the Annapurna Conservation Area Project (ACAP), has been largely regarded by researchers and practitioners as an ICDP success case. Under the authority of a conservation-oriented NGO, ACAP, the ICDP engages local communities participatory for resource management. One community within ACAP has been found to have a substantial timber surplus that satisfies conservation goals, but could also become a sizeable and sustainable source of income for local development. We interrogate the rules and practices of timber management in this community to explore the why behind this practice, discussing how modes of environmental governance aimed at producing behaviors to manage natural resources in particular ways (‘environmentalists’) feature in the seemingly conservation-oriented de jure rules and de facto practices and in authority relations in and around the community.

Sustainable development has been one of the top priorities in the present world. Community development programmes are considered important in achieving sustainability. Universities or educational institutions often talk about, and collaborate with community for its development. However, there is less attention to an institutional mechanism to include local government in the collaboration of university and community for designing and implementing sustainable community development programmes. This paper advances a model of tripartite collaboration between the university, local government and community in promoting sustainable community development through a local development plan. Drawing upon the thematic reviews of selective literature in the field of sustainable development, community development, university- community collaboration, and policies and practices of local development plan in Nepal, this paper, from the perspective of social dimensions of sustainable development, argues that the local development plan can be an avenue for collaboration between the university, local government and community for sustainable community development.

Development of hydropower projects involves a large amount of initial investment. Unlike other construction projects, hydropower projects are riskier to undertake since, the projects are large in size, linear in nature and involve many parties and stakeholders. The projects are facing cost overrun, schedule slippage, environmental, and social problems due to the various risk factors associated with the projects, which have to be identified and analysed so that the issues can be mitigated for the sustainable hydropower development in the country. This research involved identification and analysis of risk factors, which led to cost overrun and impact on the social and ecological environment due to the development of hydropower. The risk factors were identified through a questionnaire survey to the experts and literature review. The identified risks were analysed qualitatively considering both the probability of occurrence of the risk and its impact on the project and were prioritised with the help of P-I Matrix, also known as Look-Up table. The survey results revealed that the critical risk factors for the sustainable hydropower development are land acquisition problem, public disorder, adverse geological conditions, resettlement and rehabilitation, flooding, change in laws and regulations, labour disputes and strikes, and sedimentation problem. This study shall be helpful to the developers and project managers to have a better risk response plan for sustainable hydropower project development.

Fertilizer is a vital input for agriculture production. With the growing popularity of modern agriculture, fertilizer consumption in Nepal has been increasing over the years. Since, Nepal does not produce any fertilizers, demand for fertilizers are being met through formal and informal imports. Over the years, fertilizer policy changes have been observed several times in a bid to satisfy farmers' demand for quality fertilizers. While fertilizer policy change of deregulating the fertilizer trade initially produced positive impact in overall supply situation, deregulation policy could not largely ensure the supply of quality fertilizers in required quantity and time. Re-introducing subsidy regime in chemical fertilizer by the government's recent decision could be considered as a positive development towards meeting farmers demand for quality fertilizer. However, given the quota of subsidized fertilizer, which is far less than the actual demand, the problem of supply is likely to continue. To address current problem of short supply government should increase the quota at least up to three hundred thousand metric tons. Moreover, Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives should come up with a long-term plan aiming at sustainable management of soil fertility.Key words: Fertilizer subsidy; Fertilizer deregulation; Fertilizer importThe Journal of AGRICULTURE AND ENVIRONMENTVol. 11, 2010Page: 126-137Uploaded date: 16 September, 2010

Road network deals with the development of a comprehensive plan for construction and operation of transportation facilities. In order to develop efficient and better transport facility, it is necessary to have a proper road network. In sustainable road network planning, planners put into consideration factors like gradients or slope, land-use and geology with community and governmental interest. These different considerations make the planning process complex and generate confusion in the decision making process. The use of geographic information system (GIS) and multi-criteria analysis (MCA) has helped planners to reduce complexity and to achieve desired and more accurate results. MCA prevents the imposition of criteria limit and gives opportunity to decision makers to enter their own judgments. This provides a better communication among the community for creating a more open choice for analysis and possible changes if necessary. In this study, road network has been analyzed with optimal least cost path algorithm of spatial analysis in GIS using different ancillary data layers and each layer weight-scoring has been computed with MCA in spatial decision support system (SDSS). The optimal least cost path would provide the best option with certainty and considers a gradient, connected neighbors, thematic cost and surface distance in three dimensional spaces. The path gradient can be adjusted as per the requirements, depending upon the terrain conditions and possible to design a more realistic route automatically with appropriate parameters.Nepalese Journal on Geoinformatics -13, 2014, Page: 34-40

In 2015, the United Nations (UN) adopted the resolution of transforming our world by the year 2030 through the agenda of Sustainable Development with a primary focus on strengthening universal peace with larger freedom [United Nations 2015, Griggs D 2012]. All member countries including Nepal agreed to this ambitious plan for relieving poverty and reducing global inequality over a span of 15 years starting from 2016 to 2030. All the health programs including, Millennium Developmental Goals, universal eye health or Vision 2020 – the elimination of avoidable blindness by 2020 are expected to thrive under the umbrella of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). There are 17 goals and 169 targets. The three dimensions of sustainable development - economical, social and environmental - are balanced in this new initiative [eye health Australia 2015]. The overall effect of this initiative will be beneficial to human beings and our planet with human health as one facet among many. All efforts would be directed to review, realign and integrate the ongoing public health activities to attain SGDs [World Health Organization 2016]

Nepal, as a member of the United Nations, is committed to achieve the global initiatives of Sustainable Development Agenda by 2030. Toward translating the commitment into action, Nepal has produced preliminary SDGs Report in 2015, even before the formal adoption of the 2030. Moreover, Voluntary National Review Report, Sustainable Development Goals, Status and Roadmap: 2016-2030, and Sustainable Development Goals 2016-2030 National (Preliminary) Report were developed. Further, Nepal has initiated mainstreaming the 2030 Agenda into national policies and plans. The 14th periodic plan, the national budget, and other sectoral plans have been closely aligned with the SDGs and the approach paper for 15th five-year plan is intended to achieve the SDG. The upcoming 15th periodic plan will basically aim to support the government in achieving all the SDGs by 2030 and help Nepal emerge as a middle-income country by 2030. The indicators comprise of renewable energy for electricity and vehicles, injuries due to disaster (number), greenhouse gases, adaptation plans, trained man power, climate change educations, and climate smart villages and farming are identified as indicators under climate and energy goals. Similarly, under forest goals proportion of forest land, forest under community-based management (% of total dense forest areas), protected area (including forest, in % of total land area), handover of forests to leasehold forest groups (000 hectare), wild tigers (number), rhino (number) etc are included. Likewise, conservation of lakes, wetlands, and ponds (number) and potentially dangerous lakes (%) are included under fresh water goals. However, there was no scientific basis how the indicators were derived for the environmental goals. In this backdrop, a study in identifying site specific, measurable, time bound, relevant and attainable indicators was paramount. Based on the secondary literature review, stakeholder consultation at sub national and local level, the indicators were verified and suggested strategies that help localizing the environmental indicators at sub-national and local level in Nepal. The study was therefore centered on reviewing the environmental indicators and suggest appropriate strategies so that it helps expediting localization of SDG in Nepal.

Vegetable seed enterprise is a highly potential sub-sector for the economic growth of rural farmers in Nepal. Rukum has been known as the most important district for vegetable seed production since long time because of favorable agro-climatic condition. However, Rukums' sub-sector is facing several limitations including organized production and marketing, technology adoption and entrepreneurship development. This study has been carried out to assess the vegetable seed sub-sector of Rukum and propose action plans accordingly for the sustainable seed enterprise development. The study conducted stakeholder workshop and field survey; consulted district line agencies, seed producers and cooperatives, agro-vets and seed companies, and reviewed previous works. The study found that there were many individual farmers, farmers' groups and cooperatives being involved in vegetable seed production in the district. The role of private sector is emerging rapidly with higher share in the seed marketing. The public sector is still a major player for conducting research; and provision of source seeds, quality assurance and other support services. Strategic efforts and action plans are needed to push the existing traditional seed sub-sector towards commercial venture. Technology adoption for quality seed production, processing and marketing; transformation of the classical seed sub-sector into a competitive and sustainable enterprise; organized and demand led seed production programs; and coordination and participatory approaches among stakeholders in seed value chain activities are highly recommended.

Tourism is like a two edge sword which has both positive and negative consequences. Such a drift of tourism is found applicable in all destinations big or small, old or new. Nevertheless, the development intervention of new destinations with the sustainable tourism maxim from the very beginning can be much rewarding than a mass tourism induced mature destinations. Ghodaghodi Lake Area (GLA), a new tourist destination in Ghodaghodi Municipality (GM) of Kailali, extending to 2,726 hector of wetland with its designation as a Ramasar site, constitutes immense potential for prosperity through the sustainable tourism operation and management from its existing tourism offerings like lake viewing hiking, trekking, bird watching, and religious tourism activities. In this context, this paper aims to shed light on how a new destination like GLA is embedded with a number of challenges for sustainable tourism issues and what can be its remedy from sustainable tourism perspective. Developed through mix methods (qualitative and quantitative) of research, this paper has embedded its findings with the four progressive theoretical models (advocacy, cautionary, adaptability, and knowledge based platforms) as sustainable tourism. The poorly equipped infrastructures, lack of planned development activities, meager institutional capacity, and inadequate marketing have been pointed out as the drawback. This paper recommends that the formulation of a holistic plan of actions in the form of tourism master plan consisting of a self sustaining revenue model and its sincere application is the bottom-line to address sustainable tourism appliance challenges.

Non-timber forest products are of great importance to large numbers of people whose livelihood depends for forest resources. With recognition of NTFPs contribution in livelihood and economy, many countries’ forest policies have been revised with inclusion of NTFPs development provision to certain extent. Still, most of policies including Nepal have failed to address the role NTFPs in poverty reduction. The study aims in analyzing the existing forest policies regarding non-timber forest products and the conservation and management practices being carried underlying the livelihood development of rural dwellers. Along with literature review, interview with user groups and elite persons was carried out to understand the development plan from government and community level. Herbs and NTFPs Development policy is responsible in sustainable conservation of NTFPs promoting their commercialization, still the policy reserves space for implementation. The study urges the effective role of government in NTFPs sustainable conservation and management process to promote livelihood of forest dependents.

Background: Nepal has a long tradition of designing good multisectoral nutrition policy. However, success of policy implementation has varied. More evidence on how to successfully carry out multisector nutrition policy is needed. Objective: We tracked the influence of Nepal’s multisectoral nutrition plan (MSNP) on the process of priority setting and budgeting from 2014 to 2016. Methods: This study used a mixed-method longitudinal design to track qualitative and budgetary changes related to MSNP processes nationally as well as in 3 districts. Qualitative changes in each study area were assessed through interviews, observation, news content, and meeting notes. Changes in allocations and expenditures were calculated based on budget documents, work plans, and validation interviews. Results: Improved understanding of the MSNP was documented nationally and in study districts but not in VDCs. Human resources, ownership, bottom-up planning, coordination, advocacy, and sustainable structures all emerged as important factors within the enabling environment. Evidence suggests the MSNP influenced improvements in the last 3 factors. We also found notable increases in activities and financing for nutrition—allocations increased steadily between FY 2013–2014 and FY 2015–2016, and 28% of total nutrition allocations in the final year came from new or expanded MSNP-affiliated activities. Data from 3 districts highlight challenges linking local planning and budgeting to central-level structures. Conclusions: The MSNP appears to have strengthened the nutrition system in Nepal and increased priority and funding for nutrition. Next steps include strengthening linkages to the districts and below. Other countries can learn from the MSNP’s success in increasing investment for nutrition.

Recent political envision has redesigned the administrative units of Nepal into federal states with the aim of decentralizing the power to ensure the process of rapid sustainable development. As a consequence, all the public service agencies need to restructure their delivery units for achieving goals targeted by the newly adopted administrative regime plan. With the aim of recommending the best watershed management models for this changing context, this paper aims to review existing watershed management models applied in different continents like European union, African union and the United States where they have already adopted this watershed management plans into their federal states or countries union successfully. Although they are geographically distinct and economically advanced, the major approach adopted is a river basin approach with the clear legislative framework. This approach is highly succeeded between interstate (or between member countries) because of political or interstate commitments for the common pool resource water. Clear policies and commitments between member countries or interstate greatly improved the function of this mechanism. With the light of those experiences in the field of watershed management plan adopted in federal or union countries, river based integrated management plan balancing efforts between interstates seems best models in the world, and is also proposed for the new federal republic of Nepal.

This study was carried out during the period from March to August 2018. Published literatures and some unpublished data were collected from different sources and analyzed. It was found that the community people do not have good understanding and adequate participation on the sustainability of water supply systems. They only have interests in the regular flow in taps. They are also less aware in the regular repair and maintenance of water supply systems. Furthermore, the expectation of community is always financial support from local body and donor agency. The governance part of water user’s committee was also found unsatisfactory. Thus, the people should be provided with capacity development trainings for the sustainable development of community water supply system. similarly, implementation of water safety plan, and regular monitoring from local body are crucial activities that should be given high emphasis for the sustainability of rural water supply system.

Restoration of a polluted river front is as important as conservation of a polluted river itself because its shore line has the potential of making the conservation project self-sustainable. In the present study, an attempt has been made to study the polluted river front of a river in India. A self-sustainable restoration and development experimental plan has been prepared for the area considered in the study. This experimental plan aims at utilizing arable land strips on both sides of the river, currently deserted or encroached by rank vegetation, open wastewater drains, etc. The cost estimates have also been presented for various items and actions proposed under this study to prove its economical sustainability in the long run. The proposed plan and the existing conditions have been compared using CIPAR index to ensure increased public accessibility. It has been found that the present unsatisfactory conditions of the riverfront considered in this study can be raised to more than 90 % satisfaction by implementation of the proposed plan in a period of 3 to 4 years. HYDRO Nepal JournalJournal of Water Energy and EnvironmentIssue: 21, July, 2017Page: 25-33Upload Date: July 18, 2017

Hydropower, in which Nepal has comparative advantage, has a potential to contribute to Nepal’s energy security and sustainable development. The government of Nepal enacted the Hydropower Development Policy in 2001 (HDP-2001) as an overarching policy to coordinate all policies forthcoming in this sector. This paper has critically analysed HDP-2001 by applying the Ecosystem services-based Strength, Weakness, Opportunity, and Threat (SWOT) technique. The paper has evaluated peer-reviewed scholarly articles, secondary data, and government publications available in public domain. The strengths and weaknesses of the policy were analysed by applying seven specific indicators. The research indicates that HDP-2001 has been successful in overcoming some of the pertinent challenges in Nepalese hydroelectric industry, however, it also faces several limitations on account of climate change, economic dislocations, effective monitoring, ensuring competitiveness, delivering fair price to the consumers, and institutional governance issues. Designing a practical mitigation plan, while being aware of its limitations, could be helpful in minimizing the impact of these exogenous factors.

Introduction: One of the goals of sustainable development is to make cities inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable. The healthy city approach is becoming increasingly important in addressing a large number of urban health problems and promoting healthy lifestyles in city dwellers.Objectives: We performed a case study of the healthy city project in Wonju, South Korea to find out its characteristics and approaches, and to explore its relevance to the cities in Nepal.Methods: We conducted a case study of the healthy city Wonju project by reviewing relevant published articles and web pages of the city (http://healthycity.wonju.go.kr), alliance for healthy cities, Korean statistical information service and World Health Organization. We also reviewed articles and documents related to healthy cities in South-East Asian countries and Nepal.Results: The healthy city Wonju project, started in 2004, executed its five-year plan between 2006 and 2010, and is currently running with its 10 year long-term plan (2011- 2020). For its success, Wonju City has been awarded six times by WHO. Recently, Wonju city organized the seventh global conference of the AFHC in August, 2016 in Wonju with the main theme of “our cities, our health, our future”. Key features of the healthy city Wonju project included: Strong political commitment of local government, financing the healthy city initiative with tobacco consumption tax, partnerships with universities, well organized healthy city teams under city administration, coordination with national and regional healthy cities alliance, community participation, and involvement in research for evidence-based planning and evaluation. Nepal, one of the fast urbanizing countries in South-East Asia faces large number of urban health problems.Conclusions: Though numbers of cities and city dwellers are increasing rapidly, Nepal lacks healthy city projects and networking. The approaches of healthy city Wonju might be useful for developing countries such as Nepal to initiate and develop healthy cities projects in a sustainable way. Journal of Gandaki Medical CollegeVol. 10, No. 1, 2017, page: 34-42

The high mountains stretch over 20.4% of Nepal’s land surface with diverse climatic conditions and associated vegetation types. An understanding of tree species and forest structural pattern variations across different climatic regions is crucial for mountain ecology. This study strived to carry out a comparative evaluation of species diversity, main stand variables, and canopy cover of forests with contrasting precipitation conditions in the Annapurna range. Firstly, climate data provided by CHELSA version 1.2, were used to identify distinct precipitation regimes. Lamjung and Mustang were selected as two contrasting precipitation regions, and have average annual precipitation of 2965 mm and 723 mm, respectively. Stratified random sampling was used to study 16 plots, each measuring 500 m2 and near the tree line at an elevation range of 3000 to 4000 m across different precipitation conditions. In total, 870 trees were identified and measured. Five hemispherical photos using a fisheye lens were taken in each plot for recording and analyzing canopy cover. Margalef’s index was used to measure species richness, while two diversity indices: the Shannon–Wiener Index and Simpson Index were used for species diversity. Dominant tree species in both study regions were identified through the Important Value Index (IVI). The Wilcoxon rank-sum test was employed to determine the differences in forest structure and composition variables between the two precipitation regimes. In total, 13 species were recorded with broadleaved species predominating in the high precipitation region and coniferous species in the low precipitation region. Higher species richness and species diversity were recorded in the low precipitation region, whereas the main stand variables: basal area and stem density were found to be higher in the high precipitation region. Overall, an inverse J-shaped diameter distribution was found in both precipitation regions signifying uneven-aged forest. A higher proportion of leaning and buttressed trees were recorded in the high precipitation region. However, similar forest canopy cover conditions (>90%) were observed in both study regions. The findings of this research provide a comprehensive narrative of tree species and forest structure across distinct precipitation regimes, which can be crucial to administrators and local people for the sustainable management of resources in this complex region.

<p>Energy is one of the important necessities of the society and basic for sustainable development. The demand of electricity is increasing. Micro hydro power plants are one of the effective tools to provide rural household with energy in Nepal. These plants are also provided with government subsidies. Energy is produced by the water current from micro hydro stations. There are water availability changes due to the climatic changes and other non climatic changes; this has made water very scarce. There are few studies done in water availability and energy and even less in operator level. This study focuses in Lalitpur district in Bagmati zone, Nepal. There is lack of interlink study of the different water uses like irrigation, drinking water, animal husbandry water use etc which affects water availability. Integrating interdisciplinary water planning in energy development is one of the important steps to increase the sustainability of micro hydro plants. The operators working in micro hydro plants have already perceived the change in water availability. Thus it is important to plan the water resources using the operator’s local knowledge and situation to cope with increasing demand of electricity and the impacts of decreasing water resources.</p><p><strong>Journal of Advanced College of Engineering and Management,</strong> Vol. 2, 2016, Page: 63-78</p>

Nepal has distinctly three ecological regions: (i) high mountain, (ii) mid-hills, and (iii) terai with their varying climatic and physiographic features. The experiences gathered from Irrigation Sector Projects implemented under various donor agencies such as the World Bank (WB), Asian Development Bank (ADB), and UN/ILO have shown that successful irrigation projects must be defined and planned according to specific ecological regions and pertinent to the local environment. An integrated development approach considers the land use, roads, market, and other economic activities as they relate to prospects for poverty alleviation. Land evaluation and subsequent land use planning according to the soil, climate, land profile, and suitability of agriculture practices should be considered in the development works to ensure true benefit to the rural populations. The integrated approach as such will provide long term sustainability through environmentally sound practices. This approach has been widely applied in the European countries, Korea, Japan, and Sri Lanka.This paper primarily focuses on the irrigation and development approaches most suitable to Nepal’s three ecological regions. High mountain regions should be developed with pasture land, horticulture, organic vegetable farming, and tourism. Irrigation technology in these areas should be simple pipe conveyance, and tank irrigation. In the mid-hills horticulture on the sloping terrain and cereal crops in the river valleys with other diversified cropping systems should be applied. The Terai region is the ‘Bread Basket’ of Nepal, and has high potential for diversified agriculture and industrial development.For development in these regions to succeed, road networks and transportation facilities are essential to economic growth. Road transportation maximizes opportunity for tourism and other economic activities. Development work must be planned in an integrated approach, which should be based on appropriate land use patterns for environmentally sustainable practices. An ideal solution would be to envision the watershed as the unit for eco-friendly sustainable development planning involving all the stakeholders under the watershed purview. As an example, the principles of Integrated Water Resources Management Planning (IWRMP), and Integrated Watershed Management Plan (IWMP) have been successfully applied in the USA and Australia (Box 1). It has illustrated that vegetative covered catchment stores large amount of rain water, increases groundwater table, reduces erosion of soil, and lastly decreases the intensity of flood hazard. Whereas, the naked catchment areas are highly erodible, does not store rain water, susceptible to high erosion and landslides, and increases the flood intensity by three fold than a vegetative covered one. The vegetative cover increases the water resources availability for over all development for agriculture. HYDRO Nepal JournalJournal of Water Energy and EnvironmentIssue: 20Page: 31-40

Abstract. In lieu of advancement in human civilization from nomadic age to quest for welfare capitalism in recent days, land resources have been one of the most sought after assets for subsequent socio-economic development. The concept of land, once only geo-political has evolved to be interdisciplinary with developmental and managerial aspects in regional and urban planning worldwide making the facets of land management more complex than ever. In the context of modern Nepal, governance in systematic land management appeared during mid-1960 only with establishment of Ministry of Land Reform (MoLR). This paper aims to provide constructive criticism upon institutional fragmentation, and fragile policy and implementation gaps in land use administration which have been bewildering the concepts of regional and urban planning in Nepal. The recitation of this work is primarily based on selected literature review of relevant research on land use planning along with two representative case studies in national context and in international scenario as well. Despite rigorous efforts, the issues of competence in land administration, migration and syndicate in urban real estate remain as the major problems in land management in Nepal. Also, the new state restructuring of federal Nepal has already upraised the challenges in land resources planning for local governments who but seem muddled up in constructing rural economy and strategic urban plan for regional development. Nevertheless, these concerns in regional and urban planning can be addressed through practice of sustainable land management with thoughtful consideration of ambiguities in land use policy and implementation.

After the restoration of the democracy in Nepal, the demand for spending up decentralization process has been gained ground. As a result of increasingly assertive role of stakeholders, the enactment of local self-governance Act (LSGA), 1999 in line with 9th plan, objective had been achieved providing the base for further promotion of decentralization framework in the country. Municipal financing is new concept in Nepal. Municipal financing indicates the study of various sources of revenue (both internal and external) and their collection, allocation, mobilization and utilization of those resource in such a manner that ultimate municipal goal can be achieved through it. For sustainable development effort conducted by local government to realized revenue and evaluation such performance was done through field surveys and on the basis of existing available data and reports. Simple tabular presentation percentage tools is used to analyzed data and found PSMC is not success to collect sufficient tax revenue as its possibilities. Janapriya Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies Vol. 2, No.1 (December 2013), page: 51-60

Ecotourism is a form of nature-based tourism. It is recognized as the sustainable alternative to the mass tourism and is executed to contribute to the protection and enhancement of various component of the environment. As environmental and cultural diversity are considered as the greatest assets to ecotourism, Nepal with high cultural and environmental diversity is prime destinations for ecotourism and other forms of nature-based tourism. Ecotourism contributes to the conservation of biodiversity as a primary source of internal funding in the protected areas. Researches on the aspects of ecotourism in Nepal were focused towards potentiality evaluation, impact assessment and the impact of climate change including others. Despite the significance of ecotourism in the Nepalese economy, research on governance aspects of ecotourism is limited. This article aims to analyze the role of government in ecotourism development in Nepal through policy-based approach. Beside this, data of visitation in the protected areas was evaluated. Tourist number in the protected area was observed to increase in a gradual fashion in response to the growing number of tourists visiting Nepal. Tourism policies of government primarily focus to increase the number of tourists in the country and fail to recognize tourism carrying capacity and environmental implication. Different tourism and other sectoral policies attempt to cover the issues of ecotourism, but, ecotourism specific policy is yet to be drafted. In addition to this, the tourism aspect is addressed by the species conservation action plan for species-level conservation within the country. In all, nine action plans reviewed, the provisions relating to tourism were found to be too general, most of them acknowledging ecotourism as a source of conservation funding but failed to define species-specific policy. A similar trend can be observed in the protected area management plan excluding the Chitwan and Banke National Park. Further study on the implementation status and formulation of new policy to address the holistic issues of ecotourism is an urgent requirement.

Kathmandu, the capital city of Nepal is one of the most populated destinations of the country. The water pollution remains a challenging issue for the sustainable development in the valley despite several pollution control devices, awareness-raising and policy measures. During monsoon period 2018, surface water samples were collected from 10 sites of the Bagmati River and its tributaries within the valley to evaluate the water quality. The different physico-chemical parameters were determined to assess pollution along a 26.5 km stretch between Sundarijal Dam to Balkhu Bridge of the Bagmati River and its selected tributaries. The Electrical Conductivity (EC) ranged from 33-816μS/cm while turbidity ranged from 0.3- 981 NTU and Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) ranged from 16 to 612 mg/l. The ionic concentrations were higher in the lower sections where the population density is high compared to the head waters. The high value of TDS and low value of Dissolved Oxygen (DO) in the lower belts of rivers were due to large inputs of waste water, uncoordinated rapid urban expansion, inadequate waste water treatment facilities and organic loads caused by anthropogenic activities. A comparative study for the water quality variables in the urban areas showed that the main river and its tributaries were equally polluted. From water analysis, downstream sites showed contamination and comparatively polluted among the tributaries and Bagmati River. There is a need to take action plan against polluted site for sustainability of aquatic health of the riverine environment and to address the river for its longer life both by public and government sectors.

Abstract Introduction Nepal has made considerable progress on improving child survival during the Millennium Development Goal period, however, further progress will require accelerated reduction in neonatal mortality. Neonatal survival is one of the priorities for Sustainable Development Goals 2030. This paper examines the trends, equity gaps and factors associated with neonatal mortality between 2001 and 2016 to assess the likelihood of Every Newborn Action Plan (ENAP) target being reached in Nepal by 2030. Methods This study used data from the 2001, 2006, 2011 and 2016 Nepal Demographic and Health Surveys. We examined neonatal mortality rate (NMR) across the socioeconomic strata and the annual rate of reduction (ARR) between 2001 and 2016. We assessed association of socio-demographic, maternal, obstetric and neonatal factors associated with neonatal mortality. Based on the ARR among the wealth quintile between 2001 and 2016, we made projection of NMR to achieve the ENAP target. Using the Lorenz curve, we calculated the inequity distribution among the wealth quintiles between 2001 and 2016. Results In NDHS of 2001, 2006, 2011 and 2016, a total of 8400, 8600, 13,485 and 13,089 women were interviewed respectively. There were significant disparities between wealth quintiles that widened over the 15 years. The ARR for NMR declined with an average of 4.0% between 2001 and 2016. Multivariate analysis of the 2016 data showed that women who had not been vaccinated against tetanus had the highest risk of neonatal mortality (adjusted odds ratio [AOR] 3.38; 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.20–9.55), followed by women who had no education (AOR 1.87; 95% CI 1.62–2.16). Further factors significantly associated with neonatal mortality were the mother giving birth before the age of 20 (AOR 1.76; CI 95% 1.17–2.59), household air pollution (AOR 1.37; CI 95% 1.59–1.62), belonging to a poorest quintile (AOR 1.37; CI 95% 1.21–1.54), residing in a rural area (AOR 1.28; CI 95% 1.13–1.44), and having no toilet at home (AOR 1.21; CI 95% 1.06–1.40). If the trend of neonatal mortality rate of 2016 continues, it is projected that the poorest family will reach the ENAP target in 2067. Conclusions Although neonatal mortality is declining in Nepal, if the current trend continues it will take another 50 years for families in the poorest group to attain the 2030 ENAP target. There are different factors associated with neonatal mortality, reducing the disparities for maternal and neonatal care will reduce mortality among the poorest families.

The Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Fund Development Board (The Board) has been implementing WATSAN schemes in Nepal since March 14, 1996 under assistance from World Bank/IDA and DFID. The Board brought fundamental changes in the conventional supply driven approach to promote Demand Driven Community based water supply and sanitation project with cost effective and sustainable services to the rural people of Nepal. Communities are supported to form inclusive local water supply and sanitation user groups that can plan, implement, and operate drinking water and sanitation infrastructure that delivers sustainable health, hygiene and productivity benefits to rural households. Under the Board fund presently 165 NGOs partner together with local communities in 71 districts of Nepal to deliver safe water and sanitation services. The Board has contributed to improve sector institutional performance by grooming service delivery capacity of NGOs, Communities and mainstreaming its successful approaches in to Government mechanism and other sector agencies delivering developmental services in Nepal. Latest contribution of the Board is to support Ministry of Physical Planning and Works in establishing computerized Monitoring and Evaluation Unit and provide information regarding progress in rural water supply and sanitation sector. This will help the government in performance based budget allocation to service delivering agencies. As to Board's own performance various studies shows after project 90 percent hand wash practice in community, 33 percent No Open Defecation schemes and 84–92 percent sustainability of 3-8years old schemes

Tourism management plan at the local level provides a framework for balanced development of a given area through the utilization of the existing tourism resources by the provision of tourism services that are required in order to attract the tourists from different parts of the world. Therefore, identifying and understanding of the natural, demographic and socio-cultural resource potential that enable a given area and its communities to shape tourism development according to local needs and within recognized environment and resource constrains. It is in this context the present paper is aimed to identify cultural and natural sites of tourism importance and problems and prospects of tourism for development in order to provide information on the basis of which can be undertaken sustainable actions for tourism development in Sarangkot VDC of Kaski district, Western Nepal.DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3126/ttp.v8i0.11507 The Third Pole: Journal of Geography Vol.8-10, pp. 9-19: 2010

Nepalese agriculture is still subsistence and traditional in nature, which makes it highly vulnerable to effects of climate change. The major impacts on agriculture from climate change are due to the pattern of rainfall and increased temperature. The increased temperature, in the longer term, has negative impact on crop yield through increased rate of respiration and evapo-transpiration process causing moisture deficit in the soil and plant system due to more emission of green house gases. Under changing precipitation trends, water harvesting is crucial to facilitate water availability. An integration of agriculture with forest, agro-forestry, can be effective to mobilize local capacities in relation to climate regulation. It is indeed necessary to formulate an integrated action plan for agricultural development in which adaptation strategies are embedded within the local spatial planning in consideration of economic, social and political context. The best adaptation measure to secure against climate change is to promote the principles and practices of sustainable agricultural technology among all farmers from marginalized to capitalized ones. More importantly, the promotional technologies of sustainable soil management, ecological practices of pest management, and participatory promotion of local varieties or landraces are the major adaptive mechanism to revive our agriculture from the impacts of climate change. Such practices are helpful to promote the concept of food sovereignty, which is utterly important in the developing countries like Nepal, rather than food security.DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3126/hn.v11i1.7222 Hydro Nepal Special Issue: Conference Proceedings 2012 pp.91-94

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to understand the traditional practices of safeguarding intangible cultural heritage (ICH) through “Guthi”, that is continued by the indigenous community of Kathmandu Valley. It explores the ancient system as a management practice rather than just a social costume. By analyzing existing laws and policies relevant to intangible heritage of Nepal, it aims to find scope for the Guthi in the formal heritage conservation practice and its relevancy in present context of 2003 Convention, where community participation plays a pivotal role.Design/methodology/approachTo study the traditional method of safeguarding heritage “Guthi system”, the case of “Yehya Punhi Festival” also known as “Indra Jatra” of Kathmandu was taken as a case. Qualitative research methodology was used to study various sub festivals within Yenya, its functions, funding mechanism and its way of continuity by Guthi. Review of various legislations associated with the heritage of Nepal, published and unpublished official documents as well as international conventions and recommendations were done. In addition to semi-structured interview with Guthi members, experts and locals; the observation of eight days long festival was also conducted,FindingsThe study found that traditional Guthi system still holds a strong value in the social structure and safeguarding of traditional practices even with negative impact of modernization. Guthi is the main reason for the continuity of the Yenya Punhi festival, along with various associated rituals, while the national legislations of Nepal do not recognize Guthi as a safeguarding practice. Traditional practice could be a way forward for implementation of 2003 convention in Nepal when Nepal has already ratified the convention. Guthi could be sustainable way of safeguarding heritage if integrated well in the formal heritage practices.Originality/valueGuthi has been studied by many researchers from anthropological perspectives and even conservation for tangible heritage but not as a mechanism of safeguarding ICH. Guthi could be one of the excellent examples of Safeguarding Intangible Heritage and could also be a good recipe for management with community participation, sustainability and indigenous knowledge. More research and publication like this is necessary to push government to look into homegrown solutions than implementing new management plan.

In the morning of 5 May 2014, over sixty people took their seats in the cosy conference hall of the Holiday Villa Beach Resort and Spa Langkawi, to witness the opening ceremony of the THIC 2014 on the theme: Dimensions of Sustainability in the Planning, Development and Management of Tourism and Hospitality Industry. The Deputy Secretary General, Ministry of Tourism and Culture Malaysia, Rashidi Hasbullah, officiated at the ceremony and joined the conference Chair Dr. Shaharuddin Tahir in welcoming participants from over a dozen countries, mostly Malaysians, Indonesians and Thais, who were also collaborators in organising the meeting. As a display of regional fraternity, the Thai and Malaysian contingents took turns to entertain attendees with a repertoire of traditional dances. This social warm up was to be continued in the evening when UUM Dean of Tourism and Hospitality, Dr. Basri Rashid, played host at a dinner given by the Langkawi Development Authority (LADA). The theme on sustainability was a timely choice given the growing interest in Langkawi and the industry at large in green tourism and the issues of sustainability. Altogether, sixty-seven papers were presented but few addressed the theme explicitly. To be sure, most papers touched on aspects of tourism and hospitality management which were linked, directly or indirectly, to the general concept of sustainable development. Most of the papers that dealt with sustainability issues were contributed by tourism researchers and this preponderance was well reflected in the keynote addresses with three of the four papers focusing on tourism. The only keynote address from a hospitality perspective was a presentation by Dr. Yusak Anshori (Universitas Ciputra) who spoke on sustainable hotel business through environment friendly practices such as a ban on smoking and commercialised recycling of waste material. He observed that although there was a general skepticism if not rejection of the radical approach to ban smoking in the Surabaya Plaza Hotel while he was in charge, the management was able to secure ample sustenance from the segment of market that favoured a smoke-free facility. The three keynote papers that discussed sustainable tourism began with Kadir Din’s address which provided an overview of the concept, current thinking on the subject, and its application on the conference site, Langkawi Island. In his view, the three pillars of sustainability as commonly presented in the literature were arguably too general to capture the influence of context-specific features which may appear to be more localised such as location in areas prone to natural hazards, inept leadership, political instability and technological change. In the case of Langkawi, he considered resource limitations (water, space, power, food supply) to be possible impediments to sustainable tourism, besides a dozen other dimensions which may constrain the capacity of the island to cater to the needs of the visitor. The second address by Kalsom Kayat traced the evolution of the concept “sustainable tourism development” which was linked to the concept of balanced development as promulgated through activities organised by the Club of Rome in 1972. The concern with economic growth was whether it could be sustained in terms of the positive and negative consequences, inluding the impacts of development on the well being of future generations. A desirable model for community-based tourism would be a situation in which the entire community consisting of heterogeneous groups of stakeholders are empowered to plan for their own future with collective community welfare in mind. To do this, there must be appropriate policies, standards and institutional arrangements. As illustrations, Kalsom described examples from four different contexts in Thailand, Nepal, China and Fiji, which together presented a range of cases with different literacies, capacities and degrees of consensus in the community, indicating non-homogeneity among host stakeholders. Institutional support from the state is thus clearly needed to harmonise the needs of hosts and guests for now and the future. The next keynote speaker, Manat Chaisawat, is a familiar figure in the ASEAN tourism circle. His long established involvement in the tourism training gave him enough exposure to recall many regional pronouncements and institutional networks which were always promising on paper, but left much to be desired on the ground. Acharn Manat recounted many initiatives articulated in documents issued by the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC), and Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand Growth Triangle (IMT-GT) since the 1980s. These regional bodies organised meetings where roadmaps, blueprints and strategic development models were presented, but as the THIC 2014 conference participants were fully aware, there had hardly been much meat that could be appreciated on the ground other than the initiatives which arose from private enterprises. Manat and the other keynote speakers were fortunate to be able to enjoy gratis the luxury of lodging at the Frangipani Langkawi Resort & Spa where innovations towards sustainable hospitality were being experimented as he had happily complimented during his keynote speech. The beaches to the east of Frangipani were probably cleaner than Waikiki, thanks to the operator Anthony Wong who continues to pursue green hospitality as his lifelong corporate goal. My own quick stroll on the beach abutting the venue of the THIC 2014 conference however, revealed a contrasting situation. I saw site occupiers engaged in open burning at the edge of a beachfront property. Along the beach there were plastic and styrofoam litters that could be seen on the spot which was ostensibly one of the best beaches on the island. The idea of acquiring a strip for a pedestrian walk, in line with the Langkawi Blueprint initiatives was strongly opposed by the local community. In this sense, Kalsom was correct in the observation that there was rarely a consensus in the community but there must be a common understanding among locals, tourists and industry insiders, before any blueprint can be effectively translated into a harmonious management of the environment. Manat’s expressed desire to see the development of a sacred heritage trail in honour of an eminent Buddhist monk Luang Pu Tuad was understandable given his religious background. The challenge here, however, was how to persuade the host community to share his sentiment that such a trail which would circumambulate non-Buddhist areas would be for the common good. My own reaction, from the lens of a believer in the wasatiyyah (moderate) approach, was that it was a great idea. Discussing the subject after his presentation, I also raised the need to promote heroines Mok and Chan, the two Malay sisters who are valourised in a downtown statue, in honour of their contributions to the provincial government of Phuket during their war of liberation from Burma. The last time I met Manat was in Pusan (Korea) where we were guests of honour as founding members of the Asia-Pacific Tourism Research Association. I subsequently attended a tourism conference and later a meeting he organised in Phuket which allowed me the opportunity to visit Kamala Beach where Aisyah the descendent of Mahsuri lived. Such was my networking with an old scholar who is now in his seventies. As we parted with a big hug at the Padang Matsirat airport, my hope was that we will meet again, so that we can continue to “gaze across the cultural border” as I had written in a presentation entitled “Gazing across the border from Sintok” in a regional meeting of a similar kind, held both in Sintok and Haatyai several years ago. My desire is that such meetings will strengthen interest among researchers in Malaysia to look beyond the Malaysian context. In so doing, they will also be interested in looking beyond the confines of their own cultural sphere, to be in a position to know and eventually accept the other. For me, this is the only way forward for a harmonious, and through that, a prosperous Malaysia. At the risk of being stigmatized by Non-Muslim readers, I must confess that I am fully committed to Prophet Muhammad’s teaching that one should not subscribe to groupism or asabiyyah. This is the way forward for a sustainable Malaysian society. If we go by the theme of the conference, there seems to be little interest in interrogating any of the multifarious dimensions of sustainable tourism, not even in the three presumed pillars—economic, social and environmental. Looking at the key words of papers, only six of the sixty-three papers mentioned sustainable or sustainability and among them only three had mindfully used the term. When a series of announcement on the conference was made almost a year earlier the subscript was intended to draw a wide audience who would be in the position to share ideas on their respective perspectives on sustainable tourism development since the concept in the subscript can be read as a catch-all tagline intended to persuade prospective participants to attend the gathering. In this sense, the organisers had succeeded in securing that critical mass of some eighty attendees, but in terms of sharing ideas and networking on sustainable tourism and hospitality the THIC series must await many more meetings before this interest in grand ideas and frameworks can gather the momentum it deserves. To be sure, as Kalsom said of the non-homegeneity of the host community, there was a non-homegeneity of attendees, with some showing spirited interest in the sustainability theme while others were more interested in the experience visiting Langkawi, period. As the meeting came to a close with a brief parting message from the conference Chair Shaharuddin and Dean Basri, we were left with a measure of excitement–on the prospect of meeting again for the THIC 2015 in Surabaya. As I write this report, there was an announcement on TV on the discovery of debris from Air Asia carrier flight QZ 8501 which left Surabaya two days earlier. It left us ordinary mortals with a tinge of sadness, but now that more people know the city called Surabaya, we hope our prospective co-organiser at Universitas Cipura will rekindle the regional IMT-GT spirit that we have tried to build together in Phuket, Haatyai and Langkawi.