The global climate crisis is imminent, and its effect is everywhere, from plants to wild animals and human beings. The significant impact of the climate crisis on the mountainous regions is more vulnerable. Kathmandu, the capital city of federal Nepal, lies at an altitude of 1400 meters to the sea level has seen the major climate crisis. The unplanned towns and lack of waste management are the burning problems for the metropolitan city.
Pic source: PRI.ORG
The total population of Kathmandu is around 1.4 Million at an increased rate of 3.49 percentage. The vast number of migrants people and vast numbers of communities to the city made it hard to manage plans properly. Moreover, the increase in the use of diesel and petrol used vehicles led to the rise in air pollutions and noise Pollutions.
The air quality of Kathmandu is worsening every day. As of a report in 2016 from the Environmental Performance Index( EPI), Kathmandu valleys air quality rank third from the bottom of around 180 countries. The World Health Organization (WHO) reports a delicate particulate matter of up to 140 µg m-3 - which is approximately ten times higher than the WHO limit. Due to air pollutions, there is a significant rise in air-related health diseases. The study from the Bhuwan Saud and Govinda Paudel showed that a high number of respiratory infections were reported in hospitalized patients of various Kathmandu Valley hospitals, as shown in Figure.
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| Fig: Disease-wise distribution of hospitalized patient in Kathmandu Valley (Source: K. B. Karki, P. Dhakal, S. L. Shrestha et al., Situation Analysis of Ambient Air Pollution and Respiratory Effects in Kathmandu Valley, Nepal Health Research Council, Kathmandu, Nepal, 2015) |
With its growing number of people generating more than 150 tons of waste per day, the debris is thrown to the near river like Bagmati and Bishnumati, which destroyed waterways' ecological environment without proper waste management. The collected waste is dumped at the Nuwakot district, which is 30 Km from Kathmandu. The whole ecology system is disturbed near the groundwater areas of leaving sites. The residents strike several times against the Metropolitian government by opposing the dumping area; however, the problem is not yet solved. Due to this, people have reported numerous long term health-related diseases and fatalities of their domestic animals.
Another unplanned Kathmandu urbanization caused the scarcity of drinking water. The demands of drinking water in the Kathmandu valley are 350 million litres per day, above which only 90 million litres supplies. The deficit relies on underground surface water. The excessive use of underground surface water and temp increase reduced the resources of water. According to the study carried by Rajesh Sada, Anushiya Shrestha and Ashutosh Shukla, it concludes that urbanization and climate changes led to a decrease in the underground source water at Lubhu in Kathmandu.
The government should make an excellent vision to reduce the migrations towards the city by creating equal opportunities, an appropriate plan of urbanization, use of Electrical Vehicles, right (4Rs) Reuse, Recycle, Reduce and Recover, awareness towards the community. Strong environmental policies and long term supply plan for drinking water.
