Time to harmonise environment and development :

KATHMANDU: Vice-President Parmananda Jha has stressed the need to step up environment conservation efforts in view of rapid environmentaldegradation in the country.
Releasing an intensive report that explores ways to strike a balance between environmental and developmental policies, Vice-President Jha said, “The report makes a number of recommendations, which will help us all change the way we perceive the environment, decide on how we manage it, and plan for the future.”
The report that analyses environmental policies in the country
“Despite several efforts over the past 30 years to address environmentalconcerns, environmental indicators for Nepal are not improving. So, we urgently need to find ways to mainstream environment in development,” said Ajay Mathema of the Asian Centre for Environment Management and Sustainable Development (AEMS), which prepared the report together with the International Institute for Environment and Development in London.
The report calls for the creation of an ‘environment service group’ within the Public Service Commission system for environmental graduates to further their careers in government agencies, and calls for mainstreaming of environment in policies, plans and programmes.
“Environmental mainstreaming and innovation will only take root when local institutions and communities recognise it as both a need and a benefit and accept it as a regular part of community activities and institutional programmes,” said Barry Dalal-Clayton, senior fellow, IIED.
It recommends the government to reactivate the dormant Sustainable Development Commission, integrate the environment into new and existing policies and develop an organised knowledge base on environment-development linkages, initiatives and lessons.
The vice president also launched the song on environment sung by KomalOli, Kunti Moktan, Satya Raj Acharya and Deepak Limbu. The report concludes, “As Nepal emerges from a period of conflict, the opportunity has emerged to safeguard and manage the environment wisely and build the future on a sustainable basis, and in this way secure a transition to a green economy.”