Development Nepal

Development and Stability

Interview

  

You have established an organization, Environmental Camps for Conservation Awareness (ECCA). What were the basic premises for formation of this organization?  

 

Chitrakar: When ECCA was launched in 1987, school enrollment rate was 86 percent where as the literacy rate among adults was merely 20 percent. The environment was deteriorating day by day. So there was a need to make the people aware about the deteriorating environment. The basic cause for forming this organisation was to i) Make school children the link between demand and supply of solutions that would ensure wise use of resources and help conserve natural resources at the same time improving the quality of life.  ii) Take learning outside the classroom and make the children familiar with what is taught inside the class and what is the fact outside, iii) Put young people in charge- as they will have to lead the society in the future.  ECCA is now 19 years old.

 

Development activity in the third world is compared with the existence of physical infrastructure- one of them being road-building. To what extent has the construction of roads been one of the causes for the deterioration of the environment?

 

Chitrakar: Roads are much desired by every Nepali. We cannot deny this. However we need a lot more than roads. We need to train a traditional mule train driver that he or she needs to adjust to coming road or face unemployment. The apple grower needs to learn that apple will come from the other end of the road. HIV, prostitution, price hike in local food, everything also comes with the road.

 

Road has been one of the main factor for the environment deterioration in the country- as we are familiar with the landslide and flood occurring in the national highway everywhere and the loss of forest, soil apart from human life and property. Roads do not just bring in “things’, they also take ‘things’ out…This has been one of the gravest problem-mainly because we do not have the technology to build roads in hilly areas of our country, though Swiss have managed to do the same in the Alps.

 

In the 1990s, the government gave money to each village and was used to dig roads indiscriminately. The following monsoon all was washed away. The intention was good- to benefit the people by constructing road. The negative impact was the rural areas were being engulfed by the goods produced at the urban centers rather then the other way round. Also people’s livelihood was at stake- as the horse trader was competing with the lorry driver in order to sustain his living. We need roads but we need many more things with the roads. Development still is not designed to meet these needs.

 

You were involved in the Kathmandu Metropolitan City as a member of the City Planning Commission, focusing on the heritage conservation and social development. What was the need factor and to what extent has this been successful?

 

Chitrakar: Nepal is fortunate to have its capital as one of the world’s heritage site enlisted by UNESCO. The various temples, statues, shrines constitute the elements for making Kathmandu as one of the heritage site. It is important to preserve them, if we are to conserve our heritage. The achievements have been that whatever tourism revenue this country has earned is due to our uniqueness. Yes we have mountains and wildlife but we also have built and living heritage and artisans that are unique to the world. This is a comparative advantage we have.

 

One of the severe problems of the Kathmandu city is the supply of water. What would its impact be in the near future?

 

Chitrakar: Definitely water supply is the major problem in the capital. The requirement is 170 million liters per day, but the supply is 90-120 million liters a day in the rainy season and 80 million liters a day in the dry season. The negative impact would definitely be desertification of the valley and it being one of the archeological sites like Mohenzodharo, Petra, and Silk Road. These places have been abandoned due to lack of water. The limits to growth will be set by water, not how smart we think we are.

 

Is capital and technology the hindering factor in this regard then?

 

Chitrakar: In the short term yes this seems to be the limiting factor. In Nepal instead we need to conserve what we have, we have to do what people can do and pay for it with our resources. We cannot live beyond our means, natural or financial.  At global level we are seeing cities like Perth in Australia going to be the first city to be desertified-despite abundance of capital and technology. So, it is the readiness of the people to be driven by a collective vision of what we seek rather than seeking money to solve problems as we go along a blind road to disaster. We need money and technology but it will be a small part of the solution.

 

Is “The Tragedy of the Commons” phenomenon applicable in this aspect?

 

Chitrakar: This is definitely applicable in one sense and equally not true on the other hand. This is true in case of sewerage system, lack of drinking water, air pollution etc. for example people are very concerned about private toilets and have even made toilet costing 4.8 million dollar in gold as status symbol - but they have cared less for the damage that is done by the sludge that flows directly to the river. Similarly, drinking water which was once a free good has now to be bought- a liter of mineral water costing twenty rupees. This has led to commoditization of goods once free, and those who cannot afford are bound to be vulnerable to water borne diseases. This might be widely recognized in the beginning, but at later state it is definitely going to result in clash of interest between the haves and have nots. Similarly for the case of air pollution, it does not matter whether you live in Maitighar or Tahachal. The amount of dust found in Tahachal might exceed that found in Maitighar. If this trend continues then, we may have to construct oxygen café, found in western cities.

 

On the other hand, for example take the case of Nepalese community forestry. After 1990, 12 percent of the total Nepalese forestry is managed by the community. This is a fascinating case in the whole world- because the job of any forestry department of any state is to generate revenue for the government. Here people themselves protect, grow, cut the trees and save the revenue for the community’s activities rather than hand it over to the government. So we have proved that we can teach others too. Community forestry in Nepal is the reverse argument for the tragedy of the commons.

 

Global events have affected Nepalese activities. Why can’t we act on our own experience rather then just learning from others experience?

 

Chitrakar: For this basically, to me two aspects are responsible firstly, historical and secondly ignorance. Historically speaking, Nepalese people’s source of livelihood was trade. With the advent of subsequent historical events both here in Nepal and the region, people were forced to subsistence agriculture economy with the provision of land as Jagir and other religious activities. Personal initiatives were discouraged. Let’s take the example of Manang before and after trading with Bangkok started. Secondly, ignorance is the main cause. We are just following the copy cat culture- industrialize, manufacture similar to the import substitution ideas such as  “Be Indian, Buy Indian” rather then looking at our comparative advantages.  We need to find our unique place in the global community and deliver a 110 percent in what we do. If we can fill up our hotels during the Indian hot summer we will be rich. If we allow Pakistan and India to play cricket here we shall become rich. If the Chinese and Indians put their money in our banks we shall become rich. Nepal is not land locked it is land linked. Our minds are locked.

 

There is not one principle to make all the people of every region rich. When people come to advise us as experts we laugh. What is he / she an expert in? Can anyone really explain how Europe or USA became rich? No. Should slavery, colonialization, pre-emptive strikes for oil be part of the development strategy? Doubtful. Yes we need access to capital but it should not be tied to “conditions”.

 

What are the  solutions then?

 

Chitrakar: We cannot compete in manufacturing sector- as we have two giant economies surrounding us. Apart from small market size, we need to be aware that there is no fair competition in the whole world. Foreign direct investment is huge in China and Vietnam, simply because there is no labour union and the investor has only to worry about profit fortifying rather the workers welfare. This is reverse in case of Nepal and India, because union movement is rampant.

 

If we make the optimal use of the water resources and the rich bio-diversity that is found within the 150 kilometer distance and at 100- 8850 metres altitude-then we can make progress at a quicker pace. Nepal is rich in natural resources- water, forest, land. If we just try to harness electricity, make proper use of forest products- medicinal plants, wood and wood products etc, promote tourism, banking etc. If we do this though we will be using the Chinese or Indian goods, if we can enhance service industry then we can make Nepal as a holiday destination, break taking place then the foreign currency can be earned and spent on other welfare activities. For example, even if 2 percent of the billionaire population of China and India come to visit Nepal every year, then the revenue earned will definitely be enormous. Why should we compete to make ball pens or cars?

 

Globally we are interconnected at present. We have abundant successful small hydro power projects. There are very few countries which make small turbines. If we sell these to other countries and purchase larger turbines in return then we could save some cash instead of just purchasing and spending the little foreign currency reserve we have. Making small hydro projects  should be a Nepali global brand.

 

Look at our artists they take a piece of metal worth a few hundred rupees and make a piece of art worth millions. Why have we not invested in this sector. The future of Nepal is “hand made”.

 

You are involved in the Corporate Social Responsibility movement as well at present. What are the basic tenets of CSR and how are its future days?

 

Chitrakar: The private sector has generated the kind of wealth we have never seen before. There are however huge disparities in society. The private sector needs to understand that conflict can and will wipe out their wealth if they do not help insure a more equitable society. They do, and many are proactively pursuing it. I help the process along.

 

Isn’t this going to affect the business community, then?

 

Chitrakar: It is not a luxury anymore. People in business understand the implications of not doing anything.

 

Continue...

 

Anil Chitrakar

Sunday, October 30, 2005

Anil Chitrakar is a leading environmentalist and activist of the country.  Trained as a mechanical engineer and energy planner from the University of Rajasthan (India) and the University of Pennsylvania- he has been involved in Royal Nepalese Academy of Science and Technology (RONAST) as an energy planner, IUCN-Nepal as Country Representative and Kathmandu Metropolitan City as member of City Planning Commission.  He has been awarded with various honours and awards for his involvement in the environment as well as youth sector like Rolex Award, one of the 100 “Global Leaders for Tommorrow” award at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland in 1993.

 

Presently he is an Ashoka Fellow, helping Ashoka in Asia in designing and expand social venture capital model to over forty countries.  Development Nepal’s Hemraj Bhandari spoke to Anil Chitrakar recently on his work and accomplishments:

 

You switched to becoming an environmentalist rather then continuing your mechanical engineering profession. What prompted you to switch your line of profession?

 

Chitrakar: In my time during the early eighties, it was thought that technology is the means of solving underdevelopment problems in developing countries like ours. But the matter of fact is that technology is only a designing aspect not the exact solution. We had the technology, but the people were not used to it. The adoption rate was slow for many reasons. Above all, most Nepalese people derive their basic means- food, water, medicine and housing material from nature. So, there was a need to put natural resources, people and technology together. It required incorporating the carrying capacity of the natural resources, their renewability and effect of pollutants. In this context, putting “people first”, I switched to natural resources, though my academic training continued to be the guiding force.