Walkability training in Pokhara

By Amiita Thapa Magar

Clean Energy Nepal (CEN) and Clean Air Network Nepal (CANN) in coordination with LI BIRD (Local Initiatives for Biodiversity Research and Development) have produced another set of Walkability Ambassadors in Pokhara. Around fifteen volunteers consisting of students, youths and Pokhara Sub Metropolitan City personnel attended the Walkability training held in LI BIRD office Pokhara on 21 Sep 2011.

The training provided the attendees with an overview on air quality management challenges in Nepal particularly in cities and the detailed methodology on how to perform the walkability survey. Ms. Anjila Manandhar discussed about the air quality scenario and options for emission reduction in Nepal. Ms. Amita Thapa Magar detailed the methodology on each of the survey component namely the pedestrian interview survey, field wallkability survey and the government/stakeholders survey.

The Walkability Ambassadors are deployed in five areas; commercial, residential, educational, public transport and Lake side area. They are currently undertaking the surveys in Pokhara. The survey consists of three components namely Pedestrian Interview Survey, Field Survey and Stakeholders Survey.
Interview surveys will assess pedestrian’s preference in improving pedestrian infrastructures (road conditions) and also document their opinion on safety and security. Field survey forms will examine road stretches around the city that includes availability of walking paths, motorist behaviour, amenities, obstructions, security from crime among others.

The overarching goal of the walkability project is to improve pedestrian’s safety and mobility and promote walking as a sustainable mode of transport.

Presentation on the methodology

Piloting of the Pedestrian Interview survey

Post-COP16 Consultation Workshop Held

Outcomes of COP16 and discussion of national priorities in line with global discourse was done with the participation of around 50 civil society representatives, government officials, media and other stakeholders at Post COP16 Consultation Workshop held in Kathmandu on 3rd January, 2010.

Addressing the program Ex. Environment Minister, Ganesh Shah expressed gratitude to the organizers for continuing this culture of sharing updates of climate negotiations. He also stressed that the government as well as civil society at the national level should focused on better utilization of climate funding to address our development needs.

Mr. Batu Krishna Uprety, Joint Secretary and Chief of Climate Change Division at Ministry of Environment briefly shared about government intervention and involvement at COP16 and recent initiatives taken by the ministry at national level. According to him, GoN organized meeting of Mountainous countries, press briefings and other important bilateral. Mr. Uprety on behalf of Nepal is also re-elected for the LDC Expert Group (LEG) member.

Mr. Manjeet Dhakal of Clean Energy Nepal and Mr. Raju Chettri of United Mission to Nepal shared about the outcomes of COP16 and civil society perspective respectively. Likewise, Mr. Dipesh Chapagain and Mr. Abhishek Shrestha discussed about National Level activity and youth involvement at Cop16 respectively. The panel discussion was facilitated by Mr. Bhushan Tuladhar, Coordinator of CCNN. Program concluded with the launching of Jalbayu Sarokar (Climate Concern), a special edition on CCNN newsletter with Cancun updates.

The workshop was organized by Climate Change Network Nepal (CCNN) and Climate Action Network South Asia (CANSA).

Post-COP16 Consultation Workshop

Sixteenth Conference of the Parties (COP) and the sixth Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol (CMP) was held in Cancun, Mexico, from 29 November to 10 December 2010. Nepalese officials and civil society also had an active participation in the conference. With the seriousness and importance of the issue and giving continuity to the earlier initiatives, Climate Change Network Nepal (CCNN) and  Climate Action Network South Asia (CANSA) is hosting “Post-Cop16 Consultation Workshop” on January 3, 2011.

The main objective of the program is to update and share about the outcomes of COP16 and discuss national priorities in line with global discourse. And, the workshop will also bring different stakeholder on common platform to share the common understanding and inputs for planning ahead.

Program detail

Date   : 19 Poush, 2067 (January 3, 2011) Monday

Time   : 13:00 to 16:30

Venue : DECC, World Trade center, Tripureshwor

Please do not forget to confirm your participation at info@cen.org.np or 01-4257481

Global Day Of Action

On the background of ongoing (29 November to December 10) global climate negotiation UNFCCC Sixteenth Conference of the Parties (COP 16) in Cancun, Mexico, the civil society coalitions- Climate Change Network Nepal (CCNN), Nepalese Youth for Climate Action (NYCA) and Climate Action Network Nepal (CAN Nepal) are hosting the COP 16 National Campaign coordinated by Clean Energy Nepal, the national NGO serving as secretariat of all networks.

This campaign is being launched with the objectives of building pressure on global negotiators for the fair and concrete outcomes from COP 16, and generates awareness to the youths, children and general public about climate change. It includes activities in all five development regions and targeted to the very large group of people. This campaign includes the following activities,

Message to the Global Community

A whole page inspiring message, commitment, quotes, thoughts and pictures related to climate change will be published in The Himalayan Times, English national daily on December 4, 2010. Message from individuals, organizations are being collected by open call and selected best will be published. Among the message published, best 10 and randomly selected 10 will be awarded with the attractive gift.

This event is organized in solidarity to the Global Day of Action and this is going to be the fourth year of its successful publication.

Global Day of Action with Flash Mob/Beboing Dance

This is the mass demonstration and awareness raising event featuring Flash Mob, Beboign dance, chanting slogans, key note speech and banners and placards on the theme of climate change. This will be the moving events in three major public spots of Kathmandu.

Date: December 4, 2010

Time and venue: Basantapur Durbar Square: 10 to 11 am

Ratnapark, Santibatika: 11 am to 12 pm and

Pulcowok: 12 to 1 PM

“Climate Change and Future Generation”, Drawing Competition

Interschool Drawing Competition with the theme of “Climate Change and Future Generation” will be organized on December 7, 2010 in major cities of Nepal (Biratnagar, Kathmandu and Mahendranagar).

Total of 30 participants representing one from each school will participate in the competition in each region. It will be conducted in open space of major public spot like Basantapur for Kathmandu and this will give chance for people to observe paintings and get the message from it. Best three drawings will be awarded with the cash prize of amount NRs. 5000/-, 3000/- and 2000/- respectively. We also intend to publish the best postcards from 3 regions in the form of postcard.

Drawing Competition in Kathmandu

Date:   December 7, 2010

Time:   10 am to 4 pm

Venue: Basantapur Durbar Square

Pre Cop-16 Consultation Workshop Held

Different stakeholder came on same platform and shared the common understanding and inputs and plan for COP 16 on Pre COP-16 Consultation workshop held successfully on November 19, 2010. National priorities on climate change to be put on table on COP16 were discussed among different stakeholders.

The workshop was held on 19 November 2010 at Hotel Shangri-La, Lazimpat, Kathmandu. Forty six participants representing government officials, NGOs representatives, journalists, youths, students, and other stakeholders participated in the workshop. The workshop was organized by Clean Energy Nepal, Climate Change Network Nepal (CCNN) and Climate Action Network Nepal, a country network of Climate Action Network South Asia (CANSA) to discuss on common agenda that’s helps to prepare for the upcoming COP 16 meeting.

Mr. Batu Krishna Uprety, Joint Secretary at Ministry of Environment and Chief of Climate Change Management Division highlighted on Nepal government’s preparation and plan for COP16 with the starting of the program. Mr. Uprety said that the position of the government moreover relates with the position of Least Developed Counties (LDC) and the government is very clear about the position on emission target (to developed country 45 % by 2020 and 80-85% by 2050), funding (1.5 % of GDP excluding ODA) and adaptation issues (implementing NAPA and finding for NAPA). He further added that the Government of Nepal is continuing its earlier effort of bringing mountainous courtiers on common platform and building alliance. And this will also be continued in Cancun during COP16. Ms. Alina Pokhrel of NYCA highlighted on the role of Nepalese youth within the UNFCCC process. Mr. Gehendra Gurung of Practical Action shared his overview on civil society perspective on COP-16. Mr. Manjeet Dhakal from Clean Energy Nepal updated the stakeholders on UNFCC negotiation from COP15 to COP16. Mr. Ganesh Shan, Former Minister of Environment highlighted about the importance of the preparation/consultation meeting before the main meetings. He also shared his experience as Ministerial participation on such meetings. Mr. Shah further encouraged youth and suggests them to use this platform as best learning school. The Program was successful in bringing out wide range of stakeholder on common platform and discusses and plan for Cop16.

The sixteenth Conference of the Parties (COP) and the sixth Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol (CMP) will be held in Cancun, Mexico, from 29 November to 10 December 2010. The meeting also includes thirty-third sessions of the subsidiary bodies and the fifteenth session of the AWG-KP and thirteenth session of the AWG-LCA. As pre-meeting hopes gave way to post-meeting realities, China session on October highlighted the challenges faced by delegates on the way to Cancún, including how ambitious they should be. On the AWG-LCA side, a new text after the China meeting has been prepared by chair, which will be the base for discussion in Cancun.

Toilet Photo Exhibited On World Toilet Day

Toilet Photo Exhibition was organized at Nepal Tourism Board on the occasion of World Toilet Day 2010 with the objective of promoting healthy toilet usage and to provide the perception regarding the usage of toilet in different part of country. The exhibition was organized by Water, Sanitation and Hygiene-Resource Center Network Nepal (WASH-RCNN), Environment and Public Health Organization (ENPHO) and Clean Energy Nepal (CEN).

The exhibition included the photographs from “Toilet Photo Competition” organized from September 20 to November 15, 2010 by WASH-RCNN, ENPHO and CEN. The competition was opened for amateur youth photographers for three categories- household toilet; community toilet and institutional toilet. The winners of “Toilet Photo Competition” were also awarded in the exhibition. Ms. Charina Cabrido was awarded the first prize while Mr. Dipendra Adhikari was awarded consolation prize under “Institutional Toilet” category. Mr. Raju Shrestha was awarded the first prize while Mr. Ashkumar Khaitu was awarded consolation prize under “Household Toilet” category. Mr. Binod Rijal was awarded the first prize while Ms. Eva Manandhar was awarded consolation prize under “Community Toilet” category. The exhibition was graced by Mr. Ganesh Shah, the Former Environment minister of Nepal, as the Chief Guest.

About 54% of the population practice open-air defecation due to lack of sanitation facilities (toilet) in Nepal. Annually some 13,000 children under five die of diarrheal disease due to poor hygiene and sanitation. Only about 41% of public and community schools have toilet facilities. Nepal has to ensure 53% toilet coverage by 2015 to achieve sanitation MDG. Nepal’s National Goal is to provide basic sanitation facilities to all by 2017.

Clean Air Summit Ends With Concrete Action Plan

The two day clean air summit ended with the draft of concrete action plan to address the air pollution of Kathmandu valley. Six thematic groups have been highlighted in the action plan:

• The first thematic group is” Knowledge Sharing”. It was decided that CANN should strongly coordinate the knowledge management on the Air Quality Related studies and researches; and would collect information from all other stakeholders working on the issue and would also disseminate to all the stakeholders.
• The second thematic group is “Awareness” which would include the actions like awareness to the drivers and passengers; promoting the Eco-driving; and using mass-media as a promotional tool. Also, mobilizing the local groups to address the issue at grass-root level and also generating the awareness sector-wise would be the part of this thematic group.
• The third thematic group is “Policy” in which it was decided that the action plan would work to point out the lacking on existing policy, give expert advice to the government officials for policy reviewing, policy advocacy and communicate the public suggestions to the government.
• The fourth thematic group is “research”. Since, Nepal lacks adequate scientific research in Air Quality Research, it was decided that the plan will work to promote the research in Nepal in collaborative form and also promote academic institution driven researches.
• The fifth thematic group is “Strengthening the CANN Networking” which would include regular follow-ups and organize regular meetings.
• The sixth and the most crucial thematic group is “Budget financing sources and Mechanism” in which various sources of funding and investments were identified and potential mechanisms were discussed.

“Clean Air Summit” was organized on 1st and 2nd November, 2010 at Staff College in Lalitpur. The summit was organized by Clean Energy Nepal and Clean Air Network Nepal. The summit was divided into two days: the first day was devoted to identifying the various issues of Air Quality while the second day focused on drafting the action plan. The first day was again divided into four sessions, viz Government initiations, Civil Society Voice, Voice of Academia and finally, issue identification and prioritization of issues.

In the first session, Mrs. Sushma Upadhyay from Ministry of Environment presented on “Initiatives of MoE”. Then, Joint Secretary of Ministry of Physical Planning and Works, Mr. Kamal Pande presented on the forthcoming “Kathmandu Sustainable Urban Transport (KSUT) project” which was followed by presentation on “Kathmandu-Bhaktapur extension road” Construction project by Mr. Ram Prasad Pathak, GESU Unit Chief of Department of Roads (DOR). Finally, DSP Basanta Panta, Metropolitan Traffic Police presented on “Traffic Management in Kathmandu Valley: Present Challenges and Management”. The floor was opened for discussion at the end of session.

The second session started with the presentation on “Local case study of Kathmandu valley” by Mr. Gopal Raj Joshi which was followed by the presentation on “VSBK: challenges, benefits and possibilities” by Mr. Suyash Prajapati, VSBK. After that, Ms. Anjila manandhar presented on the “Air quality monitoring in 6 monitoring stations in Kathmandu valley” and shared the results of recent Air Quality Monitoring Study supported by fk Norway, The Hk polytechnic University, CEN and CANN. It was followed by the sharing-presentation of “Walkability in Kathmandu” by Ms. Charina Cabrido. Mr. Meghnath dhimal from NHRC, shared about the 2006 study done by NHRC on health impacts of Air Pollution. Mr. Bijay Man Sherchan, Chairman of NEVI Trade link Pvt. Ltd. discussed about the relevance of Electric Transport in Nepal and also showcased the recently launched models of Electric Vehicles. Finally Ms. Charina Cabrido again shared the results of “Nepal Clean air scorecard” and concluded that Nepal’s position was very disappointing in the analysis.

In the third session which was “Voice of Academia” session, Mrs. Rejina Maskey Byangi presented on the research status of Air Quality Related Researches in Nepal and highlighted the challenges and potentialities of CDES, TU.  After third session, the floor was opened for discussion in which different issues on air pollution and transport sector were prioritized.

The second day of the summit started from with the discussion among stakeholders for formulation of action plan focusing on issues identified and prioritized on the day one. The second day ended with the drafting of concrete action plan under the agreement with all the stakeholders. Overall, the summit was successful in bringing the entire concerned stakeholder to single platform for identification and prioritization of air related issues, to formulate the concrete action plan to address air pollution of Kathmandu and the summit was also successful in opening the door cooperation among all the stakeholders and members of CANN.

The main objective of the summit was to bring all the government officials, stakeholders, media and concerned individuals working for clean air in one forum, in order to devise a better coordination among them and to develop a realistic and time bounding action plan.

Clean Air Summit

Clean Energy Nepal (CEN) and Clean Air Network Nepal (CANN) is organizing “Clean Air Summit” on 1^st and 2^nd November, 2010 at Staff College in Lalitpur. The major objective of the summit is to analyze the various causes of Air pollution in Kathmandu valley, the initiatives taken to tackle it, challenges faced and devise the 3 year realistic strategy to bring about tangible changes.

The summit will include participation from the government sectors, private stakeholders, transport entrepreneurs, academic sectors, and municipality representatives and media personnel. The summit is a two day event and will focus on drafting the strategic action plan along with sensitizing the air pollution issues and sharing the knowledge and experiences. The summit will be highly interactive and effective.

Air Pollution Toolkit Testing

Air Pollution sessions were organized in schools for the testing of “Air Pollution Toolkit” prepared by Clean Energy Nepal and Clean Air Network Nepal as the part of “I care for Air” Campaign. The three schools where air pollution sessions were organized were Green Peace Co-Ed School, Ganabahal on 27^th September; Bal Sewa Madhyamik Vidyalya, Jhonchhe; Nawa Adarsha Madhyamik Vidyalaya, Basantapur on 28^th September. Air pollution class was taken mainly targeting students from grade 7, 8 and 9. The main objective was to measure the effectiveness of toolkit. For easy facilitation and effective teaching methods, trainers of toolkit were instructed and trained on how to use this material before carrying out school activity. These classes were helpful in assessing the toolkit and getting feedback from targeted group.

This Air Pollution Toolkit will attempt to help teachers, educators and parents in helping children increase their understanding of air pollution and the ways it affects their health, family and community. Some materials in this toolkit are compiled from various sources and redesigned to suit the local context in Nepal. This toolkit provides teachers and educators with easy to use lesson plans, engaging activities, and other resources that can teach students about air pollution, changing climate, health effects of pollutants as well as actions that they can initiate to protect their health and reduce air pollution. The materials in this toolkit supplement the environmental, health and science lessons at seventh, eighth and ninth grades. The lesson plans are designed to be stand alone activities that can complement the actual lessons and can be easily incorporated in the school curriculum.

“Breath Free Kathmandu” On Air Soon

The radio program “Breath Free Kathmandu” will be on air at 7:30 A.M to 8:00 A.M every Thursday from 23rd September on Radio Kantipur FM, 96.1 MHz. The radio program is being initiated by Clean Air Network Nepal (CANN) and Clean Energy Nepal (CEN) with the support of US Embassy and CDMG Nepal as production partner. This radio program will mainly focus on air quality related issues of Kathmandu. The main objective of this radio program is to make people aware on air quality related issues of Kathmandu as Kathmandu is one the city having high level of air pollution. The first episode will be on air on 23rd September. The first program will be on understanding air pollution in general.