Rescue Dhe promptly

That the impact of climate change is real and hitting the livelihoods of poor people living in the high Himalayas hard has been made clear by the case of Dhe village. This remote village of 23 households (150 souls in all) in Surkhang VDC of upper Mustang is being relocated to Thangchung village in lower Mustang because of acute shortage of water, shrinking of irrigated land and decline in animal husbandry. While there has reportedly been a whopping 50 percent decrease in arable land, animal husbandry, mostly goat keeping, is said to be down 40-45 percent, within just a six-year time frame. The villagers of Dhe are the first recognized instance of climate refugees in Nepal.



It is astonishing that Nepal has begun to feel the real pinch of climate change in such a glaring fashion. And this is only one case in point. The Dhe case came into limelight only after members of the Dhe Youth Club came to Kathmandu and met government officials to explain the dire conditions facing people back there. There must be many more remote villages in Nepal reeling under similar pain and misery. Since the last decade many communities have been forced to leave their homes and flee to distant locations due to the phenomenon of GLOF, or glacier lake outburst flood, in the Himalayas. Many people, for instance, were displaced when the Gangapurna lake burst and flooded villages downstream two years ago. Resettlement of many households from Bajura to Nepalgunj is another instance. But these cases occurred before the concept of climate change refugees was born and the danger posed by the melting Himalayas did not yet figure in the global climate change debate.



Much has changed for Nepal since then. The government has rightly given top priority to the challenge posed by climate change and its impact on the livelihoods of the poor. From the historic cabinet meeting at Kalapatthar to the Summiteers’ March in Denmark on the sidelines of the UN COP-15 Summit in Copenhagen, the issue of the melting Himalayas has received a positive response from developed countries. The government must cash in on this and prioritize a resettlement policy for the benefit of climate victims. The concerned authorities along with various INGOs must take a lead in hastening the resettlement plan for Dhe villagers, who are now desperate to get out because of acute shortage of drinking water and grain. It has already taken a year just to complete a survey report. The phase-wise planning, which is said to see completion only in 2012, can certainly be hastened if the government in general and in particular the Nepal Trust for Nature Conservation, which led Nepal’s climate change campaign at Copenhagen, come speedily to the rescue of helpless Dhe.

Related story

Tourism entrepreneurs call for reviewing air rescue procedures