All hands were raised in the meeting hall in response to a question raised by the facilitator in a training program in Delhi, organized by ICLEI-South Asia, a network of more than 1750 local and regional governments for sustainable urban development worldwide. The participants were mayors and deputy mayors from Nepal and Bangladesh. And the question was: Have you dumped mobile phones or any other electronic devices within last year? The raised hands and the resounding ‘yes’ was an anticipated response and it is suggestive of the amount of electronic waste (e-waste) produced by just a group of around 60 individuals in the room.

KATHMANDU, Nov 7: Mayors of over a dozen metropolitan cities of the Asia Pacific region have vowed to work together in the field of sustainable urban development. They made a pledge to work together to establish more sustainable and resilient cities during the International Seminar on Heritage and Sustainable Tourism that kicked off in Lalitpur on Wednesday.