`Since 2001 I have been working in the field of conservation; my office manages several protected mountain areas in Nepal. People in these mountain areas have to coexist with nature. They have to maintain the forest and they also have to attract tourists to generate income. My job is to assist them in enhancing their livelihood while at the same time conserving their environment to attract tourism. Together with the local people, we have set up a very successful project concerning `safe drinking water' plants, using the ozonation process. In these plants, water is treated using electricity or solar energy. The villagers run the plant and they sell water to the tourists. In this way they can benefit from the trickle down effect of tourism by replacing the sale of bottled water, whose profits are channeled to bottling plants in urban centers.
`I started my PhD at the UT in September 2003. The UT runs a project in Nepal called `Think Global, Act Local,' which I work on for my employer, International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD), combined with my PhD research. My job is to survey community managed forests and look at their role in reducing CO2 emissions to see if it is feasible to involve local people in carbon trading at some point in the future. I also want to raise awareness on how forests can be included in carbon trading to reduce global carbon emission.
`What makes me passionate about this topic are the mountains: I simply love the mountains. When I was visiting remote areas in the Himalayas I became aware of the adverse impacts of climate change. This perception piqued my interest in the topic.'
What would you suggest to make the UT more environmentally friendly?
`Holland is already very environmentally friendly, but I might suggest a keycard system that automatically generates the need for energy during your presence or absence in a room.'
What kind of energy saving measures do you have in your own home to reduce the emission of greenhouse gases?
`In Kathmandu we have a solar panel to heat water and in my village in eastern Nepal we have a bio-gas plant used for cooking. Actually we have far fewer energy saving measures in Nepal than in the Netherlands. Here, people can afford to think of climate change measures. In Nepal people think about fulfilling their basic needs, so climate change has less priority.'
What are your plans for the future?
`When I go back to Nepal one of my goals will be to set up a carbon trust fund in Nepal in order to create a carbon market. By offsetting their carbon, we will be able to help organizations that want to become carbon neutral. In the Netherlands this initiative is taken very seriously; a lot of companies want to show social responsibility. Here in the Netherlands, you have Trees for Travel. Actually this can respond to the previous question about making the university environmentally friendlier: make the UT carbon neutral!'
Favorites:
Hometown: Kathmandu, Nepal
Languages spoken: Nepali, English
Dream destination: `Cycling from Lhasa, Tibet to Kathmandu, Nepal. It takes minimum of 21 days. I will do it after I finished my PhD.'
Miss most about home: Mountains
Best part about living in the Netherlands: Bicycle lanes
Worst part about living in the Netherlands: `It is so flat!'
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| Bhaskar Singh Karky |
