As a central unit of the Himalayan orogeny, Nepal possesses the world’s highest mountain and its physical feature, among the most varied of any country in the world, range from the glaciers of Mt. Everest in the (North) Eastern Nepal to warm tropical forests on its southern fringe. Within the 147,181-km2 area of the country, physiographic regions range from tropical forests in the south to the snow and ice covered Himalaya in the north. Nepal has a very diverse environment resulting from its impressive topography. A cross-section of the country reveals that the topography generally progresses from altitudes of less than 100 m in the southern Terai plain, up to more than 8,000 m peaks in the north. Several rivers that originate in the Himalaya cut across these ecological zones, creating many river valleys and some of the most rugged terrains on earth and feed into the Ganges.
Human settlements and economic activities have been built largely around local
ecology and topography. The economy of the whole of
Nepal is characterised by a large rural sector based on subsistence agriculture
and a small industrial sector centered on
manufacturing activities and tourism. Ekholm (1976) observes, ‘…in this land of unexcelled natural beauty live some of the world’s most desperately
poor’. Agriculture is
the mainstay of the economy, providing livelihoods for over 80 percent of the
population. WWF
(2005) calculates the
total land used for
agricultural
operation at 20.2 % of the total geographical
area of Nepal. Industrial
activity mainly involves the processing of agricultural products including
sugarcane, tobacco, jute and grain. Nepal has a comparative advantage with
respect to tourism but this sector has seen a declining trend due to protracted political intricacies in the country. Water and
hydroelectric potential are the most important natural resources of Nepal.
The Human security in Nepal is largely centered on its fragile physical setup. The geology and geomorphology
of Nepal is favorable for several natural challenges. The challenges range from
earthquake to various types of mass wasting and floods. Each year floods,
landslides, soil erosion, forest fires,
epidemics and various other natural and human made
disasters cause heavy casualties and destruction of physical property in Nepal
thereby wreaking severe human insecurity across the geography of the country.
According to Ekholm (1976), Nepal faces one of the world’s most acute national
soil erosion
problems.
Given its mountainous topography and the fact that
the country comes under the spell of the monsoon every summer, various types of
natural challenges often disastrous in nature are quite common and frequent. As
a central part of the Himalayan geo-system the country is geologically young and seismically very
active. The UNDP lists earthquake, floods and flash floods, landslides and
drought as the major natural challenges for overall human security of Nepal.
Often the fragile geo-environmental setup of Nepal has
been exacerbated, both in terms of intensity and frequency, by increasing
unscientific anthropogenic activities. The increase in population and the
change in its distribution also mean that the country is now faced with a new
set of natural
disaster risks.
Ekholm (1976) remarks:
“There is no better place to begin
an examination of deteriorating mountain environments than Nepal…. The façade
of romance and beauty remains intact, but behind it are the makings of great
human tragedy.
Population growth in the context of a traditional agrarian technology is
forcing farmers onto steeper slopes; slopes unfit for sustained farming even
with the astonishingly elaborate terracing practiced there. The villagers must
roam farther and farther from their homes to gather fodder and firewood, thus surrounding most
villages with a widening circle of denuded hillsides. Ground holding trees are disappearing fast
among the geologically young, jagged foothills of the Himalaya, which are among
the most easily
erode-able anywhere. Landslides that destroy lives, homes, and crops occur more
and more frequently throughout the Nepalese hills… If Nepal’s borders ended at
the base of the Himalayan foothills, the country would by now be in the throes
of a total economic
and ecological collapse. Luckily, the borders extended farther south to include
a strip of relatively unexploited plains known as Terai, an extension of the vast indo-Gangetic plain of Northern
India, one of the world’s most productive agricultural areas. ”. (Pp 76- 79)
Nepal has one of the highest population densities
in the world with respect to cultivable land. As a result clearance of precious hills forest has been obvious. Forest was cleared for various purposes like
extension of agriculture land, fodder for livestock, rural energy, road building and other
infrastructure ventures including unplanned urbanisation. Tourism has also
contributed to some extent in the degradation of forest resources. Today Nepal has only about 25 per cent of its total geographical area under forest cover. Such a
state of affairs has over the period of time aggravated geo-environmental
fragility of Nepal and the situation is worsening with time. Consequently,
natural events like landslides, floods/flash floods, top soil erosion, seasonal epidemics and such other
processes have amplified in their intensity and frequency. Nepal experienced a strong earthquake in 1988, which
killed over 700 people
followed by a major one in April 2015 with a reported casualty of over 4000 (so far). Floods and landslides,
however, are have
been the most
destructive disasters in Nepal.
Further, the protracted political
instability caused tremendous environmental and human insecurity in Nepal. The
conflict popularly called ‘Peoples’ War’ led by the Maoists left more than 12,000 people dead since it
started in 1996. It has made the livelihoods of majority of the population in
Nepal vulnerable and insecure.
Thus, a wide
range of physiological, geological, ecological, meteorological, anthropogenic and strategic
factors significantly contribute to the human (in)security of Nepal.
Major Human Security Challenges of Nepal
Natural Factors
|
Anthropogenic Factors
|
Earthquake, Heavy Monsoon, Landslide, Flash Floods, Soil Erosion, Glacial Lake Outburst Floods,
Epidemic
|
Population Growth, Deforestation,
Pressure on Agriculture, Conflict and War, Physical Development, Climate Change
|
