The biggest enemy of nature is pollution and yes! AIR POLLUTION is being biggest issue here at Nepal. It could have far-reaching obstacles as it floats north into the Himalayas. Smoke from emissions and fire from vehicles produce soot containing black carbon. Black carbon absorbs lots of solar energy which settles on glaciers and snow, and dark color causes the snow and ice to absorb more of the sun’s radiation.  Not only this it also warms up the air, changing rainfall patterns. For the mountains that are called the “water towers of Asia,” this could have serious impacts. Over a billion people depend on the monsoon rains and snow melt of the Himalayas for their source of water. Last week, an Indian court granted “living entity” status to the Gangotri and Yamunotri glaciers, which feed the Hindu holy rivers Ganga and Yamuna. The judges said the glaciers are shrinking at an alarming rate. The Ganga river is also fed by glaciers in the Nepali part of the Himalayas. Researchers are still studying how much black carbon itself causes glacier melt, and how much is caused by rising global temperatures. So far, scientists haven’t been able to pinpoint to what extent the glaciers have melted since there’s a lack of historical data and the glaciers themselves can be difficult and expensive to reach. However, a recent paper in The Cryosphere suggested that glaciers in the Everest region could lose 70 to 99 percent of their mass by 2100 due to climate change.Greenhouse gases are the leading cause of the warming atmosphere, but black carbon is also a major contributor to shrinking glaciers, especially when the sources of the soot are so close to them. “Kathmandu is only 43 miles away from the closest glaciers, and its black carbon is within striking distance of thousands more.

The U.S. Department of State (DOS) and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) are working together to record air quality at U.S. Embassies and Consulates around the globe.  As part of this initiative, U.S. Embassy Kathmandu recently installed two air quality monitors (AQMs) in Kathmandu: they are located on the Embassy grounds and at the Phora Durbar Recreation Center in the Thamel area.  The data for the DOS AQMs in Kathmandu is available at the EPA AirNow website

From the EPA AirNow website, Kathmandu’s AQI can be observed either by clicking on the Nepal locations on the map, or by selecting these sites in the “Select a City” option on the upper right part of the page.   The DOS AQMs in Kathmandu collect data on two types of pollution: ozone (O₃) and small, airborne particulate matter (2.5 microns and less, referred to as “PM 2.5”).  For both locations, one can select either ozone or PM 2.5 data.