Article for month of Marchby Govinda Katuwal | 24-03-2022 21:14 |
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Decentralization: The doors of many opportunities Try this: go to any search engine and type, ¡°Environmental organizations in Nepal¡±. Almost all of the results you find will be concentrated in the central region. In Nepal, the governing body for the registration and affiliation of NGOs is the Social Welfare Council (SWC). The total number of registered Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) in Nepal until the last fiscal year crossed the fifty thousand mark, tallying up to 51,513. [1,2] Most of them are based in the capital city and the nearby regions, collectively called the Kathmandu valley[3]; the three most developed districts in Nepal are Kathmandu, Bhaktapur, and Lalitpur. There is no concrete data about the share of these organizations but it is estimated at between 50-60% in all working sectors such as community and rural development, youth services, women and children, and so on. 1675 organizations registered themselves to work on environmental protection. Almost 45% of these are located in a valley, with Kathmandu sharing 38%, Lalitpur 5%, and Bhaktapur 1%.[4]  This scenario is not only confined within the boundary of Kathmandu and its neighboring districts. From the above map, we can clearly see how the Terai region is filled with organizations compared to the hilly and himali areas. Again, if we dive deeper into those districts, most of the organizations are located in the city center and suburbs. Now, to an intellectual mind, there may arise a question like these organizations should be in such places in order to function efficiently. But, travel just five kilometers from the urban area and you will find one of the remote places without proper basic infrastructure. Here, we are dealing with environmental, climate, and sustainability issues. Thus, these people, and especially youths needed to be addressed first, then the people of developed regions. This is not a story of any random individual; this is my personal experience and could be correlated with many of us. Just because I am not in that hotspot region, I will not get the chance to learn new things. This must be brought to a halt as soon as possible. After the covid-19 pandemic, the system of working had changed drastically, a new method was introduced and still remains the dominant one. I could also add attributes to this method that I have got to learn and volunteer from where I am. While the danger of covid-19 is still hovering around us, this time, things should not go back to normal after the threat of pandemic ends. Organizations dedicated themselves to work for the protection of the environment must mobilize resources, manpower, and experts in order to achieve the ultimate goal; ¡°To preserve the environment for our own wellbeing¡±. They should and must be able to reach the corners of each region working and finding extraordinary people who can prove themselves in the quest of preserving the life functioning system i.e., the biosphere. We will not emphasize the financial hardship and related stuff here this is a topic for another discussion. But point out the willingness of organizations to work for the better good. The issue of an environment is so intertwined and deeply rooted with each and every aspect of our life, not only ¡°environmental protection¡± registered organizations should highlight the need for urgency, but every other sector can put an effort towards securing the lives of our descendants. And we know what to do: ¡°Save NATURE to be saved¡± References [1] NGOs Affiliated with SWC up to the fiscal year 2075-2076 B.S (2018-2019 A.D) [2] NGOs Affiliated with SWC up to the fiscal year 2076-2077 B.S (2020-2021 A.D) |
