A Sustainable Development Solution for Nepal in Crisis Times

During Professor Jeffrey Sachs’ online lecture on sustainable development, he discusses many of the issues faced by landlocked countries in their efforts to achieve development. Sachs specifically mentions Nepal as one of these countries. Having never previously lived in a landlocked country, the gravity of this statement did not have the effect it perhaps demanded. My supervisor reiterated this fact as the decision was made for me to depart Washington, DC and be based out of our regional office in Nepal. I remained oblivious.

A couple of weeks into my relocation, Nepal promulgated their long awaited constitution. What should have been a time of great celebration for the former Kingdom turned Republic, turned into a time of crisis. More specifically, a time of fuel crisis. No sooner had those voting exited Singha Durbar—Nepal’s house of parliament—it’s close neighbor and regional superpower, India, decided it was time to flex its muscles. Claiming the unrest occurring in the Madhesi and Terai regions as reason, India stopped supplying Nepal with fuel—this includes fuel for motor vehicles and cooking fuel. Some fear that medical supplies will soon run short as India prevents commercial vehicles from coming across the border.

With the exception of a couple of nonviolent marches to the Indian Embassy in Kathmandu, the Nepali people have remained calm and peaceful throughout the fuel crisis. Even the miles long automobile lines that snake around the city’s few open gas stations are filled with smiling drivers, despite their hours of sitting in the end of summer heat. Many wait a day and even a day and a half for the morsel of fuel that they are finally allowed—barely enough to fill their 10-liter motorcycle tanks. Some cling to overcrowded vehicles, while some others have abandoned their vehicles altogether and walk for miles across the Kathmandu Valley. Since the dual earthquakes that shook the earth's crust in this landlocked country earlier this year, the route through India remains the only viable option available to Nepal. Its roadway with China has been closed since April, as a result of severe damages suffered during the earthquake. The country has all but run out of options.

Perhaps as it maneuvers this crisis situation, it is time for Nepal to exercise a different kind of option. A non-fossil fuel option. It is indeed in times of crisis that people are forced to explore non-traditional options, becoming ingenious in their times of woe. Only a few places in Nepal currently have the ability to explore non-fossil fuel options as an energy source. This is mostly due to the high cost involved in the setup of such alternative energy solutions.

If I have learned anything over the last few weeks, it is that the Nepali people are resilient. They are resilient amidst the worst of circumstances—two wars, a couple of massive earthquakes, change of government, and a fuel crisis are just a few obstacles they have overcome in the young republic's’ history. It is now time for the global community to rise to the occasion and reach the high bar of resilience that the Nepali people have graciously set. A little commitment on the part of the world community as Nepal emerges from these multiple crises situations might be exactly what the doctor ordered! And who better than the United Nations who passed its set of ambitious and exciting set of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to assist Nepal elevate itself from its subservience to fossil fuels and its neighboring countries? Nepal could indeed serve as one of the SDG’s trial locations for proving their ability to be operationalized and achieved, similar to the way in which the Millennium Villages served the Millennium Development Goals.