It’s monsoon season here in Nepal. And every time it pours rain, as it’s doing now, I start worrying about flooding. It can happen here in Kathmandu but usually the worst occurs in the southern Madhesh region, when swollen rivers spill over their banks and inundate villages, or in Nepal’s hill districts, when incessant rain dislodges fragile slopes and landslides demolish buildings and block roads.
Climate change is reshaping the monsoon, resulting in greater numbers of extreme weather events, including more rainfall in shorter time spans. While we count the tragic victims of these events, we don’t often talk about the other health impacts of climate change. How will pregnant women or chronic disease patients go for health checkups when their road is blocked by mud? How many children will have to drink unsafe water when the usual source of clean water is submerged?
Today we’re speaking with Dibesh Karmacharya of the Centre for Molecular Dynamics Nepal. We discuss these short-term impacts of climate change-fuelled extreme weather as well as the so-called slow onset effects on health of warming temperatures. And there’s a bonus—Snow leopards and Bengal tigers also make their way into our talk.
Resources
Study — Climate change and health vulnerability in Nepal: A systematic review of the literature since 2010
Centre for Molecular Dynamics Nepal
Nepal Now social links
Thanks as always to Nikunja Nepal for advice and inspiration.
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Thank you to PEI in Bakhundole for the use of their studios.
Nepal Now is produced and hosted by Marty Logan.
