The Kathmandu Valley Needs Help!

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The once bustling Bagmati river has become the focal point of Nepal's struggle to bring modernity to this once isolated region. And the environment is struggling to survive, writes Joseph Mayton. It is "clean-up" day on Nepal’s major river, the Bagmati. Uniformed military personnel troll the banks of the river, picking up plastic bags and rubbish that has found its way onto the sides what once was the main thoroughfare for the Kathmandu Valley. Turning, with pieces in his hand, one officer lightly tosses the rubbish into the already polluted water.

The once bustling Bagmati river has become the focal point of Nepal's struggle to bring modernity to this once isolated region. And the environment is struggling to survive, writes Joseph Mayton.

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It is "clean-up" day on Nepal’s major river, the Bagmati. Uniformed military personnel troll the banks of the river, picking up plastic bags and rubbish that has found its way onto the sides what once was the main thoroughfare for the Kathmandu Valley. Turning, with pieces in his hand, one officer lightly tosses the rubbish into the already polluted water.

"It goes down the river and gets out of here," he says calmly, as if there is nothing wrong with his actions. He's following orders anyway. This is the clean-up effort the Nepal military participates in on a monthly basis in their effort to "green the river," as the officer puts it.

All the rubbish moves slowly through the maze of boulders that protrude from the water. This once bustling river has become the focal point of Nepal's struggle to bring modernity to this once isolated region. And the environment is struggling to survive. Scientists have already questioned that even if action is taken immediately whether the Kathmandu Valley can survive its destruction.

Photo shows Kathmandu slum and polluted river Bagmati by olga_rani on flickr.com

Read more at ENN Affiliate, The Ecologist.