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Opportunity knocked at an old friend Khashing Chandra Rai’s door. A photographer/videographer by profession, he landed an assignment to cover an Indian Army expedition to Everest (8,849.86m).

For Khashing, the business had taken a sharp nosedive for two years because of the pandemic; it came to a grinding halt during the lockdown. He jumped at the offer, courtesy of Seven Summit Treks.

He realized it would be no picnic in that harsh godforsaken land—his first-ever high-altitude assignment in 10 career years. His contract included Everest Base Camp (5,364m) and the periphery only, not the summit. Armed to the teeth with his camera gear and other paraphernalia, he flew to Lukla (2,850m) on 16 April 2021.

Flying over the unbounded wilderness and lofty mountains that seemed to spring to life, the Twin Otter prepared to land. To Khashing, it was no less dramatic; his heart skipped at the hair-raising touchdown. Small wonder, Lukla rates as one of the world’s most dangerous airports.

It took a nine-day trek from Lukla to EBC, helping the entire team acclimatize to altitude gain. After Dingboche (4,410m), it started snowing and continued until they arrived at snow-laden EBC.

The scenario at the Base Camp took Khashing off his guard—the site crawled with people: over 200 summiteers with twice as many Sherpa porters and guides. Amber-colored tents swarmed the place against the white backdrop. The entire locale bustled, almost giving a cramped feeling. An incredible sight!

To Khashing’s great surprise, their Sherpa porters pitched tents at designated spots with uncanny deft and precision, and the guides executed logistic functions, leaving no loose ends.

The closure of climbing season in 2020 in the wake of Covid-19, the year 2021, it appeared, had thrown the sluice gate wide open for the hung-up Everest aspirants. The Chinese side remained closed.

A week of getting used to the gear: from crampon, harness to ascender (jumars), ice ax, and figure-8 followed by a ceremonial puja performed by revered Lamas, the team set off to Lobuche peak (6,119 m), a drill for the ultimate—Everest.

Khashing was not supposed to join, but a senior Indian officer did him a good turn and arranged the gear for him. He was over the moon after the successful climb.

At night, temperatures at EBC dropped to negative eight, but daytimes were warmer, even sweltering—above 30 degrees Celsius inside the tent, a greenhouse effect. The snow seemed a mainstay: cooking, drinking, and even laundry—a one-of-a-kind experience for Khashing.

The turn of events shifted unawares; weather on the north side deteriorated when the Indian team prepared for their assault on Everest and stayed that way for weeks on end. Devastated, they abandoned the ascent. Several other expedition teams, too, called off.

As a last resort, three members of the Indian team scaled the Lhotse Himal (8,516m), instead—the world’s fourth-tallest peak, south of Everest.

Then disaster struck—two of the Indian team members fell sick. The symptoms bore a close resemblance to HAPE (high-altitude pulmonary edema), but the team doctor suspected a case of Covid-19, and the sick got airlifted to Kathmandu.

Words got around as more coronavirus cases surfaced at the base camp. Gossips ran high; speculations were fueled. News broke that 17 more climbers had been evacuated by helicopters to Kathmandu—most of them tested positive. And hacking coughing (called the Khumbu Cough) seemed to permeate the otherwise peaceful nights at EBC.

Next followed chaos. Camps got cordoned off—and expedition members confined to their bases. Pandemic protocols like physical distancing and staying put in respective bubbles were imposed. Khashing felt alarmed—scared, too; he had developed a mild cough.

Helicopters went into overdrive, delivering supplies and airlifting the sick. The ominous drone of the choppers continued unabated. The last update took the number of infected from 150 to 200. Rescue flights continued. And the silent stalker still seemed to lurk around EBC.

Disheartened and burnt-out, the Indian detachment took a helicopter from Pheriche (4,371m) to Lukla. Khashing and the Sherpas trekked back. Namche, on the way, looked like a ghost town—every hotel had shut down because of the outbreak.

After a day’s delay at Lukla, he flew back home to Kathmandu—only to find the pandemic had snowballed for the worse.

Nepal’s second enhanced Nationally Determined Contribution (e-NDC) communicates the country’s vision of achieving socio-economic prosperity by building a climate-resilient society. Nepal has committed to net-zero GHG emission by 2045. It has also agreed to the 2030 target of zero deforestation and 30 percent methane reduction. To reach zero emission by 2045, Nepal has to reduce 25 percent emissions from high emitting sectors such as energy; industrial processes and product use (IPPU); agriculture, forestry and other land use (AFOLU); and solid waste. Among these four, the most challenging is AFOLU, given its critical role in meeting food, nutrition and livelihood security challenges of the majority of Nepali people.

There is a high trade-off between agriculture and land use productivity and greenhouse gas (GHG) emission. In order to achieve the high mitigation goals, there needs to be a balance between agriculture and natural resources management and climate mitigation/adaptation. This is vital both for sustained economic development and stable climate change impacts. Ensuring food and livelihood security of Nepali people especially the most vulnerable is crucial while progressing to net-zero. This will require managing development and climate change in a holistic, complementary and synergistic manner. This article presents some strategies and practical approaches Nepal’s development and climate change policy makers and managers can adopt to fulfill both domestic and international commitments.

Based on Nepal’s commitments made both at and after COP26, it is clear that managing climate change impact in Nepal is of strategic importance and has to be guided by sound federal policies and legal framework. The goal is to ensure development activities are managed in a complimentary, synergistic, and harmonized manner.

Nepal’s plans, policies and programs implemented by different ministries and agencies need to be cohesive if we are to achieve the twin goals of development and environment conservation. The universally accepted principles and practices of integrated environment and development management should guide all three levels of government. This can be done by mainstreaming climate change and nature conservation in all our development endeavors. A change of course has been necessitated to recover from the devastating impact of the pandemic.

Nepal’s ambitious climate, biodiversity and development goals can be achieved by promoting Green Resilient and Inclusive Development (GRID), which is a sustainable natural resources based and socially inclusive green economic development approach. It aims to reduce poverty, contribute to prosperity and help achieve UN sustainable development goals. According to a recent World Bank publication the GRID approach “promotes economic growth that goes hand in hand with environmental goals and inclusion”. It aims to achieve multiple goals of poverty eradication, environmental sustainability and prosperity based on the framework of sustainable development. The GRID approach can address the vulnerability and risk Nepali population, biodiversity and national and local economies face in an integrated manner.

Nepal is in a good position to embark on the path of green economy, as it is rich in natural resources especially water, energy, biodiversity and human resources. Under a well-planned and designed GRID plan, economic growth can be maintained at optimal level besides making growth less carbon and methane intensive and more social and gender inclusive. The Ministry of Finance and several development partners led by the World Bank jointly launched the GRID approach in September 2021. This was done through the endorsement of the landmark ‘Kathmandu Declaration’ to develop a strategic GRID action plan.

This plan for the first time aims to “put climate and disaster resilience at the center of development processes”. This is critical to tackle the devastating impact of climate change we witnessed in Melamchi and other parts of the country last year due to unexpected extreme weather events. The development partners have agreed to invest in GRID implementation in Nepal. The green and inclusive climate management and development approach has the potential to decarbonize Nepal and make its development sector climate resilient while also putting the country on the trajectory of net-zero.

The author is Distinguished Fellow, CGED-Nepal, and Vice-Chair, IUCN Commission on Ecosystem Management

On 6 December 2021, for the first time in history, Bangladesh and India celebrated the Maitree Diwas to foster bilateral ties. A day after the celebrations, Indian Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla visited Dhaka (7-8 December 2021) followed by Indian President Ram Nath Kovind who paid a state visit to Bangladesh (15-17 December 2021). The growing importance of this important bilateral relationship was thus amply underscored.

In fact, the nature and scope of Bangladesh-India relations touches every aspect of human life. One can argue that friendship between Bangladesh and India should not be confined to the high-level bilateral visits or celebration of special days. The nature and scope of the ties impact the everyday lives of hundreds of millions of people in these two countries. Thus Bangladesh-India relations should be strengthened based on the principles of shared prosperity and responsibility.

There are many reasons for this. First, the two are continental and maritime neighbors. And neighbors play a disproportionate role in any country’s economy, security, trade and development. When European neighbors started cooperating, the fruits of cooperation benefitted tens of millions of people. Thus fostering cooperation between and among neighbors brings great dividends. One should also note the centuries-old cultural and civilizational linkages between India and East Bengal (later Bangladesh).

Second, both Bangladesh and India are rising economic powers, with complementary socio-economic development and prosperity. Notably, India receives the highest number of tourists and medical patients from Bangladesh.

Third, in the maritime domain, the Bay of Bengal and the Indian Ocean Region has become the center of competition among regional and extra-regional powers. To address growing non-traditional security challenges, including climate change, piracy and Illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing, cooperation among littoral states in the Bay of Bengal and Indian Ocean region has become an absolute necessity.

Fourth, the whole world is looking at the blue economy. And in the pursuit of the blue economy potential, Bangladesh and India needs to promote cooperation in the areas of science and technology, maritime education and research, as well as in investments and innovations both at bilateral and regional levels.

Fifth, in this post-pandemic world, there is no alternative to cooperation. India and Bangladesh can play leading roles in the promotion of global cooperation on vaccines, science and technology and agriculture.

Sixth, Bangladesh is struggling to manage the huge influx of Rohingya refugees. It is a daunting task for Bangladesh to continue its humanitarian support for more than 1.1 million refugees. In addition, there is now a serious possibility of these Rohingya refugees becoming a source of conflict and violence.

There are clear regional security implications of the Rohingya crisis—and India will also be affected by it. In addition, the role of the Rohingyas in the facilitation of drug-smuggling (particularly yaba) as well as in human trafficking in Bangladesh and India is getting harder to deny. Thus, there is no scope to identify the Rohingya crisis only as Bangladesh’s problem. Against such a backdrop, as a regional power and close friend of Bangladesh, India needs to take a proactive role in resolving the Rohingya crisis. This it should do both at the bilateral level with Myanmar, as well as at the regional and global levels.

Finally, in the post Covid-19 world politics, Bangladesh and India must cooperate on mutual and regional concerns. The issue of trade negotiations, climate and UN peacekeeping missions impact people of both these countries—and beyond. Thus, Bangladesh and India needs to play a constructive and cooperative role in global diplomacy for a better, fairer, and more humane world.

In the 21st-century, Bangladesh-India partnership needs to be promoted based on shared peace, progress and prosperity. At the bilateral level, India should not adopt policies like the National Register for Citizens that negatively impact bilateral ties. India should also take the lead in resolving the long-standing water-sharing issue. Similarly, in global diplomacy, shared responsibility for a sustainable planet should guide Bangladesh-India partnership.

The author is a research fellow at the Center for Bangladesh and Global Affairs [email protected]

Udita (name changed) had an important work presentation on the first day of the week. She was both nervous and anticipative about the meeting. She had 25 minutes to go before logging in to the video conferencing app when her mother showed up in her room and asked her to join for lunch. Udita told her mom that she would eat later as it was almost time for her remote meeting. Her mom got upset no sooner and told her, “It seems like all other people at my home have important work to do, only I am the free and useless one here.” Those words got to Udita's nerves, and she frowned, “Not again!” before turning to her presentation. Her mom stormed off.

In this kind of situation, it can be easy to slip into judgmental thoughts about oneself and others. This, in turn, fuels misunderstanding, miscommunication and conflict.

Udita had a few minutes to go before the presentation, but her mind was constantly flashing back to the interaction she had with her mom. She, in fact, quickly realized that she was having judgmental thoughts about her mom like ‘she never understands’, ‘what would she know about the pressure I’m under?’ She knew she couldn’t continue to do so if she wanted her presentation to go well and not worsen the relationship with her mother.

Practicing self-connection

Self-connection is about connecting with our own feelings and needs rather than getting stuck in a cycle of blaming and justifications. When we shift from judgments to self-connection, we create space to acknowledge what’s really going on for us.

We can ask the following questions to connect with ourselves:

- Khas ma k bhako ho? (What really happened?)

Udita separated her judgments from what happened in the situation. She recalled that her mom told her, "It seems like all other people at my home have important work to do, only I am the free and useless one here," to which she responded, “Not again!” This step is important because it helps us break our narrative and see things for what they really are. It is about ‘seeing with our eyes and ears’ rather than making assumptions and jumping into conclusions.

-How do I feel?

Once we identify the trigger, we can move towards how we interpret the event that transpired. Udita checked in with herself and realized she felt annoyed and discouraged upon hearing her mom's words.

-What do I need?

Without emotional literacy, it might have been easy for Udita to believe that her mother caused her feelings of annoyance and discouragement. The truth is, her mother’s words and actions only triggered those feelings in Udita. Her feelings emerged from her unmet needs for support and understanding, which she sought in the relationship with her mother.

-Do I have a specific request to myself or someone else?

Udita then realized she perhaps needed to focus on doing the presentation well for the time being. She decided to approach her mother and know what was going on for her after the presentation. Once we realize what we need, it is easier to then look for strategies to meet those needs.

Self-connection allowed Udita the space to tune in to her own feelings and needs instead of getting stuck in judgmental thoughts. Now she has a better chance at meeting her needs for support and understanding as opposed to when she was stuck in judgmental thoughts about her mother like ‘she never understands’, ‘what would she know about the pressure I’m under?’

When we can better connect with our own feelings and needs, we also improve the chances of understanding the feelings and needs of the other person. Empathizing with another person immediately after a triggering event can be difficult. It helps to first recognize our judgmental thoughts and to use those as cues to first connect with what’s really going on for us.

The author is Linchpin at My Emotions Matter, an education initiative that helps individuals and teams learn the mindset and skills of Emotional Intelligence. Learn more at myemotionsmatter.com.