ICIMOD

Nepal’s National Air Quality Management Action Plan(NAQMAP) is taking a closer look at the country’s industries, especially its industrial boilers.
These industrial boilers power factories that produce good ranging from food and textiles to pharmaceuticals and construction materials. Powered by diesel and biomass, their emissions affect both air quality and public health.

The good news is that alternatives like electric boilers, common boilers, and industrial heat pumps offer factories clean options to transition to.
But this transition also requires the right policies, infrastructure, financing, and technical support i, so that industries are best placed to make this shift.

Learn more about how Government of Nepal and ICIMOD are working towards this transition: https://www.icimod.org/event/air/transition-of-industrial-boilers-in-nepal/

Our initiative on Nepal’s NAQMAP is supported by ICIMOD’s Himalayan Resilience Enabling Action Programme (HI-REAP), funded by the UK government.


UK in Nepal Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office

In 2025 alone:
110,000+ kg of waste was removed from Everest
270,000+ kg of waste was removed from surrounding trails and villages

Yet waste is accumulating faster than it can be cleared.

The problem isn't just the trash we can see. Scientists have detected microplastics and nanoplastics in Everest’s snow, soil, and water. These pollutants can accelerate glacier melt, contaminate water sources, damage fragile ecosystems, and enter local food chains.

At the same time, there are encouraging signs of progress.

New measures including mandatory waste carry-back rules, waste monitoring teams, and Nepal’s Action Plan for Mountain Cleaning (2025–2029), aim to strengthen environmental protection. Proposed provisions under the Action Plan 2025-2029, in conjunction with the Integrated Tourism Bill, could also introduce stricter environmental standards for mountaineering and establish a permanent fund for high-mountain clean-up.

Protecting Everest means preventing pollution at its source, not just cleaning up after it.

Read the full op-ed by Lani Tamang and Tshering Sherpa: https://thehimalayantimes.com/opinion/waste-control-on-everest-calls-for-transformation-in-governance-behaviour

Call for papers

Climate and weather hazards rarely occur in isolation. Their compounding and cascading impacts are reshaping risk landscapes and exposing gaps in how societies forecast, communicate, and prepare.

A new Call for Papers for the nature partner journal Natural Hazards special collection ‘Weather and Climate-Induced Multi-Hazard Futures: Forecast, Communication, and Preparedness for Society’ invites interdisciplinary research that advances people-centred, inclusive early warning systems, preparedness, and risk-informed decision-making.

The focus is on the social dimensions of compounding and cascading weather- and climate-related hazards in an interconnected multi-hazard world, exploring actionable science that links interacting extremes and risk management to societal outcomes, particularly for vulnerable regions and communities.

This Collection is a joint effort by npj Natural Hazards Nature Portfolio; the Societal and Economic Research Applications (SERA) Working Group of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) World Weather Research Programme (WWRP); the WWRP Progressing Early Warnings for All (EW4All) Oriented to Partnerships and Local Engagement (PEOPLE) project; the World Climate Research Programme (WCRP) Regional Information for Society (RIfS) core project; the UNESCO- and WMO WWRP- endorsed Seamless Prediction and Services for Promoting Environmental and Societal Sustainability (SEPRESS) programme led by the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology; and the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD).

Submission deadline: 30 September 2026.

For more information: https://www.nature.com/collections/facabjihee

Queries may be addressed to Rongkun Liu - Guest Editor of this special collection - at [email protected]