Nepal promises to save nature. It never checks

Nepal produces surprising research on Himalayan biodiversity given its size. The talent exists, but patience and willingness to fund slow, honest work are lacking.

Consider a simple question: If someone asked whether the insects, birds or wildflowers in a given Nepali forest are more or fewer than they were 10 years ago, could anyone answer honestly? For a handful of famous species, perhaps. For almost everything else, no. We have no baseline to compare against. This may sound like a narrow scientific complaint, but it sits at the centre of how the country handles nature, and it explains why so many of our green promises never quite mean anything.