Economy

Rising heat and snow-bare peaks chill Nepal's mountain economy – CTV News

Published

4 years ago

February 8, 2021

DHAMPUS, NEPAL —
Over the 12 years that Baburam Giri has worked as a hotel cook in the village of Dhampus — a major tourist draw with its views of the towering Annapurna mountain range — winters have become less snowy.

“The snowfall we had five years ago was more than 2 feet deep — but we didn’t have significant snowfall after that,” lamented Giri, standing at his stove at the Hotel Yama Sakura.

With hotels across the world feeling the financial pain of travel restrictions to curb the coronavirus pandemic, Giri said his central Nepal community was relying mainly on Nepali tourists, who come every year drawn by the wintry weather.

But this year, the bare ground means few visitors.

“Many domestic and local tourists come to this area to play in the snow whenever there is snowfall,” Giri told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

“But (now) the hotel is almost empty.”

From tourism to farming, industries based in Nepal’s mountains are hurting from a drop in income due to the lack of heavy snowfall in recent years — a phenomenon that scientists link to increasing temperatures.

According to Arun Bhakta Shrestha at the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD), studies using remote sensing technology show that snow cover has steadily decreased in Nepal and the Hindu Kush Himalayan region.

“The temperature of Nepal is rising at the rate of 0.6 degrees Celsius (1.08 Fahrenheit) per decade,” said the regional program manager.

A report published by Nepal’s Department of Hydrology and Meteorology in December predicted that the average temperature in the country this winter would be above normal and the average precipitation below normal.

For Budhhi Man Gurung, the owner of Hotel Yama Sakura, the combination of the changing climate and COVID-19 has led to an 80% drop in revenue compared to last year.

“It has become difficult for me to pay salaries to the staff,” he said.

There are no comprehensive studies on the economic impact of decreasing snowfall on Nepal’s tourism industry, but Dhananjay Regmi, CEO of the country’s tourism board, said in the long run the changing climate will undoubtedly lead to fewer visitors.

“Most of the tourists come to Nepal to see snow-filled mountains, but if these mountains turn into black hills that will ultimately affect tourism,” he said in a telephone interview.

The board had put together plans to promote snow-based tourism, such as skiing holidays, to bring more tourists to the region, Regmi explained.

“But the erratic snowfall seen in present days has made us question if that plan will succeed,” he added.

COLD WEATHER PEST CONTROL

Tourism is not the only industry struggling with central Nepal’s lack of snowfall.

Shanta Bahadur Bishowkarma, a farmer in Dhampus, said just a few years ago he could sustain his household on the food he grew in his field.

Now, without significant snow, he is struggling to access sufficient water to grow enough maize, millet and vegetables to feed his family.

In the winter growing season, he used to depend on melting snow to water his crops. These days, he said, he sometimes has to resort to using drinking water.

The snow and cold also were good for keeping his crops free of pests, Bishowkarma explained, noting that the cold temperatures harmed many insects and diseases that could destroy his plants.

“From our ancestors’ days there has been the belief that there would be a bumper crop in a year that saw enough snowfall,” the farmer said.

But as warmer temperatures hit his fields, “now I have to buy food from outside,” he said.

Arjun Rayamajhi, a plant protection officer at the government’s Agriculture Knowledge Center in Darchula, one of Nepal’s mountainous districts, said low temperatures decrease the reproduction rates of insects.

And just as in other parts of the world that are heating up, warmer temperatures in Nepal’s mountains are attracting pests that once found them too cold.

“Due to rising temperatures in higher regions, insects are shifting from the lower belt, so new pests are seen in higher regions these days,” Rayamajhi said.

The warming weather is also making it harder for Nepal’s mountain farmers to grow traditional crops that usually thrive in colder climates, such as apples.

“Even livestock are affected, as the lack of snowfall … causes a moisture deficit in winter and grasses they feed on cannot grow properly,” he said.

“The mountainous districts are already struggling with food insecurity and these things make the problem more serious.”

UNUSUAL WARMING

Climate researchers warn that snowy winters will become rarer in Nepal over the coming decades.

An assessment of the Hindu Kush-Himalaya region published by ICIMOD in 2019 predicted a 50%-60% decline in snowfall in the Ganges basin, which covers part of Nepal, by 2071-2100.

Research shows “unusually large” temperature hikes in high-elevation areas of the region, the report noted, adding that “the warming is estimated to be nearly two to three times the global average.”

Sushil Raj Poudel, president of the Trekking Agencies Association of Nepal’s western region association, said group members can no longer rely on the tourism boom they always used to see a few days after every heavy snow.

“Seeing no snowfall at this time of year in Nepal is a very strange thing,” he said.

“Climate change is something that I heard was happening in other countries, but now we are experiencing it in front of our eyes.”

(Reporting by Aadesh Subedi; Editing by Jumana Farouky and Laurie Goering. Please credit the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, that covers the lives of people around the world who struggle to live freely or fairly.)

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Economy

B.C.’s debt and deficit forecast to rise as the provincial election nears

Published

2 days ago

September 10, 2024

Anne Joseph

VICTORIA – British Columbia is forecasting a record budget deficit and a rising debt of almost $129 billion less than two weeks before the start of a provincial election campaign where economic stability and future progress are expected to be major issues.

Finance Minister Katrine Conroy, who has announced her retirement and will not seek re-election in the Oct. 19 vote, said Tuesday her final budget update as minister predicts a deficit of $8.9 billion, up $1.1 billion from a forecast she made earlier this year.

Conroy said she acknowledges “challenges” facing B.C., including three consecutive deficit budgets, but expected improved economic growth where the province will start to “turn a corner.”

The $8.9 billion deficit forecast for 2024-2025 is followed by annual deficit projections of $6.7 billion and $6.1 billion in 2026-2027, Conroy said at a news conference outlining the government’s first quarterly financial update.

Conroy said lower corporate income tax and natural resource revenues and the increased cost of fighting wildfires have had some of the largest impacts on the budget.

“I want to acknowledge the economic uncertainties,” she said. “While global inflation is showing signs of easing and we’ve seen cuts to the Bank of Canada interest rates, we know that the challenges are not over.”

Conroy said wildfire response costs are expected to total $886 million this year, more than $650 million higher than originally forecast.

Corporate income tax revenue is forecast to be $638 million lower as a result of federal government updates and natural resource revenues are down $299 million due to lower prices for natural gas, lumber and electricity, she said.

Debt-servicing costs are also forecast to be $344 million higher due to the larger debt balance, the current interest rate and accelerated borrowing to ensure services and capital projects are maintained through the province’s election period, said Conroy.

B.C.’s economic growth is expected to strengthen over the next three years, but the timing of a return to a balanced budget will fall to another minister, said Conroy, who was addressing what likely would be her last news conference as Minister of Finance.

The election is expected to be called on Sept. 21, with the vote set for Oct. 19.

“While we are a strong province, people are facing challenges,” she said. “We have never shied away from taking those challenges head on, because we want to keep British Columbians secure and help them build good lives now and for the long term. With the investments we’re making and the actions we’re taking to support people and build a stronger economy, we’ve started to turn a corner.”

Premier David Eby said before the fiscal forecast was released Tuesday that the New Democrat government remains committed to providing services and supports for people in British Columbia and cuts are not on his agenda.

Eby said people have been hurt by high interest costs and the province is facing budget pressures connected to low resource prices, high wildfire costs and struggling global economies.

The premier said that now is not the time to reduce supports and services for people.

Last month’s year-end report for the 2023-2024 budget saw the province post a budget deficit of $5.035 billion, down from the previous forecast of $5.9 billion.

Eby said he expects government financial priorities to become a major issue during the upcoming election, with the NDP pledging to continue to fund services and the B.C. Conservatives looking to make cuts.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 10, 2024.

Note to readers: This is a corrected story. A previous version said the debt would be going up to more than $129 billion. In fact, it will be almost $129 billion.

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Economy

Mark Carney mum on carbon-tax advice, future in politics at Liberal retreat

Published

3 days ago

September 10, 2024

Anne Joseph

NANAIMO, B.C. – Former Bank of Canada governor Mark Carney says he’ll be advising the Liberal party to flip some the challenges posed by an increasingly divided and dangerous world into an economic opportunity for Canada.

But he won’t say what his specific advice will be on economic issues that are politically divisive in Canada, like the carbon tax.

He presented his vision for the Liberals’ economic policy at the party’s caucus retreat in Nanaimo, B.C. today, after he agreed to help the party prepare for the next election as chair of a Liberal task force on economic growth.

Carney has been touted as a possible leadership contender to replace Justin Trudeau, who has said he has tried to coax Carney into politics for years.

Carney says if the prime minister asks him to do something he will do it to the best of his ability, but won’t elaborate on whether the new adviser role could lead to him adding his name to a ballot in the next election.

Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland says she has been taking advice from Carney for years, and that his new position won’t infringe on her role.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 10, 2024.

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Economy

Nova Scotia bill would kick-start offshore wind industry without approval from Ottawa

Published

3 days ago

September 10, 2024

Anne Joseph

HALIFAX – The Nova Scotia government has introduced a bill that would kick-start the province’s offshore wind industry without federal approval.

Natural Resources Minister Tory Rushton says amendments within a new omnibus bill introduced today will help ensure Nova Scotia meets its goal of launching a first call for offshore wind bids next year.

The province wants to offer project licences by 2030 to develop a total of five gigawatts of power from offshore wind.

Rushton says normally the province would wait for the federal government to adopt legislation establishing a wind industry off Canada’s East Coast, but that process has been “progressing slowly.”

Federal legislation that would enable the development of offshore wind farms in Nova Scotia and Newfoundland and Labrador has passed through the first and second reading in the Senate, and is currently under consideration in committee.

Rushton says the Nova Scotia bill mirrors the federal legislation and would prevent the province’s offshore wind industry from being held up in Ottawa.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 10, 2024.

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