Envisioning a sustainable and resilient future, Just Nepal Foundation organized a one-day exposure visit to the ICIMOD Living Mountain Lab at Godavari on Friday, 17 May 2024. In attendance were our 7 Climate Change Champions, Just Nepal staff and Dr. Deepak Rijal, who were given a tour of the 30 hectare ICIMOD Living Mountain Lab by our guide, Purnaji.

As part of our initiative to build resilient mountain communities, Just Nepal Foundation trained and mobilized 90 Helambu youth at the very outset of our endeavors. These youth have progressed to actively participating in community work not just through JNF but on their own too. Presently some of them have been chosen as Climate Change Champions as part of JNF’s efforts to better equip local communities in Helambu against the adverse effects of climate change.

The ICIMOD visit aimed to introduce the Climate Change Champions to sustainable agro-farming solutions and techniques with the hope that they may adopt some of them in their own working areas. Few of the demonstrations that garnered much interest were the brick lined cold storage. Participants highlighted that during the monsoon, consumables like potatoes and tomatoes often suffer wastage due to lack of proper storage. Given its low cost of production, the ‘zeer pot’ cold storage seemed possible to implement at mountainous regions.
Producing low cost bio-brickets highly inspired one of our Climate Champions, Tenzing Lopsang Hyolmo to start his own bio-bricket production in Helambu. He saw this as a possible solution to tackling fuel shortage during road blockades in monsoon.

Planting pest-resistant crops, soil erosion preventing plants and SALT (Sloping Agriculture Land Technology) for kiwi cultivation were also viewed with much interest. The method of kiwi cultivation garnered much interest given the low cost, natural wooden trellis used to support the kiwi vines. While Helambu does engage in kiwi cultivation, heavy cemented structures are often used to support the vines. This adds to the financial burden on local farmers seeking to make a livelihood off the kiwi fruit. Alternative methods such as using the wooden trellis inspired some of our team members to employ them back in Helambu. Purnaji shared that picking kiwi just before they ripened would ensure their safety from monkeys who are a constant threat to crops in Helambu.

The tour also included simple solar drying tools that were not only cost-effective but well-suited for Helambu, much of which remains inaccessible in the monsoons.

In addition to agriculture, solar technology, irrigation methods and electricity generation, an early flood warning system was also demonstrated. Given Helambu’s recent flooding disaster in 2021, timely interventions are crucial to minimize loss and damage from future calamities.

Following lunch, participants were asked to share their learning. Valuable insights were shared. These were:

• Growing bamboo barriers against pests.
• Using peltric set technology to generate electricity through a hydro ram water pump.
• Waste management through composting on small areas.
• Electric fencing to keep pests out.
• Four-mouth stove.
• Trapping mist with a mesh net for water.
• Solar water distiller.
• Seed bank with 50 varieties of millet

The exposure visit was the first of its kind for the entire JNF team and it not only provided momentary relief from daily work but also encouraged our members to seek innovative, cost-effective and locally viable solutions to tackling climate change.