š Climate Change — A Reality We Can No Longer Ignore
As a social activist and a student of natural science, climate change is something I think about deeply — not just as an academic subject, but as a lived reality that is already reshaping the lives of people in my community.
Climate change is not a distant threat. It is not a future problem. It is happening right now — and the people feeling its impacts most severely are often the ones who have contributed to it the least.
In my district, the communities living along the riversides are among the most vulnerable. These are families who, due to financial constraints, are unable to afford land in safer, more elevated areas of the city. They live where they live not by preference, but by circumstance — and it is precisely these marginalized communities that are bearing the heaviest burden of a crisis they did not create.
The floods are becoming more frequent. The rivers are becoming less predictable. And the lives built along their banks are becoming increasingly fragile.
As someone who understands both the science behind climate change and the human cost it carries, I feel a deep sense of responsibility — to speak about it, to advocate for those most affected, and to ensure that the conversation around climate change always includes the voices of those living on its front lines.
Because a crisis this big demands attention from all of us — especially those of us who have the knowledge and the platform to speak up
š When the River Took Everything
This is the Khageri Khola River of our district — captured during the monsoon of 2022, at a moment that many families living along its banks will never forget.
What you see here is not just a swollen river. It is the story of lives turned upside down overnight.
The massive surge of water that season caused devastating damage to the surrounding area — washing away homes, swallowing agricultural land, and destroying crops that families had worked all season to grow. For communities whose entire livelihood depends on what they harvest from that land, losing a crop is not just a financial loss — it is a blow to survival itself.
The water did not stop at the fields. It entered homes. It crossed thresholds, damaged belongings, and displaced families who had nowhere else to go and no means to simply pack up and move to safer ground.
These are not statistics. These are real people — hardworking, resilient, and deeply vulnerable — caught in the crossfire of a climate crisis that grows more unforgiving with every passing year.
This photograph is a reminder that climate change does not announce itself with press conferences and policy papers. For the marginalized communities of our district, it announces itself with rising water, ruined harvests, and sleepless nights.
And that is exactly why we cannot afford to look away.
š️ When Homes Cannot Hold Against the Water
This is one of the houses we personally inspected following the floods — and what we found was deeply unsettling.
The destruction that floodwater brings to clay-built homes is unlike anything it does to concrete structures. Water doesn't just damage these homes — it dissolves them. It slowly pulls the soil away from the very walls holding the structure together, weakening it from the foundation up. In the worst cases, entire structures are swept away by the current — leaving nothing behind but the ground where a family's home once stood.
And the heartbreaking reality is this — the families most exposed to this kind of destruction are also the families least equipped to recover from it. Living along the riverside because they cannot afford land elsewhere, and building with clay because steel and cement are simply beyond their financial reach, these communities exist in a cycle of vulnerability that every flood season makes worse.
This is not just a natural disaster story. It is a social justice story.
Looking ahead, the picture only grows more concerning. If climate change continues unchecked — if global temperatures keep rising, if rainfall patterns keep becoming more erratic and extreme — the consequences we are already witnessing today will seem minor in comparison to what lies ahead.
The people who will suffer the most are, as always, the ones with the least. The ones living closest to the river. The ones building with clay because that is all they have.
They deserve better than to be forgotten in this conversation.
š¬ Understanding the River — Preparing for the Future
Every monsoon season, I watch the same story unfold. The waters rise, the damage spreads, and the same vulnerable families are left picking up the pieces — again. And every year, that cycle of suffering deepens my concern and strengthens my resolve to do something about it.
As someone with a background in natural science, I have taken it upon myself to study the course of river flow in our district — analyzing patterns, understanding how water moves, and attempting to predict what damage it may bring to which areas in the coming years. Because if we can anticipate a disaster before it arrives, we can prepare for it. And preparation, in these communities, can be the difference between loss and survival.
But scientific understanding alone is not enough. Which is why I am also actively working to spread awareness about climate adaptation — the idea that as our climate changes, we too must change with it. We must adjust the way we build, the way we farm, the way we plan our communities, and the way we think about the future.
The challenge, however, is significant.
Due to low literacy levels and lack of access to proper education, many people — and even some of the concerned authorities — are yet to fully grasp the urgency of climate adaptation. The awareness is thin. The action is thinner.
And that gap between what needs to be done and what is actually being done is something I find deeply troubling.
I strongly believe that climate adaptation is not optional — it is an absolute necessity. It is the most critical strategy we have for safeguarding the lives, livelihoods, and futures of the people most at risk in our communities.
The river will keep flowing. The climate will keep changing. The only question is — will we be ready?
š Nepal Model United Nations 2022 — Speaking for the Planet
Conversations about climate change need to happen everywhere — in communities, in classrooms, and on bigger, more powerful stages too.
In 2022, I had the privilege of attending the Nepal Model United Nations (NMUN) 2022 as a delegate representing UNEP — the United Nations Environment Programme, under the delegation of Japan. Our agenda centered on a topic I feel deeply passionate about — the impact of extractive industries and the urgent actions needed to address them.
Extractive industries — mining, drilling, and the harvesting of raw materials from the earth — are responsible for more than half of the world's total carbon emissions. That is not a minor footnote in the climate conversation. That is the headline. And it was a reality I was determined to bring to the center of our debate.
My advocacy focused on the adoption of a Circular Economy model — a transformative approach that moves away from our current "take, make, dispose" system and instead emphasizes reusing, recycling, and reducing our dependence on extractive resources. It is not just an environmental strategy — it is an economic one, and a deeply necessary one if we are serious about confronting global warming and the climate hazards it brings.
I poured that conviction into both my position paper and my contributions to the floor debate — and I am proud to share that my efforts were recognized with a Special Mention at NMUN 2022.
But beyond the award, what I carried home was something more valuable — a sharper voice, a broader perspective, and an even stronger belief that climate action cannot wait
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š± International Webinar on Youth Dialogue on Adaptation Action 2022 — Learning to Lead Change
Knowledge is the foundation of every meaningful action. And when it comes to something as complex and urgent as climate adaptation, learning from the right voices — at the right level — makes all the difference.
In 2022, I had the opportunity to attend the International Webinar on Youth Dialogue on Adaptation Action — a powerful two-day program that brought together young voices and expert perspectives from across the globe to discuss one of the most pressing challenges of our time.
Over those two days, I immersed myself in deep, meaningful conversations about climate adaptation — what it truly means, why it is non-negotiable, and most importantly, how it can actually be implemented on the ground. One of the most valuable insights I took away was the critical role of public-private partnerships in driving effective adaptation strategies — because climate action at scale requires not just government will, but active collaboration with the private sector as well.
For me, this wasn't just a webinar. It was a reminder that youth voices belong in these conversations — not at the edges, but right at the center of decision-making and action.
Every piece of knowledge I gathered over those two days feeds directly into the work I am doing in my community — because understanding the global picture only makes the local work more focused, more informed, and more impactful.
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