大象传媒

The rare times that Nepal makes international headlines, it is often because of its snow-capped mountain peaks. Even climate change stories about Nepal largely focus on its mountains, neglecting a myriad of other, critical issues related to this unfolding human tragedy.

When we travelled to some remote Nepali mountain villages in September 2021 to produce two short films about climate change, we were trying not to repeat the same narrative about how global warming is accelerating glacier melt in the Himalayas; and how that could unleash a series of catastrophic events in the near future.

Instead, we wanted to capture the often-neglected impacts of climate change on human health - a crisis that is already being felt by people who have least contributed to global warming. 

More mosquitoes and more malaria

In a remote village in Nepal's far-western hills, we met Nirmala Chanda, a 19-year-old girl. She had suffered from malaria early this year, and it looked like she was yet to fully recover from the disease.

Mosquitoes were not previously common in Nirmala's village. But the rising temperature has now enabled mosquitoes to survive and breed in the high hills and mountains of Nepal, spreading vector-borne diseases such as malaria, dengue and kala-azar.

We also met Parbati Bhat, a 58-year-old community health volunteer. She told us that as many as eight people have suffered from malaria -- a disease that was previously confined to the tropical lowlands of the country -- in her small village this year alone.

Nirmala and Parbati are among Nepalis who have least contributed to greenhouse gas emissions, but they are most vulnerable to the health impacts of climate change. They do not know technical terms such as climate change and global warming, but they are living it every day. Their voices are rarely heard even within the country, let alone at international forums such as COP26.

Reaching the unreached

As part of our film project, supported by Wellcome, aiming to capture the lived experience of communities weathering the effects of climate change, we wanted to reach the unreached people like Nirmala and Parbati.

In our short film Mosquitoes in the mountains, we follow Parbati Bhat as she goes around meeting community people affected by malaria. She asks them to use mosquito nets, remove stagnant water and keep their houses and outside areas clean to be safe from mosquito-borne diseases. This was not her job when she became a health volunteer 38 years ago. She had only heard of malaria back then from her family living in the lower-lying areas of Nepal.

Landslides, floods and water pollution

For the other short film, When snow becomes rain, we crossed over the Himalayas to reach a high mountain village where we met Angyel Jung Bista, an 82-year-old apple farmer. He has lived in this village all his life. Just like Nirmala and Parbati, Angyel Jung Bista has felt the health impacts of climate change.

Angyel's village is nestled in the rain-shadow zone of Nepal, where rains were scarce, even during monsoon. But the rising temperature is leading to more frequent and intense rains in the region, triggering landslides and floods that pollute snow-fed rivers and rivulets.

Angyel told us that there was ample fresh meltwater in his village before, but heavy rainfall, flooding and landslides are now contaminating their water sources more often. As a result, his wife Chhutu Gurung has frequently had diarrhoea. Water-borne diseases have now become the second biggest health problem for people living in Angyel's village.

Understanding their lives

To capture the lived experience of people like Nirmala, Parbati and Angyel, we spent some time living with them to better understand their lives. The road to reach their village was full of craters and pits widened by monsoon downpour, and our vehicle broke down on the way. We carried our kit on our back and walked for four hours.

The journey to reach these remote mountain villages was challenging, but it was worth all the hardships we endured.