The theme for the night was “Envisioning Nepal in 2020” where participants were to share their views on how they envisioned Nepal in the year 2020 in their respective fields.
........ cyclist Shailendra Dangol imagined “a cycle-friendly, less polluted Nepal in 2020.
Read the full article from Republica
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| Silhouette photo of KCC2020 member Sailendra Dongol. Photo By: Prajwal Bhattarai (Republica) |
I'm so inspired by the work that you guys are doing. Keep it up!!
ReplyDeleteMy name is Anna and I'm a climate activist from Australia, and I visited Kathmandu and Langtang in September with my partner Robert.
I have an idea for your campaign which I think could be quite influential, considering the 'importance' of tourism and the Thamel area in Kathmandu... how about starting a campaign for a motor-free, cycle-friendly zone in Thamel?
Trust me, the tourists who stay in Thamel absolutely *hate* the motors and horns - taxis, trucks, motorbikes that speed through what is meant to be a pedestrian area. By standing on the street with clipboards and saying 'would you like to sign a petition to get the cars out of Thamel?', and by getting all of the local shop-holders to collect petitions for you as well, I'm sure you could get *thousands* of tourist signatures in a *very* short space of time. Perhaps something to think about and plan for the tourist season next year, but with a small test now?
Of course, you would also need to include other tactics in your campaign - like creating a map of what the Thamel area could look like, where Taxi ranks to pick up tourists could be, where the bike lanes could be, and so on. These could be distributed on flyers to the taxi drivers, with an email address or a mobile phone number to call if they have feedback or want to adjust the plan.
In the long term, if you get a small region of the city to be motor-free within a few years, it could set an example, and then you could gradually move to other areas in the next three years, and even more in the last three years - it could result in your vision - an interconnected network of cycle zones and roads throughout Kathmandu - become reality by 2020!
anna.c.keenan on gmail or skype if you'd like to discuss the idea further. :)