Tourism Minister Pandey stresses on tourism promotion through river conservation

Kathmandu: Badri Prasad Pandey, Minister for Culture, Tourism, and Civil Aviation, has stressed the importance of collaboration and coordination among all parties in the conservation of rivers and called on everyone to take this topic seriously.

Inaugurating the Photo Nepal Exhibition initiated by the Nepal Tourism Board (NTB) today, Minister Pandey commented upon the collaboration among the parties.

The Tourism Minister opened the Exhibition by holding a photo captioned ‘Karnali River: Photos of Three Countries’. The photos in this series were taken by Nabin Baral.

Minister Pandey said the infrastructure and physical structures should be constructed without spoiling the natural beauty of the rivers.

‘The discussions being held on the conservation of important river systems of the country, including the Karnali River and preventing the illegal exploitation of the river-based aggregates, should be taken seriously,’ he said, adding that activities like setting up crusher industry and building hydropower projects close to the river bank have been harming the natural flow of rivers.”

Minister Pandey said the impact of climate change is increasing due to the unbalanced exploitation of natural resources by developed countries and expressed concern over the lack of snow in the Annapurna base camp and other mountains.

He added that the melting of the snow in the mountains is affecting the entire world from the mountains to hills and beaches.

NTB Chief Executive Officer Deepak Raj Joshi said that ‘Photo Nepal’ is an effective platform to promote Nepal’s tourism through photography. The two-day exhibition showcases ‘Karnali River: Photographs of Three Countries (China, Nepal and India)’ presented by Nabin Baral.

According to the Board, the pictures on display have captured the amazing beauty of the Karnali River through a 1,080-kilometre-long adventure tour in 45 days.