Environmental research

Providing hot water for drinking and cooking for 120 peoples in the Tsechen Monastic School or Great Compassion Monastic School (GCMS) has become a serious problem in terms of the amount of GhGs emitted through the burning of wood, juniper bush and animal dung used to heat the water. The populations of the school and gonpa consume over 300 liters of hot water per day either as drinking water, in tea or for cooking rice, steaming dough etc. The Monastic School is the largest institution in Upper Mustang. It is the only monastic school in Lo Manthang and with ten years support from the American Himalayan Foundation (AHF), under its cultural conservation project, has revived Buddhist practices in the area. There are 70 student monks, studying from grades 1 to 8 and 18 student monks in the Shedra, or monastic college. There are 13 teachers and four domestic staff. The school is part of Choedde Gonpa which, in addition to the school s population, houses 15 senior monks, bringing the total population to 120 people, not including visiting members of the congregation. Upper Mustang, which is a trans Himalayan zone, is a resource poor area with a dearth of natural fuel sources. There is a micro-hydro plant which services Lo Manthang, but the output is only enough to be used for lighting and then only a few hours each evening. Since early 2010 when a seasonably motorable road from Pokhara to Lo Manthang was completed, the school was able to bring 40 cylinders of LPG from the south, funded by the sale of postcards to visiting tourists. This gas is used solely for cooking and quantities required make it unsuitable for heating water. The alternatives available to the school, and other residents of Upper Mustang , are gathering wood and juniper bushes from the local area and use of animal dung. For the 2012/13 Nepal fiscal year, the school has budgeted for 4,000kgs of wood/juniper, 15,000 kilogram bags of dung and 60 cylinders of cooking gas. The total expense for the purchase of these items (not including transportation of the gas) is forecast to be Rs 181,000 (the school pays other local residents to collect the wood and dung) for the year. One resource which Upper Mustang has in abundance is sunlight. Being in the rain shadow of the Annapurna Range and protected from the monsoons, Upper Mustang has a very short wet season and has the benefit of clear skies for most of the year. Photovoltaic energy is an ideal solution and recent developments in this technology now make it a viable option as an alternative energy source for the area. The current baseline scenario is that tones of GhGs are emitted into the atmosphere each year by this one institution. Also of concern is the damage to the areas fragile and changing ecosystems which have for years been at risk due to soil erosion and river bank corrosion due to deforestation driven by the need for fuel to burn. The provision of a PV hot water system in the monastic school will dramatically reduce its need to burn wood, juniper and dung and demonstrate to smaller institutions and residents of Upper Mustang that solar energy is a workable alternative.

Nepal