Opinion: What Nepal's disaster is teaching me about Squamish

Drawing parallels between the Kathmandu Valley and Squamish, a local environmental advocate argues that protecting forests and rivers is essential for sustainable development. We moved from Nepal to Squamish in 2011. Fifteen years later, I still find it remarkable that we somehow exchanged one mountain valley for another. Kathmandu Valley sits beneath the Himalayas. Squamish sits beneath some of British Columbia's most spectacular mountains. In both places, mountains and rivers are not scenery. They shape how people live. That is why the news from Nepal this week has been difficult to watch. On Aug. 26, a catastrophic debris flow and flood in Nepal's Rasuwa district involved a glacial collapse. According to the U.S. Geological Survey, the resulting debris flow travelled nearly 100 kilometres, affecting communities along the Trishuli and Bhote Koshi river systems. A memory from 2015 When the devastating earthquake struck Nepal in 2015, my 10-year-old son gave a small speech at the Squamish Farmers Market asking people to help earthquake victims. Squamish responded. We collected donations, including matched contributions, and gave the money to a Nepali family who had lost almost everything. I remember the father searching through the rubble for something he could offer us. He had almost nothing. Yet he wanted to give. That generosity is something I will never forget. Eleven years later, that 10-year-old is a fourth-year university student. Once again, we woke up in Squamish to horrifying news from Nepal. And once again, I found myself thinking about the relationship between people and mountains. A changing environment There is something deeply unfair about what is happening in the Himalayas. Nepal contributes only about 0.1% of global greenhouse-gas emissions, according to the World Bank, yet it faces significant climate-related risks, including flooding, landslides, water stress and glacial-lake overflow. The broader Himalayan cryosphere is changing rapidly. The International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) reports accelerating glacier loss, declining and shifting snow patterns, degrading permafrost and increasingly unpredictable river flows. Scientists are still determining exactly how climate change contributed to this week's disaster. That distinction matters. A warming climate does not mean every individual disaster is caused by climate change. But the underlying landscape is changing. That should matter to every mountain community. Which brings me back to Squamish. Squamish has changed enormously since we arrived in 2011. There is more development, more construction and greater pressure on land. Growth is not inherently bad. People need homes. Businesses need space. Communities evolve. But Squamish has assets that cannot simply be rebuilt once they are gone: Its mountains. Its rivers. Its forests. Its wildlife. These are not merely what make Squamish beautiful. They are why Squamish is Squamish. People move here because of them. Visitors come because of them. The local economy benefits from them. Protecting these assets is not anti-development. It is smart development. Nepal and Squamish are thousands of kilometres apart. But watching the disaster unfold in the Himalayas reminds me that mountain communities share something fundamental. We live with nature. We depend on it. We benefit from it. And sometimes, we underestimate it. Mountains are not obstacles. Rivers are not drains. Nature is not an unlimited resource. Whether we live beside the Himalayas or beneath the Stawamus Chief, our future depends on remembering that we are part of the landscape. What we protect today is what our children will inherit tomorrow. Manishi KC is the owner of handmadehappiness.ca and founder of Mool.space, an environmental awareness initiative focused on Nepal.