The present publication provides a detailed account of the status of the Kathmandu Valley environment. The reporthighlights the five key environmental issues of air quality, settlement, drinking water, waste management, and naturaldisaster preparedness, reviews their status, and recommends measures to prevent or minimise the negative impacts.The report provides direct options for management by various levels of government, civil society, the public-privatesector and residents. These include improved planning and zoning, land pooling, solid waste management, rainwaterharvesting, a variety of infrastructural and technical measures and vastly improved coordination and enforcement.Community mobilisation is critical to achieving these goals. With the potential for catastrophic disaster fromearthquakes, many of these measures are not only important for human health, tourism development and the qualityof life – but essential to the preservation of life when the inevitable earthquakes occur.
