Pricing Nature

Under the veneer of neoliberal policies and a vehement push for GDP growth, Nepal along with most countries around the world are extirpating natural capital at an extraordinary rate. 20 trillion dollars’ worth of losses from 1997 to 2011 and potential losses of 3.5 trillion dollars a year in Asia alone. These massive enervating losses do not seem to exist on any government report, let alone be accounted for or even talked about. Our parochial attitude towards nature make it a mere resource that is to be consumed or exploited in the name of progress. This piece is an attempt to push the envelope on what development could mean in…