The silence of the cuckoo bird and catastrophic floods warn Nepal’s climate future is already here

The behemoth in the room is the silent climate crisis, which manifests as the absence of the cuckoo’s call. If we don’t listen and change, the future is bleak, and it will be too late.

For the first time in over 45 years, the cuckoo didn’t arrive in our garden to herald the spring. The lapsi tree it usually sits in is there, as are the crows that it uses to nurse its young. I am not the only one who was left bereft. All over the Valley, people have missed this bird’s beloved kuohkuoh this year.