Permit to plunder: How the environment is paying the price for local governments’ greed

Industries that mine the riverbeds for stone and pebbles might be lucrative for local governments, but the environment is paying the price.

Like most locals from villages dotting the banks of the Indrawati in the Sindhupalchok district of central Nepal, Kamal Ratna Danuwar grew up with stories that revered the river. After all, the perennial waters of the snow-fed Indrawati nourished their fields and gave villagers bountiful harvests twice a year.