Generation for Environmental Management (GEM Nepal) was established in September 2008 as a non-profit making, non-governmental social organization run by enthusiastic young professionals from a diverse range of fields, but with a common interest. Human, economic, social, and environmental capital is, in many cases, being diminished, instead of being sustained or improved. Environmental problems are closely linked with unequal economic, social, and power relations, with poor environmental leadership and management, and with a public that feels disconnected from, and disempowered in dealing with, environmental issues. In Nepal, loss of biodiversity, pollution, and questionable waste management practices harm or destroy natural habitats, make human environments less habitable, damage public health, and increase the psychological distance that we, as people, feel with our natural environment. In a country with such diverse social, political, and economic problems, we recognize that getting people to focus on environmental issues is not an easy task. So we must work urgently and effectively to address these issues. In this pursuit, we must work hand-in-hand with groups seeking to empower the excluded through easy access to education and health, poverty reduction schemes, and efforts to promote sustainable development. Though there has been a lack of skilled, informed, visionary environmental leadership and an inadequate mobilization of human, physical, and financial resources in dealing with these problems, we are confident that Nepal’s environmental problems can be dealt with by transforming the attitudes, beliefs, and practices of the Nepalese people. Such transformation is also necessary for regular citizens. We seek to educate people, both the empowered and disempowered, on how to change those aspects of our society that result in depletion of resources, loss of biodiversity, and other forms of environmental degradation. We must also do our part to address global environmental problems, such as climate change, to which many of us contribute. No one should shirk their responsibility; we must all act today. To encourage greater responsibility in the environmental practices of the Nepalese people, Generation for Environmental Management (GEM Nepal) has been established.
