FEED - P Ltd

24/05/2026

Day 5 — Chitwan to Pokhara via Bandipur
On the Road & In the Community
18th May 2026
Day 5 was a day of movement, but the journey was far from passive. 🚌

En route to Pokhara, students made a meaningful stop in Bandipur, one of Nepal’s most cherished heritage towns. Led by Bikram Piya, President of the Rotary Community Corps Bandipur, and accompanied by municipal authorities, homestay owners, and hotel entrepreneurs, the conversation was rich and wide-ranging. Students heard directly from the community about Bandipur’s cultural history, the climate changes locals have witnessed and felt over the years, solid waste management, the evolution of tourism and urbanization, and the community’s determined efforts to preserve their heritage amid rapid change. 🏘️

What made the session particularly powerful was the human texture of it, these were not experts presenting data, but residents describing their own landscape, their own sky, their own town shifting around them.
By the time the group reached Pokhara, the road had been long and the day full. Yet students gathered their energy for one more task — presenting their group findings from the Bote community interactions in Madi Valley, bringing the voices and observations from Day 3 back into the room. 🎤

A long day, but one that carried the transect forward in every sense.

23/05/2026

Day 4 — Chitwan
Forests, Rivers, Health & Heritage
17th May 2026

If Day 3 was intense, Day 4 was expansive. Students moved across four very different worlds, each adding a new dimension to what planetary health looks like in practice.

The morning began at Baghmara Community Forest, a different lens to the previous day’s national park visit. In conversation with Chairperson Bhuvaneshwor Chaudhary, students explored how community-led conservation works differently from state-managed protected areas, how local people actively engage with and steward the forest, and the innovative initiatives that have grown from the ground up. 🌲

From there, a canoe safari along the Rapti Riverbank offered a quieter kind of discovery, drifting through the waterways before arriving at the Elephant Breeding Center, where conservation takes on a gentler, more intimate face. 🐘
The afternoon shifted to health systems. At Bakulahar Government Hospital, a provincial facility under Bagmati Province, Dr. Ankur Paudel led students through an eye-opening session on the epidemiology of disease in the region, the hospital’s capacity and provisions, and the broader architecture of Nepal’s health system. A direct and important thread connecting environment to human health. 🏥

The day closed at the Tharu Cultural Museum in Pachhauli, hosted by Birendra Mahato, where students immersed themselves in the historical and indigenous practices of the Tharu community through vivid visuals and rare written records. An aquatic farm visited en route added one final unexpected layer — and as the sun set, the community welcomed students with a traditional Tharu dance performance🎶

Photo Courtesy: Anek Rajbhandari

23/05/2026

Day 3 — Chitwan National Park & Madi Valley
Into the Wild
17th May 2026
Day 3 was one for the books. Students crossed the Rapti River by boat in the morning and headed straight into the heart of Chitwan National Park on a jeep safari, witnessing the quiet thrill of spotting wildlife in their natural habitat. 🌳

A visit to the Gharial Breeding Center offered a closer look at one of Nepal’s most remarkable conservation efforts, before students sat down with the Warden of Chitwan National Park for an in-depth conversation on the park’s history, wildlife conservation strategies, human-wildlife conflict management, and the complex balancing act of protecting biodiversity while supporting local communities. 🐊

The afternoon brought a completely different kind of depth. Students visited a Bote indigenous community in Madi Valley, where they were welcomed with extraordinary warmth and generosity. Dispersing into five thematic groups, WASH, vector mapping, heatwave and coldwave impacts, human-wildlife interaction, and indigenous knowledge, students went directly into the community alongside villagers to observe, listen, and learn. 🏡

Insightful, immersive, and intense in the best possible way, Day 3 was a masterclass in what it means to do planetary health work on the ground.

Photo courtesy: Anek Rajbhandari

22/05/2026

Day 2 of the Himalayan Planetary Health Transect — Sauraha, Chitwan
Arriving in the Lowlands
15th May 2026
From the streets of Kathmandu to the subtropical heart of the Terai, students arrived in Sauraha, Chitwan, and the transect truly began. 🌿

The day opened with two remarkable voices. A prominent Tharu indigenous leader, conservationist, and elected municipal representative based in Sauraha brought the history of Tharu settlements to life, unpacking the deep relationship between the Tharu people and the land they have called home for generations. Sabita Aryal, Information Officer of Ratnanagar Municipality, added another layer, walking students through Chitwan's extraordinary biodiversity and the municipal frameworks in place to conserve wildlife and navigate the ever-present tension of human-wildlife conflict. 🦏

Then came the best kind of classroom, the city streets and the banks of the Rapti River. Students strolled through Sauraha, taking in the sights, sounds, and rhythms of life on the edge of one of Asia's most biodiverse landscapes. And in true Chitwan fashion, a rhino was spotted bathing in the river, a quiet, unhurried reminder of exactly why all of this matters. 🌊

22/05/2026

Day 1 of the Himalayan Planetary Health Transect — Lalitpur
14th May 2026
Welcome, Orientation & Grounding
The 2026 Himalayan Planetary Health Transect brings together students from , , and universities across Nepal for a 14-day journey from the subtropical lowlands of Chitwan to the high-altitude plateau of Lo Manthang — witnessing firsthand how environmental change shapes health and ecosystems across some of the world’s most dramatic ecological gradients.

🌏 Day 1 set the foundation. Students were welcomed by partners from Duke, Duke Kunshan, , Asian Mountain Academic Alliance, , and FEED. Brian McAdoo opened the intellectual chapter of the day — introducing students to the framework of Planetary Health and the interconnected systems they would be observing across every altitude and ecosystem ahead.

📷 Tom White then handed them a different kind of lens: Photojournalism 101, challenging students to document not just what they see, but what it means — with peer portraits as their first live assignment.

🪨Sanjaya Devkota painted a vivid portrait of Nepal’s extraordinary tapestry of cultures, peoples, geographies, and ecosystems — a country that contains multitudes, and one the students were about to traverse from south to north.

🗺️ Sujeev Shakya then brought that into sharper focus with Nepal 101, grounding students in the social and geographic context they’d be moving through.

🏘️From there, Anil Chitrakar led a heritage walk through Patan Durbar Square — weaving together culture, conservation, governance, and social change.

11/08/2025

https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20250801-landslide-prone-nepal-tests-ai-powered-warning-system

Every morning, Nepali primary school teacher Bina Tamang steps outside her home and checks the rain gauge, part of an early warning system in one of the world's most landslide-prone regions.

11/07/2025

Matihani in the southern low land of Nepal was a historic education hub - happy to see the first Gurukul of this kind is still in action!

12/05/2025

Wishing everyone a blessed and peaceful Buddha Jayanti ! Let the light of Lord Buddha fill your heart with peace and your mind with clarity.

01/05/2025

🛠️ Happy May Day to All Engineers and Builders of a Resilient World! 🌍

On this International Workers' Day, we celebrate the hands and minds that design, innovate, and strengthen the very foundations of our society.

From drafting blueprints to retrofitting communities, from building bridges to reinforcing disaster resilience—you are the force behind safe structures, sustainable systems, and secure futures.

Today, we honor the engineers, technicians, planners, and field workers who labor not just to construct buildings, but to build hope, safety, and resilience. 🙌

27/04/2025

🌍 Are you Ready to take your learning beyond the classroom? 🚶‍♂️🚶‍♀️

The 2025 Planetary Health: Field Lab is calling passionate Nepali undergraduate students (Final year) to join a 3.5-week field-based adventure across Nepal’s diverse climate zones! 🌿🏔️

Organized by the Institute of Himalayan Risk Reduction (IHRR) in collaboration with Duke University, Duke Kunshan University, Himalayan University Consortium (HUC), and FEED this flagship program offers a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to experience the real impacts of climate change firsthand — and contribute to solutions.

🗓️ Date: 16 May – 7 June 2025
👥 Number of Participants: 8
📚 Eligible Fields: Public Health, Environmental Science, Engineering, Geography, Geology, Disaster Risk Reduction, Agriculture, Sociology, and related areas.
Who can apply?
✅ Nepali citizens currently in their final year of undergrad
✅ Proficient in English
✅ Ready for field expeditions (hiking, community work!)
✅ Committed to documenting and reflecting on the journey through videos, articles, or vlogs
🚀 Step into the field, learn by doing, and become a part of the next generation driving climate resilience!
🔗 [Application link: https://forms.gle/PLuQoQXz4qoaoKxx8]