Foreword

0.000 2.380
2.400 3.910
3.930 5.800
5.820 7.850
7.870 9.320
9.340 12.450
12.470 15.60
15.80 16.730
16.750 19.770
19.790 21.930
21.950 24.80
24.100 26.310
26.330 28.570
28.590 31.590
31.610 34.680
34.700 36.550
36.570 38.130
38.150 41.400
41.420 47.60
47.80 48.320
48.340 52.220
52.240 53.770
53.790 55.170
55.190 58.570
58.590 61.610
61.630 63.720
63.740 69.720
69.740 72.650
72.670 74.980
75.0 78.120
78.140 81.290
81.310 84.530
84.550 88.230
88.250 90.500
90.520 92.770
92.790 94.960
94.980 98.240
98.260 101.50
101.70 102.460
102.480 104.990
105.100 109.900
109.920 113.590
113.610 118.250
118.270 120.950
120.970 123.40
123.60 124.540
124.560 127.280
127.300 129.80
129.100 130.980
131.0 132.510
132.530 134.350
134.370 137.990
138.10 141.460
141.480 143.720
143.740 144.960
144.980 148.120
148.140 151.940
151.960 153.680
153.700 155.410
155.430 159.880
159.900 161.740
161.760 164.350
164.370 167.580
167.600 172.120
172.140 174.110
174.130 180.530
180.550 183.130
183.150 185.480
185.500 186.860
186.880 189.40
189.60 190.970
190.990 193.610
193.630 195.840
195.860 199.770
199.790 202.120
202.140 210.200
210.220 213.420
213.440 214.370
214.390 215.410
215.430 218.300
218.320 221.20
221.40 224.250
224.270 226.480
226.500 229.880
229.900 231.620
231.640 235.10
235.30 236.830
236.850 239.520
239.540 241.770
241.790 244.970
244.990 251.280
251.300 253.730
253.750 256.30
256.50 260.970
260.990 263.760
263.780 267.740
267.760 273.80
273.100 275.750
275.770 278.900
278.920 282.920
282.940 285.170
285.190 287.780
287.800 290.330
290.350 291.600
291.620 292.880
292.900 295.80
295.100 296.980
297.0 300.380
300.400 303.120
303.140 309.380
309.400 313.770
313.790 316.650
316.670 318.850
318.870 322.970
322.990 326.710
326.730 329.610
329.630 333.780
333.800 337.710
337.730 339.960
339.980 342.300
342.320 346.530
346.550 349.260
349.280 351.990
352.10 355.650
355.670 358.290
358.310 360.440
360.460 363.680
363.700 365.880
365.900 367.810
367.830 372.420
372.440 380.260
380.280 383.480
383.500 389.

 

Hello, My name is Larry Silverman. I'm an environmental attorney and a part-time professor of environmental law and policy at Johns Hopkins University here in Washington D.C.

The eBook you are about to experience, and I hope participate in, was a product of a quite extraordinary class that I had the privilege of teaching recently. It was an online class with an international scope. We had twelve students from Nepal eleven of whom participated from Kathmandu, and five Americans and one Ghanaian, who participated from all parts of the United States.

The theme of the class was comparative environmental law. How does Nepal deal with the same problems that we deal with here in the United States. Obviously the countries are incredibly different; but what I found is that the forestry and law students from Nepal had a lot in common with my master's degree students here in the U.S. And the problems they faced, whether it was global warming, or flooding, or management of watersheds, or protection of forests, were so similar and yet so different. It was very exciting to convene a dialogue of young people, young professionals from different parts of the globe, different cultures, different religions, and different points of view.

One of the exercises in the class was a requirement that each student develop a question, or a few questions, on the subject of watersheds which would be posed to one of America's greatest experts in water quality and water management, Dr. Ben Grumbles, who attempts to answer these questions.

The questions were presented to Dr. Grumbles by Deepika Shrestha, who is Nepali and who was living in the United States at the time. This is a very thoughtful dialogue about a most difficult subject. We are divided in this world in many ways. But the world itself is divided into watersheds. And sometimes our divisions, whether ethnic or political or historical, just don't measure up --- are not commensurate with -- the watersheds we live in.

And yet what happens downstream is really a function of what happens upstream. That is one of the great environmental dilemmas we face on this earth today. And it's really the central question that's addressed in the dialogue you're about to participate in.viii

In addition to the questions and the answers, we have inserted videos and references to help put some meat on the bones: to see how some of these abstract questions and notions really translate into people’s lives and to actual water systems and actual human attempts to deal with very pressing problems.
viii

This eBook grew out of a learning environment provided very generously by Johns Hopkins University  But Johns Hopkins is not responsible for this book, does not own this book, does not endorse this book. But the authors are grateful the University for the conditions of learning that allowed a book like this to be created.

I am also grateful also to our publisher, KnowledgeRealm and to Ken Kenworthy, who is responsible for so much of the technical and a great deal of content of this book. The students we will recognize in the text accompanying the book. And the many contributors, the YouTube videos, and other videos that we've included, will also be acknowledged and recognized

This eBook is not meant to be a static document. I believe teachers could use the segments of this book to drive home lessons, to develop questions sets, to add materials and notes. And that's just what we want to encourage.

It's very exciting to be living in an online world. Ken Kenworthy and I have worked hard to find a technology platform that could make this book available to the widest possible audience around the globe. These young folks who have so much in common and such a passion for some of the same things would probably never have gotten together, never have exchanged ideas and views had it not been for the wonderful technology we share today.

The author of this book is a nonprofit charitable organization called Friends of Prakriti. Prakriti is the Nepalese word for nature. The mission is to empower young professionals to address emerging environmental problems and challenges, particularly in the developing world; and to foster dialogue between Americans and their counterparts, not just in Nepal, but in countries across the world that are struggling with such new circumstances, and such challenging, even frightening circumstances, when it comes to our natural environment.ix

All proceeds from the book will benefit the Friends of Prakriti. Our hope is that this book will be an important step in fostering dialogues of this sort, which I think will help us immeasurably in addressing successfully the problems we face in our generation.

Thank You.

Larry J. Silverman
Takoma Park, MD
2015