Shree Kumar Maharjan, Ph.D. International Cooperation Studies

Shree Kumar Maharjan, 7 October 2015 It gives me great pleasure, honor and proud to be the first Prime Minister of Democratic Republic of Nepal. The country has recently entered into new phase of democratic revolution in its history after official endorsement as Democratic Republic Nepal by the Constitution Assembly (CA) on 20 September 2015. This is the biggest victory for the Nepalese living in Nepal and abroad as it’s the first time in Nepalese history that the Constitution is prepared by the people in democratic and inclusive manner. As you know, Nepal has 7 identified states in the constitution despite some political parties and groups especially in the Terai region, are not satisfied in demarcation of these states. They are, at the moment, demonstrating on the streets demanding for changes in the constitution. Being a Prime Minister, I would like to ensure that their valid demands will be reviewed and integrated in the constitution. Therefore, I would like to request all...

by Shree Kumar Maharjan (published in Society of Urban Poor - SOUP Souvenir on the occasion of 25th Anniversary) Tourism has become the fastest service industry in the world. Japan is one of the frontline countries in the world with lots of famous tourism destinations. All kinds and forms of tourism destinations are existed in Japan with the combination of traditional and modern unique destinations and activities such as many temples, shrines and castles, interesting buildings, architectures, technologies, nature and cultures, islands, beaches and mountains. Hiroshima is one of such famous tourism destinations in Japan. There are many renowned tourism hotspots such as Itsukushima Shrine in Miyajima Island, Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park, Atomic Bomb Dome, Hiroshima Peace Museum, Hiroshima Botanical Garden and other historical cities such as Onomichi, Tomonoura, Takehara, Kure and others are in the proximities in Seto Inland Sea. All these cities have unique traditional houses, shrines...

Myanmar used to be the closed country with a limited connection to foreign investments and affairs couple of years before. But it has been moving comparatively faster in its development than other countries in Asia after being opened up to international communities and formation of new government. When I first visited this country couple of years before, I found the airport very small and similar to Nepal, but this time I am surprised to see the new constructions in the airport and some new flyovers in the Yangon city to minimize the traffic congestions. Likewise, the new changes in the Yangon Bus Services (YBS) and ongoing mega-constructions. Within a year, the Juncity city, a supermarket close to the downtown, has been completed and operationalized. When I visited the Nay Phi Taw, I was amazed to see the planned city like in Europe, very clean and well-managed. I was told that most of the government offices are based in this new Capital city, which is located at more or less at...

Dark tourism also known as ‘Thanatourism’ especially in the academic arena, is the tourism activities mainly in the heritage or historical sites with controversies and other attractions and exhibitions of death, disaster, memorial sites or the seemingly macabre that were shadowed in the past. It is a concept, started in mid 1990s/2000s, actually transforming war or disaster zones into tourism or travel destinations. Such sites and attractions are gaining popularity and attentions of number of visitors, more than half a million per year in recent decades. For example: Auschwitz museum in Oswiecim, Poland; Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum in Hiroshima. Japan; Anne Frank House in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, Peace park Jeju Island, S. Korea etc.   In the history of human civilizations and developments, many natural or manmade devastations and disasters occurred, in which millions of people sacrificed their lives, many peoples lost their loved ones. These zones of wars and disasters...

Personally, I am not so much affectionate with the ex-situ conservation like Zoo, because many wild animals are kept in zoo in limited free range areas. It is always good to conserve the natural resources including wildlife in their natural state. In my college life, I studied two kinds of conservation. They are in-situ and ex-situ, but I had work in on-farm conservation, which is some in between but more related to in-situ conservation. Anyway, I went to Chiang Mai Zoo on 26 Feb, 2012 with Richard, Tui and Tin Li. I found the zoo well equipped and managed. It is good source of revenue generation in addition to conservation of wildlife. There are services of shuttle bus and electric train to go around the zoo. In order to get the ticket of Bus or train, we had to pay 70 baht per person and entry ticket fee is 250 baht, which includes package of entries to Aquarium, Penguin and some of the other areas except to the Panda. It amazed me that Panda and Penguin are also kept in the Zoo ...

Shree Kumar Maharjan,  Coordinator, Climate Change and REDD Programme,  Asia Indigenous Peoples Pact (AIPP)  Background   Indigenous peoples and communities are those, who have their historical connections with pre-colonial societies, their territories and distinct and unique cultures, identities. They have sustainable resource management systems in the societies where they are living and are determined to preserve, develop and transmit their ancestral territories, ethnic identities and management systems to the future generations, which is important for their continued existence as indigenous peoples in accordance with their own cultural patterns, social institutions and legal systems. Indigenous peoples are also known as ‘Native people’, ‘Aboriginal People’, ‘Ethnic Minorities’, ‘Hill tribes’, ‘Tribal people’, ‘Adibasi and Janjaties’, ‘mountain peoples’ in different parts of the world. More than 400 million of the indigenous peoples are living in...