“Breathing Fresh Air in Kathmandu Feels Like a Daily Battle”
Healthy Breath, Happy Us
I come from western Nepal with clean air and fresh breezes.
Living in Kathmandu is very different, I often breathe polluted air and miss my hometown. To escape city chaos, I sometimes leave the valley.
This winter I visited Kalinchowk and was amazed by its beauty and especially the fresh, crisp air, which felt rare after Kathmandu. Kathmandu’s bowl-shaped valley and surrounding mountains create a temperature inversion that traps smoke, dust, and fumes, especially in winter and dry seasons, leading to long periods of polluted air. According to the World Bank and WHO, air pollution is a major health risk in Nepal, reducing life expectancy and contributing to thousands of premature deaths each year due to PM2.5 pollution. My visit reminded me that clean air is not a luxury but a necessity.
Every person deserves the right to breathe safely, and addressing air pollution should be a priority for Kathmandu’s future.
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