Nepal economy hit as global warming bares snow-covered peaks
Lack of snow leaves hotel rooms empty and impacts crops as Nepal heats up at the rate of ‘0.6 degrees Celsius per decade’. Over the 12 years that Baburam Giri has worked as a hotel cook in the village of Dhampus – a major tourist draw with its views of the towering Annapurna mountain range – winters have become less snowy. “The snowfall we had five years ago was more than 2 feet deep – but we didn’t have significant snowfall after that,” lamented Giri, standing at his stove at the Hotel Yama Sakura. With hotels across the world feeling the financial pain of travel restrictions to curb the coronavirus pandemic, Giri said his central Nepal community was relying mainly on Nepali tourists, who come every year drawn by the wintry weather. But this year, the bare ground means few visitors. “Many domestic and local tourists come to this area to play in the snow whenever there is snowfall,” Giri told the Thomson Reuters Foundation. “But [now] the hotel is almost empty.” From touris