Nepal’s best known environmentalists, biologists, and social scientists have a special bond with New Zealand
After
Edmund Hillary and
Tenzing Norgay climbed Mt Everest in 1953, Tenzing became a household word in New Zealand and Hillary became a household word in Nepal. Hillary is well known for his support for the development of
Khumbu with schools and hospitals for the Sherpa people.
A person less well known in Nepal and New Zealand, but whose contribution to the conservation movement in Nepal is perhaps even greater, is Pat Devlin, professor at Lincoln University near Christchurch which has trained Nepal’s best known environmentalists, biologists, and social scientists.
Lincoln’s cooperation with Nepal started after the first ascent of Mt Everest 60 years ago and is still going strong thanks to teachers like Devlin. Hundreds of his Nepali students respect Devlin and reverently call him ‘Pat Guru’. His students since 1970 include conservationists Mingma Norbu, Ang Rita, Lakpa Norbu, Ramprit Yadav, Hum Gurung, Shailendra Thakali, and dozens of others. Many of them went on to be involved in the establishment of the Sagarmatha National Park in 1976, and the eco-tourism model that helped sustain it. Minga Norbu died tragically in the Ghunsa helicopter crash in 2008 that also killed 24 other officials and senior environmentalists.
A fund set up in Mingma’s name sends two Nepali students every year to Lincoln to study conservation science. Chandra Gurung the founder of the Annapurna Area Conservation Project who also died at Ghunsa, was another of Devlin’s close friends and colleagues.
Devlin recently visited his beloved Nepal and was welcomed warmly by Lincoln alumni at the Garden Restaurant in Boudha (pic, above) run by another of his students, Ang Phuri Sherpa. The Secretary of the Ministry of Forests, Krishna C Paudel and also a Lincoln graduate, presented Devlin with an appreciation plaque.
Said Devlin: “Some of our Nepali graduates in senior positions in protected area and tourism management have already retired and others are due to follow … so Lincoln’s next challenge will be to see how their expertise can be channeled to in-country training.”
Kunda Dixit