Nepal

The kingdom of nepal adopted a cabinet system of government in 1951 after dispensing with a hereditary monarchy. Since 1996, however, Nepal has been threatened with political unrest resulting from a Maoist insurgency and a drug-motivated murder-suicide among members of the royal family in 2001.

At least 13,000 Nepalese have died in continuing political strife. In 2005, the new king dissolved the existing government and declared a state of emergency. The following spring, some 300,000 Nepalese took to the streets to protest the king's usurpation of governmental power, forcing the monarch to agree to reinstate Parliament, offering hope for Nepal's future.

The landlocked country is surrounded by China and India. Southern Nepal is made up of a flat river plain known as tarai, which gives way to the Himalayan Mountains in the north and the hills of the central region. Elevations range from 230 feet (70 meters) at Kanchan Kalan to 29,035 feet (8,850 meters) at the top of Mount Everest. Including Everest, Nepal is home to eight of the 10 highest peaks in the world.

Southern Nepal experiences subtropical summers and mild winters, but the mountainous northern areas are prone to severe winters and cool summers. When Nepal's summer monsoon season is intense, severe thunderstorms, flooding, and landslides occur. In 2003, 300 people died from such disasters. Conversely, drought and famine may result from lighter-than-normal rainfall in the summer months.

With a per capita income of only $1,500, Nepal is one of the poorest and least developed countries in the world. The high fertility (4.1 children per woman) and infant mortality (65.32 deaths per 1,000 live births) rates combine with a rising HIV/AIDS (0.5 percent) rate and high incidences of diseases such as malaria and tuberculosis to create low life expectancy (60.18 years) in Nepal.

The low literacy rate (45.2 percent), particularly among females (27.7 percent), makes it difficult to lower the poverty level (31 percent) and educate the people on how to care for themselves and their environment. While 84 percent of Nepal's population have access to safe drinking water, only 27 percent have access to improved sanitation. The United Nations Development Programme Human Development Reports rank Nepal 136th of 232 countries in overall quality-of-life issues.

Over a fifth of Nepal's land area is arable (21.68 percent), and more than three-fourths of the population is engaged in subsistence agriculture. In their struggle to survive, some Nepalese farmers have turned to producing cannabis and hashish for the domestic and international markets. The 6 percent of the population that is involved in the industrial sector are chiefly employed in agricultural-related manufacturing, including the jute, sugarcane, tobacco, and grain industries.

Political unrest presents a major threat to Nepal's essential tourist industry. Natural resources include quartz, water, timber, hydropower, and small deposits of lignite, copper, cobalt, and iron ore. A largely unskilled labor force has led to high unemployment (42 percent) in key areas and technological backwardness.

The practice of using wood for fuel has left Nepal with depleted forests and has contributed to the loss of wildlife among rich ecosystems, which range from tropical jungles to frozen valleys. Nepal is home to some 735 documented species of birds, 25 of which are endangered, and 500 species of butterflies. Of 181 endemic mammal species, 31 are endangered. Approximately 7,000 different species of plants have been identified in Nepal. In 2005, English scientists implemented a project in which samples of each plant species have been transplanted to Britain to ensure survival.

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