Kathmandu, Feb. 27: Director General of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (iucn) headquarters, Dr Manittar. R. Von Bieberstein Koch-Weser called on Minister of State for Population and Environment Bhakta Bahadur Balayar at the latter’s office today.

They discussed the co-operation between His Majesty Government and iucn.

During the meeting, Minister of State Balayar apprised Dr Koch-Weser of the activities being carried out by the government with the help of governmental organisations, ngo’s and communication media to maintain the quality of air and environment.

In order to tackle the problems of environmental degradation and soil erosion, flood, landslides, destruction of forests and drying up of water sources and to make local level construction activities environment-friendly, His Majesty’s Government had already taken necessary initiatives on preliminary environmental test for sustainable development, Minister of State Balayar pointed out.

He lauded the activities of iucn in the preservation of Nepal’s natural and cultural heritage and environmental protection and hoped for that kind of co-operation to continue in the future also.

On the occasion, Director General Dr Koch-Weser commended the government efforts to maintain the quality of air and reduce the impact of air pollution on public health in nepal   as well as the government measures to restrict the vehicles not coming up to a prescribed pollution control standards.

Happily, those measures had contributed to keeping the sky clear, and consequently, herons and other birds were coming back in Nepal, the Director General noted.

He was confident that the government would give continuity to the environmental and pollution control measures.

Iucn was pleased to have an opportunity to help nepal in environmental protection, which, he believed, would continue.

On the occasion , iucn national representative in Nepal Dr Ambika Prasad and legal expert Narayan Belbase were also present on the occasion.