26 November 2010 Kunda Dixit to visit Lincoln University

Prominent publisher, author and journalist Mr Kunda Dixit from Kathmandu, Nepal, is visiting Christchurch and presents two seminars at Lincoln University  -  Monday 29 November and Tuesday 30 November. Both start at 11.30am and are in the C2 Lecture Theatre, Commerce Building.

Mr Dixit has been writing about Nepal’s environment and development for the past 30 years and is the author of a number of books including a trilogy on the Nepal conflict,  and the environmental book “Dateline Earth: Journalism as if the planet mattered”.

His two seminars at Lincoln University are  -

• Monday: The Media’s Role in Post-Conflict Reconciliation in Nepal 
  This will be based on his book A Peoples War, the first in a trilogy about the Nepal War 1996 -2006.
• Tuesday: The Impact of Climate Change on the Himalayas
  The effects of global climate change are dramatically visible in the eastern Himalayas. Permafrost in the mountains is melting three times faster than in the Arctic. This threatens water towers that feed rivers on which nearly 2 billion people in China, SE Asia and South Asia depend. Climate change exacerbates all the other problems that exist in Nepal.

Mr Kunda Dixit is a past Director of the Panos Institute South Asia. Panos Institutes exist worldwide with the mission of encouraging public discussion and debate on issues that impact on the least privileged and most marginalised sections of society. Panos Institutes work through the media to bring neglected subjects to the forefront of developmental and environmental discussions.

Mr Dixit is accompanied on his New Zealand visit by his wife Milan Dixit, a school principal who is involved with teacher training programmes in Nepal.

The Lincoln University seminars are a joint presentation by the Centre for Land, Environment and People (LEAP) and Lincoln University Centre for International Development (LUCID), both Lincoln University research centres.

Lincoln University has an educational association with Nepal stretching back more than 35 years, largely in the fields of parks, recreation and tourism. The majority of Nepal’s national parks are managed by Nepalese graduates of Lincoln University and the University has produced around 50 Nepalese graduates in total. The link was pioneered by Dr Pat Devlin of Lincoln University.