The thick black smoke emitted from the towering chimneys of brick kilns in Nepal is a major source of black carbon, which settles on the country’s fabled Himalayan peaks and monsoon clouds, worsening the effects of climate change.
But when the 2015 earthquake toppled a third of the chimneys it offered a rare opportunity to for a clean up that is helping to combat a homegrown environmental threat and influencing change in other brick kiln giants in South Asia.
The video was originally published here.
Paavan Mathema is currently a correspondent with the Kathmandu, Nepal Bureau of the Agence France-Presse (AFP). She covers a wide rage of issues including politics, economics, environment and culture for the agency, reporting on breaking news as well as producing text and video features.
She has nearly a decade-long journalism experience, and holds a master’s degree in journalism from the University of Hong Kong.
Paavan feels that immersive storytelling is emerging as a powerful journalistic tool that can amplify viewer engagement and is excited to learn the techniques and opportunities to tell the story in a new way.