Nepal, Dec. 21 -- Saving the Karnali, Nepal's last free-flowing river, and the ecosystem and livelihoods it sustains From its headwaters near Mansarovar on the Tibetan Plateau to its confluence with the Ganga in India, the Karnali remains one of the last great free-flowing rivers in the Himalaya.

At a time when most major Asian rivers have been dammed by concrete, the Karnali still surges, migrates, floods and recedes according to its own natural rhythms. This sustains an entire living system -- wildlife, communities and cultures - that cannot be replicated once a river is turned into a staircase of reservoirs.

The Karnali is a natural artery for western Nepal. It nourishes fertile floodplains, recharges aquifers, supports fisheries and...