Ecosystem Restoration is the slogan for World Environment Day being celebrated across the world Saturday.

But in Nepal exactly a week earlier, the government in its budget for the fiscal year 2021-22 that begins in mid-July said that it would allow the export of stones, pebbles and sand from across the country to decrease the trade deficit.

The announcement means revoking the existing ban on the export of river and mine-based construction materials.

There has been widespread opposition to the announcement as it would turn parts of the country, particularly the Chure-Bhawar area, source of water for the Terai home to nearly 50 percent of the country’s population, into a desert.

Conservationists, politicians and the general public have called the move shortsighted, counterproductive and catastrophic for the environment and guided by ill-intentions.

Here is a compilation of pictures of the exploitation taking place across the country by the photo department of the Post.