Nepal River Conservation Trust: 25 Years of the Bagmati River Festival

Nepal River Conservation Trust (NRCT), founded in 1995 by a group of river guides, works to restore, conserve and protect Nepal's rivers while safeguarding the cultural life built around them. Its flagship Bagmati River Festival brings communities together for weekly clean-up campaigns, school programs and a symbolic 'sacred water offering' drawing water from rivers across Nepal, reaching its 25th, Silver Jubilee edition in Kathmandu in June 2025. Alongside its urban river work, NRCT runs Waterkeepers Nepal and advocates to keep the Karnali — Nepal's last major river still free of large mainstem dams — healthy for fish, wildlife and rafting-dependent communities. Thirty years on, it remains one of South Asia's longest-running river-conservation organizations.