Nepal acts intensively at COP-29

The 29th or the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change this year has been going since November 12in Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan. The global climate event which will last until the 22nd November. COPs in the past were extended to an addition of a few days seeking the best conclusions.

At the current conference, Nepal is raising its voice with priority regarding its interest, interests and needs related to climate. Nepal has been raising the impact of climate on the ecological system of the mountainous region with priority in various high-level meetings, discussions and negotiations.

In the high-level session held on 12th and 13th November, leaders from all over the world expressed concern and concern about climate change and emphasized that the created problems should be solved in an integrated manner with common policies and programmes.

Representing delegation from Nepal, President Ram Chandra Paudel addressed the high-level session ‘World Leaders Climate Action Summit’ on 12th November.

In his address, he mentioned that due to the increase in global temperature, the snow melting of the mountains has increased and emphasized that the developed and large countries that emit more carbon should take initiatives to protect it.

Likewise, Nepal held an exclusive high-level dialogue at the conference on 13th November to draw the world’s attention to the natural disasters caused by the effects of climate change. The President, Ministers and high officials of various countries participated in the event.

Speaking on the occasion, President Paudel drew the attention of the world community to the fact that due to climate change, the mountains, which are the source of drinking water for billions of people, have also affected the down streams.

Minister for Forest and Environment Ain Bahadur Shahi Thakuri, on the same occasion, expressed that due to the increase in global temperature with climate change, especially the Himalayas and Himalayan countries, eventually the entire world will be affected by it, he emphasized. As such, the world community should not miss to pay attention to the protection of Himalayas and mountain areas.

Similarly, in a high-level programme organized by the COP presidency on the fifth day of the COP-29, Nepal strongly drew attention to the effects of climate change on the ecological system of the Himalayan region.

In presence of Minister Shahi Thakuri, Deepak Kumar Kharal, secretary at the ministry drew attention to the importance of mountain areas and the effects of climate change on the mountains and the work to be done.

Remarkably, this is the first time that the issue of the Himalayas was discussed in the meeting held by the panel of COP presidents who set the agenda for the discussion of decisions at the conference.

Nepal had demanded that the issue of Himalayas should be discussed with priority. Bhutan, Tanzania and other countries supported Nepal’s proposal.

Manjeet Dhakal, climate advisor at the ministry informed with hopes that it is expected that this discussion will lead to the decision of this conference regarding the mountain issue.

Minister Shahi Thakuri who is leading the delegation after the proceeding of President Paudel to the home country, has mentioned that he did not miss put the issue of the Himalayas in every meeting, discussion and interactions held in the conference. He informed that the issue of the ‘RARA Declaration’ issued regarding the impact of climate on the lives of the locals in the Himalayan region was raised in the COP-29 conference.

Notably, the impact of climate on the Himalayas and mountains was included for the first time in the COP-28 document held in Dubai, UAE last year. Nepal, a Himalayan country, has been drawing the world’s attention to the effects of climate change on the Himalayan ecosystem, especially since the COP-15 in Copenhagen, Denmark in 2009.In most of the conferences since then, Nepal has been raising the issue of Himalayas with priority. As a result of Nepal’s discussions, negotiations and lobbying in international conferences, the issue of the Himalayas is being established.

However, it is also important to note that the Paris Agreement, the world community has agreed not to allow the temperature of the earth to rise above 1.5 degrees Celsius by the end of this century, but it is estimated that the temperature of the Himalayan region will exceed 1.8 degrees Celsius before 2050.

Moreover, it is estimated that two-thirds of the snow deposits of the mountains in this region will melt due to the temperature increase.

Studying at the statistics of the past 30 to forty years, the temperature in the mountains is increasing at the rate of 0.5 degree Celsius per decade. Consequently, the melting of glaciers is increasing rapidly. Due to the increase in global temperature, the area of   glaciers has decreased by about 25 percent during the period from 1980 to 2010. There are currently 21 glacier lakes in Nepal are potentially at risk. There are 2,700 glaciers in Nepal.

With the aim of highlighting the mountain issue at the global forums, Nepal Government had previously organized an international expert dialogue on ‘Himalayan, Man and Climate’ in Kathmandu on May 22 and 23, 2024.

The ‘Expert Dialogue on Mountains, Humans and Climate Change’, held to raise awareness of climate change and advance the mountain agenda in the UNFCCC negotiation process, was held among more than 250 representatives from around the world, including Nepal.