The Nepal Weekly 
October 7, 2025
The previous Government of Nepal had initiated preparations for the 30th Conference of the Parties (COP30) of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). The conference is scheduled to take place in Belém, Brazil, from November 10 to 21. The summit will center on pressing issues such as phasing out fossil fuels consumption, protecting forests, oceans and biodiversity, transforming agriculture and food systems, advancing human development, and strengthening technology and capacity-building including financial support to extend to developing and under developed countries who have been suffered by climate change effects directly or indirectly.
It was much talked that Nepal has been planning to highlight the “Sagarmatha Call for Action” adopted during the Sagarmatha Dialogue in June, with a particular emphasis on mountain conservation. The leading personalities at Ministryof Forests and Environment had stated that Nepal will attend the conference as a coordinated team with the voices of all stakeholders. The country will strongly raise issues such as climate finance, carbon trading, adaptation and loss and damage.
Nepal, among the countries most vulnerable to climate change, is facing severe impacts across different regions. It has been facing glacial lake outburst floods in the Himalayas and mountains, landslides and droughts in the hills, and floods in the Tarai – Madhes. Such natural incidents are increasing year by year. Marginalized groups including small farmers, women, children, the elderly, and people with disabilities remain the hardest hit by the climate caused incidents suffer.
Another responsible personality at the Climate Change Management Division, Nepal’s preparations include setting up a pavilion and side events, drafting a national concept paper, finalizing delegation guidelines, coordinating with ministries and Nepal’s Permanent Mission in New York, and following up on the Sagarmatha Call for Action. He added that Nepal will also organize preparatory meetings, finalize negotiation strategies, train delegates, and establish monitoring and coordination mechanisms for the conference.
Despite the Paris Agreement’s target of limiting global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius by the end of the century, studies suggest the Himalayan region may experience an average increase of 1.8 degrees Celsius before 2050, leading to the loss of up to two-thirds of its ice reserves.
Scientific studies warn that the Himalayan region’s temperature rise will outpace the global average by 0.3 to 0.7 degrees Celsius. In Nepal, shifting monsoon patterns in timing and intensity have already brought climate-induced disasters, leaving the population to grapple with multifaceted risks.
The main UN Climate Change Conference will run from 10 to 21 November 2025 in Belém, Pará, in the Brazilian Amazon. The Leaders’ Summit (Heads of State) will take place earlier, on 6 7 November 2025. First COP held in the Amazon region; this highlights the intersection of climate, biodiversity, indigenous rights, and development. Brazil is using the location symbolically as well as practically.
Brazil’s COP30 presidency has laid out several strategic priorities. Strengthening climate governance is one of the major agenda. It stresses to improve how international negotiations work, increase ambition in Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), accelerate adaptation, and align more strongly with the Sustainable Development Goals. Likewise, Implementation and Action will be another major agenda. It focuses on Moving beyond pledges to actual delivery, especially after the first Global Stocktake (GST). COP30 aims to translate GST findings into more robust global and national actions.
Another focus agenda will be health aspects, especially climate impacts on health, and ensuring vulnerable populations are included in adaptation, resilience, and justice frameworks. A major Health Pavilion will be part of the Blue Zone, with a Health Action Plan to be launched on Health Day. Moreover, Forests, Biodiversity and Amazon will be also a focus agenda. Focus
Given the venue is in the Amazon, forest protection, the rights of indigenous peoples/traditional communities, bioeconomy, and sustainable land use are central.
Similarly, engaging non negotiating actor – businesses, cities, communities, investors—to scale up mitigation, adaptation, finance, technology, innovation. The Action Agenda is designed to mobilize this.
As noted in around mid – August, Nepal has been preparing for high-level representation at COP30. The country had previously taken part at the head-of-state or head-of-government level in five COP summits, including Copenhagen in 2009, Katowice in 2018, Glasgow in 2021, Dubai in 2023, and Baku in 2024. Observers say such participation signals the seriousness with which a country views the process and strengthens its influence on decision-making.
As of now, Nepal has participated in five conferences at the head of state and head of the government level. The 15th conference held in Copenhagen, Denmark in 2009 was attended by the then Prime Minister Madhav Nepal, the 24th conference held in Poland in 2018 by the then President Bidya Devi Bhandari, the 27th conference held in Scotland, United Kingdom in 2021 by the then Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba, the 28th conference held in Dubai, UAE in 2023 by the then Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal and the COP-29 conference held in Baku, Azerbaijan last year was attended by the President Ram Chandra Poudel.
