Conference on climate change begins

HIMALAYAN NEWS SERVICE

KATHMANDU: The Ministry of Environment today launched the two-day International Conference of Mountain Countries on Climate Change in Kathmandu.

Organised by the MoE and International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development, the participants were scientists, researchers, policy makers, and climate change experts from more than 20 countries who have been working on climate change and mountain environment.

The programme aims to reduce the vulnerability of two million women and men in the Mid and Far Western regions of Nepal where the impacts of climate change are already being felt.

Funded by the European Union (Euro 8.6m) and the UK DFID (Euro 7.9m) and technical support from UNDP, the programme will be the first initiative to put the Government’s National Adaptation Programme of Action (NAPA) into practice, reads a press statement jointly released by the UKaid, government of Nepal and the European Union today.

Speaking at the conference, MoE Secretary, Krishna Gyawali said that the programme is the first to put Nepal’s Climate Change Policy and NAPA into action, ensuring that at least 80 per cent of the resources reaches the local level where it is desperately needed.

Similarly, Dr Alexander Spachis from the EU said, “We are very pleased to see that the government of Nepal is taking steps to develop policies and programmes for climate resilience, such as implementation of the National Adaptation Programme of Action through Local Adaptation Plans for Action.”

He further expressed his belief that the programme will help the government of Nepal to integrate climate change into its development planning, as well as implement concrete measures at the local level to help the most vulnerable and poor rural communities to adapt the consequences of changes in climate.

“The UK’s support for NCCSP will have a specific focus on helping women and disadvantaged communities and cope with the challenges brought by climate change. The UK plans to provide further support in the future,” said Philip Marker, UK Climate Change Envoy for Asia.

The MoE led programme will be the first to help communities in the Mid and Far West regions and implement urgent and immediate adaptation actions as included in the NAPA through the National Framework on Local Adaptation Plan for Action, that respond to needs identified at village level.