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Meeting adds momentum to Nepal mountain agenda

21.11.2014

Urgent action must be taken to address climate change in Nepal’s mountain areas, deemed a conference in Rara, Nepal, on 30-31 October 2014. More than 200 government officials, civil society actors, members of the scientific community, advocacy groups and local communities put forward the ‘Rara Declaration’, propelling the mountain agenda in Nepal during the ‘National Conference on Climate Change and Environmental Threats: Protecting Lives and Livelihoods of Mountain People.’ Engaging an array of stakeholders in coordinated efforts, the assembly called for specific actions at national level and greater visibility of mountain issues at  international level to improve the lives and livelihoods of mountain peoples.

The group vowed to form and foster the Nepalese Civil Society Mountain Initiative (NCSMI), a development initiative owned by civil society and facilitated by local governments to debate, advocate and ensure sustainable mountain development in Nepal. According to the 'Rara Declaration on Climate Change and Environmental Threats: Protecting Lives and Livelihoods of Mountain People', “the initiative will have global linkages through the Mountain Partnership (MP), the Mountain Forum (MF), the Mountain Research Initiative (MRI)  and other global mountain players to ensure adequate evidence-based advocacy of the mountain agenda at global and regional level, and to hold biannual sustainable mountain development conferences in Nepal and in Asia to promote knowledge and experience exchanges.”

The conference organizers, the Ministry of Science Technology and Environment of Nepal (MOSTE) and Karnali Integrated Rural Development and Research Centre (KIRDARC) http://www.mountainpartnership.org/members/members-detail/en/c/93943/ selected the remote mountainous part of the country as the venue to better focus on the impacts of climate change and disasters in Nepal’s mountain regions. With 77 percent of its land recognized as high hills and mountains that are rich in biodiversity and natural resources, Nepal is ranked as the fourth most climate vulnerable country in the world, despite releasing only 0.025 percent of global carbon emissions, the 'Rara Declaration' says.

Among the actions urged in Nepal by the conference are to:

• advocate for compensation mechanisms for the loss caused by climate change;
• start a funding window to boost the production and use of alternative energy resources;
• form a national mechanism that includes mountain communities in all
• development initiatives;
• establish a Climate Change Adaptation Learning Centre in Karnali; and
• promote sustainable tourism and enhance the infrastructure in Karnali and the northern belt of Nepal.
  
  

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See the Rara Declaration

Photo: Flickr/KarnaliKo