Climate finance, mountain agenda Nepal’s top priorities at COP29

Kathmandu- As the stage is all set in Azerbaijan for the annual world climate conference, COP29, Nepal has finalized its agenda to be raised in the event.

President Ram Chandra Paudel is scheduled to attend the UN climate conference being held in Baku, capital city of Azerbaijan, from November 11 to 22. Chief of climate change division at Ministry of Forest and Environment, Dr Sindhu Prasad Dhungana, has informed that Nepal had finalized the agenda to be presented in the COP29.

According to him, loss and damage, mountain region and climate finance would be top agenda which were underlined in the national status paper after collecting suggestions with the formation of various groups focusing on carbon trade, climate finance, mitigation, adaptation, capacity building, gender equality, transparency and good governance.

In order to draw world attention to climate change impacts in Nepal, a high level session would be held under the chairmanship of President Paudel during the COP29 on November 13, according to Minister for Forest and Environment, Ain Bahadur Shahi Thakuri. Nepal had got permission from the UNFCCC for holding a separate session during the major event. The session will feature ‘addressing loss and damage in mountain region’.

It is expected that the session would be attended by UN officials, representatives from mountainous countries, and development partners, among others. The pressing issues Nepal faced relating to loss and damage including in Melamchi, Mustang, Kanchanpur, Thame and Kathmandu Valley would be shared on the occasion. Dhungana further informed that LDCs would hold a group round discussion on November 5-6, while G77+ China will meet on November 9-10.

Nepal will attend both of these. Member of the Environment Conservation and Climate Change Management Council, Bimal Regmi, informed that Nepal should raise issues of present national interests and needs where Himalaya comes on top. As a party to UNFCCC, Nepal has been continuously attending COP, preparing national adaptation plans, sharing climate ambitions and reminding the industrialized countries to pay heed to urgency of climate change in LDCs and resources-crunch countries.

Ministry Secretary Dr Dipak Kumar Kharal observed that COP29 was significant for Nepal also because ‘climate finance’ and ‘carbon credit’ are major agenda.