Kathmandu, December 29

The government has issued National Climate Change Policy-2019, with the objective of providing policy guidance to government bodies for developing resilient society by reducing the impact of climate change.

According to the new policy, there has been a negative impact of climate change on national economy and various areas of livelihood. This impact is expected to accelerate in the future. Absence of understanding of issues on climate change among inter-sectoral agencies, lack of coordination among them, lack of basic data on the impact of climate change and potential loss or damage resulting from climate-induced disasters are major challenges to address climate change issues.

“An urgent need has been felt for formulating and implementing this policy to effectively address national and international issues of climate change. It aims to operate the programmes pertaining to climate change adaptation and mitigation in an effective manner and support the vision of ‘Prosperous Nepal: Happy Nepali’ adopted by the government by integrating climate change issues into policies and programmes,” it reads.

The goal of this policy is to make contribution to socio-economic prosperity of the nation by building climate resilient society.

In the global context, Nepal has already prepared the roadmap for Nationally Determined Contributions as a party to the Paris Agreement on climate change.

As Nepal has ratified the Paris Agreement, Sustainable Development Goals and Sendai Framework for disaster risk reduction, this policy strives to utilise the opportunities of financial, technical and other assistance in line with the national priority and local needs.

Its other objectives are to enhance climate change adaptation capacity of individuals, families, groups and vulnerable communities; build resilience of ecosystems that are at risk of adverse climate change impacts; promote green economy through low carbon emission; make judicious mobilisation of international financial resource for climate change adaptation and mitigation; conduct research, technology development, service delivery related to climate change; integrate climate change issues into policies and programmes of all state levels and clusters and mainstream gender equality and social inclusion into climate change adaptation and mitigation programmes.

“The government will accord priority to climate change programmes related to agriculture and food security; forest, biodiversity and watershed conservation, water resources and energy; industry, transport and physical infrastructure; tourism, natural and cultural heritage; health, drinking water and sanitation; disaster risk reduction and management; gender equality and social inclusion; livelihood and good governance; awareness raising and capacity development; and research, technology development and expansion,” it reads.