An election manifesto is a formal social contract between political parties and citizens in a democratic system. As Nepal prepares for the upcoming federal election scheduled for March 5, this election should not be viewed as a routine political exercise. It represents a critical turning point following the 2022 federal election and the political developments that followed. More importantly, this will be the first federal election after the Gen Z led movements and the political turbulence that reshaped public debate. This context places a greater responsibility on both established and emerging political parties to respond to the expectations of a new generation that is increasingly vocal, informed, and impatient with weak governance.
Democratic elections are not only about transferring power but also about setting a country's long term development direction. Election manifestos reveal political priorities, governance thinking, and approaches to risk and resource allocation. In countries like Nepal, where state capacity is limited and risks are high, vague or populist manifestos may win short term support but often lead to long term development failure and institutional weakness.
Although a coherent nation building vision has yet to fully emerge from Gen Z movements, public discourse shows their demands largely focus on corruption control, transparency, and better service delivery. While these concerns are valid, broader policy agendas on development models, climate risk, state capacity, and long term economic structure remain weak. Corruption control is often highlighted in populist narratives, yet manifestos rarely explain how it will be achieved through institutional reform and enforcement. Controlling corruption alone cannot drive long term development. Sustainable progress requires clear priorities, technical capacity, and implementable policies.
In low and middle income democracies, election manifestos typically prioritize economic growth, employment generation, social protection, infrastructure expansion, and good governance. Nepal broadly follows this pattern. However, issues such as climate change, multi hazard exposure, and sustainable development have yet to occupy a central place in political thinking across much of the developing world. Development is still widely understood in terms of visible infrastructure and short-term economic output rather than long-term resilience and risk management.
In Nepal's 2022 federal election, major parties including the Nepali Congress, CPN UML, CPN Maoist Centre, and the Rastriya Swatantra Party framed development, good governance, and social justice as central themes. The Nepali Congress emphasized liberal democratic values, the role of the private sector, and strengthening federalism. UML promoted economic self reliance through large scale infrastructure and national capital formation. The Maoist Centre highlighted social justice, inclusion, and state restructuring. The Rastriya Swatantra Party focused on service delivery efficiency, system reform, and corruption control. Despite these differences, a common weakness cuts across all platforms. None of these manifestos fully recognized climate change as a central determinant of development outcomes. Climate risk was largely confined to environmental, forestry, or energy sectors. In Nepal's climatic, geographic, geological, and socio-economic reality, all development sectors are exposed to climate risk, including infrastructure, agriculture, settlement planning, energy systems, tourism, and public health. Nepal is among the most climate vulnerable countries in the world. Glacial lake outburst floods, landslides, river floods, debris flows, and extreme weather events are already causing repeated damage to infrastructure and livelihoods.
Recent events illustrate this reality with alarming clarity. The Thame glacial lake outburst flood severely damaged downstream settlements and threatened critical hydropower infrastructure. The Melamchi debris flow destroyed years of investment in drinking water infrastructure, along with roads, bridges, agricultural land, and homes. Floods originating from the Tibetan region caused severe damage in Rasuwagadhi and surrounding areas, disrupting hydropower projects and cross border connectivity. In Humla's Tila Gaun, flash floods devastated settlements, exposing the vulnerability of remote mountain communities. Repeated flooding in the Kathmandu Valley has highlighted the failure of urban planning, drainage systems, and river management. The BP Highway and other national highways have suffered repeated landslides and washouts, disrupting connectivity and imposing significant economic costs. These events are not anomalies. They are symptoms of a development model that systematically ignores risk.
Despite this lived experience, political manifestos lack clear frameworks for risk based development, climate risk assessment, or multi hazard management. There is little clarity on the role of local governments within the federal system, limited emphasis on scientific research and data driven decision making, and insufficient recognition of the differentiated needs of Himalayan, hill, and Terai regions. Responsibilities have been devolved to local governments, but the mismatch between mandates, resources, technical capacity, and authority remains largely unacknowledged. Development plans continue to be short term, project driven, and oriented toward political visibility rather than long term resilience.
Nepal's development planning continues to marginalize climate risk. Project feasibility studies focus on cost and benefit but rarely incorporate long term climate hazards, extreme weather scenarios, or geotechnical and hydrological risk. As a result, major investments fail during the first major hazard event, eroding public trust and draining scarce resources. Climate change is still widely perceived as an environmental protection issue rather than a core development challenge. Consequently, climate related policies, programs, and budgets remain concentrated within the Ministry of Forests and Environment. Climate adaptation has been reduced to tree planting and awareness activities, while infrastructure design standards, land use planning, and investment decisions remain largely climate blind. This approach is no longer viable. Climate change must become the foundation of development policy. Risk based development must replace hazard blind planning. Climate and multi hazard risk assessments must be mandatory for all major infrastructure and development projects. Risk reduction and long term adaptation must be integral components of project design, budgeting, and implementation.
Another major weakness in Nepal's manifestos is the lack of prioritization. Nepal has limited financial and institutional capacity, yet manifestos list large numbers of projects without distinguishing between essential investments, deferrable projects, and those with the highest long term return.
Repeated cost overruns and delays in projects such as Melamchi are not only the result of natural events but also of poor planning, weak contracting systems, limited technical oversight, and inadequate maintenance strategies. Political platforms continue to emphasize launching new projects rather than reforming systems, strengthening institutions, and improving quality control.
Fiscal responsibility is also addressed superficially. Debt itself is not inherently negative, but citizens deserve transparency regarding returns on investment, repayment timelines, and intergenerational risk. Development is not only about visible assets today but also about future obligations. This reality remains weakly acknowledged in political debate.
The meaning of election manifestos must now evolve. A manifesto should not be a document of aspirations. It must be an actionable plan that defines priorities, timelines, budgets, institutional roles, financing strategies, and accountability mechanisms. A credible climate focused manifesto must explain how climate risk influences project selection, where public investment will be concentrated, and how long term resilience will be achieved.
Future election manifestos must therefore treat climate change as a central development issue rather than a narrow environmental concern. They must commit to strategic use of climate finance and international cooperation, require climate and multi-hazard risk assessments for all major development and infrastructure projects, strengthen energy and hydropower security under changing climate conditions, and base climate policy on research, reliable data, and scientific evidence. Manifestos must also address climate insurance, financial protection, and risk transfer mechanisms, development of multihazard early warning systems, prioritize Himalayan risk management, integrate urban flood management into city planning, safeguard agriculture, food security, and water resources, and include clear policies for climate-induced migration and social protection.
Nepal lacks long-term research, reliable data, and integrated systems to clearly link floods, landslides, GLOFs, and droughts to climate change. Strengthening collaboration among universities, research institutions, and government agencies is essential to build credible evidence. A national, integrated climate database would support policy decisions and strengthen Nepal's position in international climate forums.
The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority (NDRRMA) should be empowered to lead multi-hazard early warning systems, data sharing, and inter-agency coordination. Climate change impacts cut across infrastructure, energy, agriculture, security, and disaster management, and cannot remain confined to a single ministry. Strong coordination among NDRRMA, the National Planning Commission, and the Ministry of Finance is critical to align climate policy, budgeting, and implementation.
As Nepal's democratic practice matures, the policy depth of political manifestos must deepen accordingly. Future elections should not merely determine who governs, but how Nepal becomes safer, more resilient, and more sustainable in an increasingly uncertain climate future.
The author is a senior geotechnical engineer actively engaged in disaster risk reduction related to climate change impacts in the Himalayan region.