Community forestry and hydro input should help Nepal achieve net zero emission by 2045
On Sunday, September 17, tens of thousands of protesters marched to demand an end to fossil fuels fast in New York City, where world leaders, including Nepal's Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal, are attending the United Nations Secretary General's Climate Ambition Summit on top of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (UN Agenda 2030) Summit on the sidelines of the 78th session of the UN General Assembly. The New York march was intended to pressure U.S. President Joe Biden and other leaders of the developed world to take bold climate action by rejecting new fossil fuel projects, phase out fossil fuel production and declare a climate emergency. In solidarity with the worldwide mobilisations against fossil fuels from September 15 to 17, hundreds of youths took to the streets in nine cities of Nepal demanding a rapid, just and equitable eradication of fossil fuels. The main objective of the 700 mobilisations across the world is to end fossil fuels and make a quick transition to renewable energy.
Climate change is no more a myth, as is evident from the shift in weather patterns and rising temperatures, caused by increased emission of greenhouse gases, namely carbon dioxide and methane, into the atmosphere. This has resulted in extreme weather conditions, erratic rainfall patterns, rising sea levels, melting glaciers and depleting snow cover of the mountains, and declining biodiversity. However, the seriousness required todespite the commitments made by all the countries at different international forums, is not there.
Global greenhouse gas emission was to peak by 2025, after which it was to reduce rapidly to limit temperature rise to 1.5 ºCabove pre-industrial levels, as agreed upon during the 2015 United Nations Paris agreement on climate change. However, making huge cuts in carbon dioxide required to limit global temperature rise to 1.5 ºC by 2030 is proving a huge challenge. The commitment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from burning fossil fuels has been further dashed as European nations, such as Germany, mull over switching to coal as they face an energy crisis caused by the Ukraine war.
There is not much time before 2030, and the Climate Ambition Summit can be considered a success only if it can ensure binding commitments from each of the nations, in particular the highly industrialised and developed countries. The UN summits cannot afford to be an annual jamboree, where leaders engage in a lot of talk, to which they don't seem very committed. Nepal's contribution to climate change may be negligible, but it has not been spared from its adverse impact, making it vulnerable to erratic rainfall, droughts, floods, landslides and melting glaciers.
On the other hand, let us not forget that Nepal's cities are rated among the most polluted in the world, caused mostly by emissions from transport, while biomass burning in the rural areas is significant. Nepal has pledged to achieve net zero emissions by 2045, and towards that end, community forestry and hydropower investments provide the base for mitigating climate change. Nepal's drive to replace fossil-fuel vehicles with electric ones should also be accelerated to achieve the goal.
Focus on employment
Bringing back home the migrant workers and engaging them in the productive sector is easier said than done. The National Planning Commission (NPC), which is preparing the 16th five-year plan, aims to bring back those who are employed abroad as migrant workers. Addressing a function in the capital the other day, NPC Vice-Chairperson Min Bahadur Shrestha said concessional loans to youths must be resumed to prevent them from migrating for overseas employment. The concessional loans to the youths have been stopped as it could not increase employment and give productive results. The concerned ministry has also not been able to resolve the problem seen in implementing youth-centric concessional loans.
Most of the programmes launched by the government are ad hoc and are not based on the ground reality. One of the sectors that could provide employment opportunities to thousands of youths is agriculture. But this sector has been neglected. The traditional style of doing agriculture will lead us nowhere. We need to focus on large-scale farming and animal husbandry using modern technology and knowledge. However, the idea of large-scale farming is not possible unless the government allows private firms to hold large swaths of land for agriculture purposes.
A version of this article appears in the print on September 18, 2023, of The Himalayan Times.
