In a country where basic facilities like water, electricity, and even food are still a struggle for many, it is only natural that they should land up constituting a major part of election promises. So it might be too early for environmental issues to reflect in the form of a political party for elections in Nepal

In keeping with his announcement made in June 2017, former US President Donald Trump had the US formally withdraw from the Paris Climate Agreement on November4, 2020, becoming the first nation to do so.

Many leaders and climate change scientists around the globe had severely criticised this move by the US.

Bhutanese Prime Minister Tsering Tobgay, at the 2009 climate change talks in Copenhagen, pointed out that Bhutan remained carbon neutral for all time and promised a carbon-negative country soon. Six years later at the Paris summit, the Bhutanese leadership and its actions on climate change were hailed throughout the world for their pursuit of a clean environment.

These two cases clearly show that the issue of climate change or environmental protection is taken seriously all over the world, although it might not be popular with the corporate world.

With the local election fervour gripping Nepal, the candidates and political parties have shown their commitments to several agendas, including good governance, social welfare,infrastructural development, health and education restructuring, employment generation and many more. However, going through the election manifestos of the major parties, no one seems to have adequately discussed climate change and its effects on the Nepali economy or taken valid measures to mitigate its impact. A few candidates have mentioned waste management and pollution control plans in the cities. However, this is unlikely to tip the balance at the ballot box at the level it should have.

In domestic politics, votes are sought and won on the issues of the day: poverty, pandemic response, racial justice, or rising inflation and economic inequality. But, as climate change is now termed 'real', the climate crisis knows no borders, and a host of issues are all fundamentally interconnected. Protecting public health is climate action.

So is breaking down racial barriers or reducing poverty. That's why the candidates contesting the local poll should understand the issue and take necessary takeaways.

Since the federal and provincial elections are also lined up for this year, the question remains: will environmental issues finally bask in the electorallimelight? If events across some of the major Nepali cities in the past few years are to go by, green issues are definitely the time to shine. Environmental issues plaguing the internet-savvy electorate as well as the poor sections of these major cities may finally become an integral part of the election dis-course among political parties, experts and other stakeholders.

Over the past year, the Kathmandu Valley has garnered the most attention for environmental issues compared to other major cities of the country. Cleaning of the holy Bagmati River has been taken as a campaign by the civil society and local people in cooperation with the civil service and security forces for over a decade. Another issue that has occupied the mindof the valley people is that of air pollution, especially in the winter months.

Elsewhere, the following three events that occurred in Nepal in the recent years show our vulnerability to the adverse effects of climate change: 1) floods triggered by the incessant rains on August 1, 2021 caused huge damage to the Mela-mchi drinking water project in Helambu Rural Municipality; 2) unseasonal rains and floods that occurred in the last week of October 2021 in the western part of Nepal damaged standing paddy crops worth Rs8.26 billion, the biggest loss ever recorded, according to the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development; and 3) the government decided to close all educational institutions for four days (March 29-April 2, 2021),owing to the severe deterioration in the air quality.

These are only representative events.

Despite the seriousness of some environmental issues at hand, they didn't feature in the political campaigning, although that could be justifiable to some extent. Countries like Nepal have contributed very little to the climate crisis, ranking low in cumulative per capita emissions. And despite the crucial role the environment plays in global ecosystems, multinational corporations continue to recklessly reap big profits from indigenous minerals, forests and water resources. Global Witness investigations have repeatedly shown the terrible impact of corporate abuse of both the environment and human rights in the countries of South Asia, including Nepal.

Although over the past few decades several environmental issues have been in the limelight, they were never an integral part of the election conversation.

In some cases, even if they became an election topic, they lost significance once the polls were over.

A significant section of Nepal's middle class, especially in urban and semi-urban areas, that is active online – mainly on social media – has been advocating green issues at times. They think it is time for the development of a 'Green Party' in Nepal as in some Western countries, such as Germany, Sweden, Finland and the UK? A Green Party is a political party that looks at the development of society through the prism of environmental protection.

But in a country like Nepal where basic facilities like water, electricity, and even food are still a struggle for many, it is only natural that they should land up constituting a major part of election promises. So scholars in the domain of natural conservation and political economy believe that it may be too early for environmental issues to reflect in the form of a political party for elections in Nepal.

An election like this won't lend much to mitigating the global climate crisis.

But if it results in more distraction, delay and denial, other issues will pale into insignificance. In these elections and all future contests, campaigners, advocates and voters must be prepared to support a candidate who satisfies these criteria and puts climate justice at the heart of his agenda.

Khanal and Acharya teach economics in Kathmandu's colleges

A version of this article appears in the print on May 12, 2022, of The Himalayan Times.