By Shashi P.B.B. Malla
The Minister for Information & Communication, Dr. Bikram Timilsina has now confirmed that Prime Minister Balendra Shah will lead the Nepali delegation to this year’s plenary session of the UN General Assembly (UNGA).
Preparations are also underway to highlight the challenges Nepal is facing as a result of the growing impacts of climate change.
The Prime Minister’s Office is holding discussions with experts and scientists in Nepal and abroad on issue to be raised at UNGA.
At the same, discussions should also be planned with relevant personalities and institutions on the sidelines of the meeting.
At the same time, it has become urgent to:
- Establish an independent Ministry for the Environment & Climate Change
- The PM should shed his responsibility for the Defence portfolio and appoint a new minister for the new Ministry of National Security.
It would be quite relevant to appoint a retired army general for the task.
This is especially urgent since the Nepal Army could also be involved in environmental tasks.
The corps of army engineers may be entrusted with draining glacial lakes – a task that in the past foreign entities have declined to do or at a reasonable price.
- The government is dilly-dallying with the appointment of ambassadors to vacant positions in many important countries.
The government should absolve these tasks without delay as the country is in dire need of sustained diplomacy.
- The government should also plan to participate at the climate conference in Antalya, Turkey.
This has also to be planned and prepared – best by officials of the new Ministry of the Environment & Climate Change.
- The Ministry of Foreign Affairs will also have to establish a new department for the Environment & Climate Change and must start training its officials accordingly (both in Kathmandu and abroad).
It will also be relevant for officials from the new department to accompany the PM to New York and Antalya.
- The Ministry of Information & Communication should also inform the general public about the exact location of the recent glacial collapse and ensuing flash floods, and also the exact names of the rivers.
There is talk of the “Bhote Koshi” Floods. But in Nepali maps, there is a ‘Bhote Koshi’ near Tatopani (Nepal-Tibet border) and another ‘Bhote Koshi’ in Khumbu which later becomes the Sun Koshi. According to Nepali maps, the catastrophe occurred in the Lhende River which flows into the Trisuli.
The ministry should clear this confusion.
The writer can be reached at: shashimalla125@gmail.com
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