Kathmandu, Sept 18: Foreign Minister Shishir Khanal has said Nepal will use the United Nations to draw global attention to the threat climate change poses to Himalayan civilisation.
Speaking informally with journalists at the Foreign Ministry on Thursday evening, Khanal said Nepal would raise the issue at the upcoming UN General Assembly.
“Nepal and other Himalayan countries like ours face risks from climate change. The Himalayan tsunami in Bhotekoshi has demonstrated this,” he said. “We will raise this issue at the upcoming UN General Assembly.”
Khanal argued that the nature of the Bhotekoshi flood could only be explained by the effects of climate change. He said Nepal would present evidence showing that such disasters threaten the entire Himalayan civilisation.
“Climate justice will be our main agenda at the upcoming General Assembly,” he said. “We will present scientific evidence demonstrating how we are suffering because of climate change and put this reality before the international community.”
Prime Minister Balendra Shah will address the General Assembly on Nepal’s behalf. Khanal said Shah would explain how Nepal faces growing harm from a problem it did little to create.
Nepal has long argued at the UN and other international forums that it deserves climate justice, Khanal said. The government now intends to pursue that position through sustained climate diplomacy and strengthen coordination among government bodies at home.
He said Nepal would seek to build and lead a common alliance of small, island and mountainous nations vulnerable to climate change.
“Previously, the thinking among small, island and mountainous nations was that climate change affected only coastal countries,” he said. “But its effects now extend beyond rising sea levels and are increasingly evident in countries like ours. This makes a joint alliance and diplomatic initiative necessary.”
Khanal said he would hold several meetings on the sidelines of the General Assembly, brief international partners on the damage caused by the Bhotekoshi flood and seek assistance for recovery and reconstruction.
Countries such as Nepal cannot keep taking on a heavier debt burden, he said, adding that he would appeal to the international community for support.
Foreign Secretary Amrit Bahadur Rai said Nepal would advocate climate justice at the gathering and had arranged a separate high-level event on the issue.
Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lok Bahadur Poudel Chhetri said Nepal would expand its climate diplomacy globally as climate risks continued to grow.
Prime Minister Shah is scheduled to leave for New York on September 22 to attend the 81st UN General Assembly. He will address the assembly on September 24 and return to Nepal on September 26.
Foreign Minister Khanal will leave for New York on September 20 and return on September 30.
People’s News Monitoring Service
Login to add a comment