Nepal for climate-change push for mountain countries

With the UN Climate Change Conference held in Copenhagen last December having failed to take up the issue of saving the Himalayas, Nepal is preparing to push the agenda at the UN together with other Least Developed Countries (LDCs) around the world.Officials at the Ministry of Environment said they are currently working to forge a Mountain Alliance Initiative for Climate Change (MAICC) to push the agenda jointly at the UN Framework Convention for Climate Change (UNFCCC) during the Conference of Parties (CoP-16) to be held in Mexico in December.
Officials said the Climate Change Council (CCC) headed by the prime minister has already approved a proposal to this effect. It is now in the process of seeking endorsement from the cabinet.

The idea of jointly pushing the agenda was conceived after the UNFCCC held in Copenhagen failed to take up the issue of saving the Himalayas. The new initiative spearheaded by Nepal aims to include all LDCs with high mountains. Small island nations that are vulnerable to the effects of climate change are also willing to be part of the alliance.

Meena Khanal, spokesperson at the Ministry for Environment, said LDCs with snow-clad mountains like Nepal are at the receiving end of the effects of climate change such as floods, landslides, glacial lake outburst floods and prolonged drought. “Since Nepal has eight of the 14 highest mountains in the world we are preparing to take a lead role to push the agenda of saving snow-clad mountains,” she said.

There are a total of 49 countries including Nepal categorized as LDCs. Of them, 28 have mountains that remain snow-capped all year round. Officials believe that it will be easier to forge an alliance with such LDCs since Nepal currently heads the group of 49 LDCs at the UN. Nepal took the chair of the group from Bangladesh on September 29, 2009.

According to spokesperson Khanal, discussions will first be held at national level and then at regional and inter-country ministerial level meetings before formally putting forth the agenda at CoP-16 in Mexico.

The body will seek to have UNFCCC recognize LDCs with high mountains separately and provide them funds to take necessary measures for adapting to the effects of climate change.

During CoP-15 in Copenhagen, Nepal had pushed the agenda of ´Saving the Himalayas´ from melting due to global warming. The government also organized a cabinet meeting at Kalapatthar at the base of Mt Everest ahead of the Copenhagen conference to draw the attention of the world to the plight of the Himalayas. But the voice Nepal raised went largely unheard.

Source:http://bit.ly/caOMWz