COP26: Nepal PM Deuba urges world leaders to give priority to mountain agenda

With temperature rising above global average, Nepal Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba on Monday urged the world leaders to recognise the specific climate vulnerability in the mountains and accord high priority to the mountain agenda in all climate-related negotiations.   

Making statement as the leader of delegation at the World Leaders Summit during the 26th Conference of Parties (COP) at the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in Glasgow, the prime minister said due to the rising temperature, glaciers are melting, snowfall is decreasing and permafrost is melting in the Himalayan region.   

Extreme climate events are increasing, leading to losses in terms of financial, ecological and human. Due to this, 80 per cent of the country’s population is at risk from natural and climate induced hazards.

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“During the last 40 years, natural disasters have caused close to US$ 60 billion physical and economic damage in my country alone,” PM Deuba said in his address.   

Nepal is also committed to the implementation of Paris Agreement and the country has sent an ambitious NDC plan to decarbonise the country’s economy in all sectors.    

He also announced that Nepal will soon host Sagarmatha Sambad, a dialogue named after Mt Everest, to raise awareness on the climate crisis in the Himalayas. “Keeping the global temperature below 1.5° Celsius is vital for mountain people. It is an issue of our survival,” said Deuba.  

Speaking about Nepal’s efforts to balance development and climate, the prime minister said, “We have mechanisms to ensure that international climate finance is channelled to support transformational approaches in implementing adaptation, mitigation and disaster management actions together.”  

“We are engaging with all stakeholders including private sector, indigenous people, disadvantaged communities, women and youth in all our climate actions. Recognising the value of nature to both adapt and mitigate climate change, we have decided to create a dedicated institution for working on nature conservation and climate change together,” he stated.   

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Nepal further called upon parties to agree on making ‘loss and damage’ a stand-alone agenda for negotiations and support the framework of additional financing for it as “loss and damage has become a key concern due to increased phenomena of climate induced disasters.   

The COP26 must ensure adequate support for adaptation in the most vulnerable counties by scaling up financial, technological and capacity-building resources.  

“We can deliver on our goals only through quick, direct and easy access to climate finance. We urge the parties to agree on a clear roadmap for a new collective, quantified and ambitious goal on climate finance before 2025,” PM Deuba stated.   

Prime Minister Deuba also met his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi at the conference.   

"Met PM @SherBDeuba in Glasgow. It is important we keep working together for sustainable development. He rightly highlighted the threat of climate change to the Himalayan region," Modi said in a tweet.   

Both leaders are scheduled to hold a bilateral meeting later in the day.