Watch it on NIICE Nepal Youtube Channel

Event Report

Nepal Institute for International Co-operation and Engagement (NIICE) organised a webinar titled “Politics of Climate Change and Nepal”, presented by Dr. Chandra Lal Pandey and moderated by Dr. Pramod Jaiswal. Dr Pandey currently heads the Community and Development Program at Kathmandu University, Nepal and has numerous publications to his credit. This webinar served as a detailed yet highly simplified primer for research scholars, policy-practioners and students alike; who take keen interest in Climate Change, the dynamics that affect the relationship between various stakeholders and the challenges faced by Nepal as a result of the spill-over effects of industrialization in its neighbourhood.

Case of Double Dilemmas

Dr. Pandey began by categorizing the origins of climate-change; attributing it to two main causes, namely “Natural/Organic Climate Change” and “Anthropogenic Climate Change”. He went on to further explain the significance of the Paris Agreement, COP21 and the United Nation’s (UN’s) Sustainable Developmental Goals (SDGs) in re-awakening the collective consciousness of the world’s industrialized nations towards taking remedial measures to commit to reducing their carbon emission levels. The webinar then pivoted towards discussions centred on the prominent debates in Climate Change, such as the dilemma in ascertaining the actual cause of climate change (Natural Vs Anthropogenic), calling for representational and burden-sharing equity amongst countries, for the costs incurred (Predominant polluters Vs Least Developed Countries) and oscillation between Mitigation Vs Adaptation; especially in the era of technological disruptions.

The North-South Debate

The presenter noted the widespread concern for the need to switch to a “Greener Economy” based on “Clean fuel and energy”, while simultaneously acknowledging the steep transition costs while the prevailing North-South debate seems to aggravate as the North continues to rally for devising sustainable solutions and the South remains keen on the ‘business as usual’ approach in a bid to increase its standard of living.

Nepal’s Climate Change Conundrum

Dr. Pandey observed that Nepal, is one of the most vulnerable countries in the world when it comes to climate change, which has become a major threat to development and in building disaster-resilient urban and rural communities. He noted that the impacts of climate change are disproportionate for countries like Nepal, which must bear the brunt of the impacts even though their contribution to making global warming is minimal.

He constructed his arguments by stating figures from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report on the politics of developed and the developing countries and changing economic realities of many influential nations, which complicate multilateral, bilateral, trilateral and regional climate negotiations.

Challenges to Climate Change

Dr Pandey concluded his session by highlighting that most climate change negotiations have been underway for three decades since 1990 but have become better known to have been “ossified”, “gridlocked” and “limited”, producing little meaningful results so far to arrest global temperature rise and to address climate change. The negotiations have often also been locked due to disagreements between the developed North and the developing South connected to the North-South politics of development; burden-sharing of mitigation and adaptation cost based on the core principles of common but differentiated responsibilities (CBDR), and historical responsibility.

Thus, it would take a combination of political will, a well-thought of defensive strategy to mitigate Climate Change and adapt to the changing tides of the mechanisms introduced to transition into a greener economy.

Prepared by Moksha Pillai, Research Intern at NIICE.