Youth Urgently Calls for Climate Action

September 22, 2019

At the UN Youth Climate Summit mock exercise in Kathmandu, students took on the role of provincial and national leaders to bring attention to the climate crisis

Kathmandu, September 21: The UN Youth Climate Summit and UN Climate Action Summit: Mock Exercise in Nepal took place in Kathmandu on September 21 under the joint collaboration of the Nepalese Youth for Climate Action (NYCA),  Clean Energy Nepal,  United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF) and United Nations Development  Programme (UNDP).

With global emissions reaching record levels, the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Antonio Guterres, will be hosting the UN Climate Action Summit 2019 on September 23 at the UN Headquarters in New York City. The UN Climate Action Summit is part of a weekend of events to drive awareness and action, that commenced with the Youth Climate Summit on September 21.

The mock exercise in Kathmandu primarily focused on the impact of climate change within Nepal, along with the mitigating measures that have been adopted by the government and stakeholders. The chief objective was to ensure that young people and concerned parties are familiar with the global climate crisis. Attention was also given to the benefits of transitioning to renewable energy sources and adapting to climate impacts, while also linking them with the Sustainable Development Goals and disaster risk reduction and management.

In order to demonstrate the key priorities and issues brought about by climate change, students from different colleges acted as representatives of the provincial and national governments. The authority figures that were portrayed included the Head of Parliament, the Prime Minister, chief ministers of the different provinces and the Vice-President of the National Planning Commission.

The students, in their roles as chief ministers, talked about the climate change issues in their provinces, and the solutions they had planned to overcome the crisis. It concluded with the preparation of a seven point declaration that will be submitted to different government offices.

Citing the mock event, Lalmani Wagle, Senior Programme Officer, CEN, stated that the youth could achieve a great deal if people believed in them.

Speaking on behalf of both UNDP and UNICEF, Elke Wisch, UNICEF Representative for Nepal, declared that the role of young people could not be underestimated.  “Claim this right you have to a healthy planet and a positive future for us all," she said.

For UNDP Nepal’s Shanti Karanjit, Portfolio Manager, the performance of the students felt as if it were indeed leaders actually putting plans into action. “Bring plans, not speeches” is one of the key slogans of the UN Climate Action Summit 2019.

Today’s youth are the face of tomorrow and they have the power to bring about change, stated NYCA’s Shreya K.C., who called for everyone to act against climate change.

A total of 153 people participated in the mock exercise. This number included academics and students, as well as representatives from the government and the UN.

Kathmandu Mock Declaration

Following declarations has been approved on the presence of Federal, Provincial and Local representatives and different stakeholders from the Nepal’s National Summit on Climate Change.

  1. Necessary institutional arrangements, acts and programmes, budget and required human resources will be arranged to mitigate and combat climate change at federal, provincial and local levels. Also, research and investigation works will be put on priority during rule formulation process.
  2. Necessary institutions and mechanism will be established and enacted to combat climate change at different levels.
  3. Nepal as a being member country to different international treaties and agreements related to climate change like Paris Agreement, Sustainable Development Goals And Sendai framework for DRR will implement the agreements made, building necessary frameworks from the National level.
  4. Climate change adaptation plan will be prepared and implemented in each province and local level majorly focusing on the poor, vulnerable, marginalized, disabled, least numbered, women and children.
  5. Sustainable development goals, climate change, disaster risk reduction will be taken forwards by localization. For these governmental acts, events, rules and budget will be arranged at all the levels for effective implementation.
  6. National Adaptation Plan (NAP) will be prepared and implemented as soon as possible including the learning from the past days.
  7. Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) will be amended and implemented effectively as soon as possible. While, rebuilding the NDCs the Green house gas generating all sectors will also be included.
  8. Capacity building and empowerment activities for the youths will be encouraged and priotized. The youths will be engaged in all the activities from launching programmes to decision making at all the levels.