Tackling Climate Change

The 29th conference of the Parties (COP 29) to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change is underway in Baku, the capital city of Azerbaijan. While the heads of government or state of many nations are participating in it, around 13 countries, considered the world's biggest polluters, are have not sent their prime ministers or presidents on one pretext or the other. Brazil’s president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva said that he was busy preparing for G-20 meetings to be held in his country soon. US President Joe Biden, who now is a lame duck head of government, is unlikely to greatly impact the climate summit. German government has collapsed after Chancellor Olaf Scholz sacked his finance minister. Some leaders will not show up due to the natural disasters that hit their countries while some others have mentioned personal reasons behind their failure to join the event. 

Their issues were individual, but the issue of climate change is global one. It must be dealt with wisely so that humans, animals and plants coexist on this planet. The effects of climate change are immensely devastating and far-reaching because of the excessive consumption of the fossil fuels by the developed countries. For instance, recently monsoon rain-induced floods and landslides killed more than 244 persons and destroyed the property worth billions of rupees in Nepal. It will take years to re-build roads and other infrastructures damaged by the disaster. Similar is the fate of eastern part of Spain, especially, in Valencia. As the torrential rain-caused flash floods overflowed rivers, tributaries and canals, the entire communities were submerged, killing 219 people.

Similarly, factors behind the blizzards in the North America, cyclones in South America and Caribbean countries, inextinguishable fires in Californian forests and melting of icebergs in the Antarctica are all attributed to the impact of climate change.  Fletcher Harper of GreenFaith said, “Fossil fuels are the highway to hell for billions of people and the planet”.  In contrast to this reality, Donald Trump, the US president-elect, says ‘gas and oil are liquid gold’ and invoked the slogan ‘drill, baby, drill’ to boost oil production and reduce the energy cost. It has become clear that the rich nations, responsible for the global warming, are trying to distort the climate change discourse to suit their interest. 

The United Nations has always been working for the sake of the whole humanity. Speaking in the Baku summit, Antonio Guterres, the UN Secretary General, demanded that the developed nations provide finance to the countries that are hit hard by the climate change despite the fact that they have negligible role in generating the greenhouse emissions. He said, "The loss and damage fund established in COP28 is not charity, it’s an investment, so the developing countries must not leave Baku empty-handed”.  It is clear that the wrong-doers are running away from a negotiation of up-to $1.3 trillion meant for climate-affected nations.

Nepal's stance on the climate issue is clear. Addressing the 29th conference of the Parties (COP 29) to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, President Ramchandra Paudel said that climate change was disrupting ecological balance while threatening the habitability of the region. He warned that global warming might wipe out humanity from the mountains. His call for the unity of coastal and mountain countries to fight against this malady is an innovative proposal. Nepal's President said that it was imperative to operationalise the loss and damage fund. So, checking climate change effects must be the common agenda of all the nations.