'Sagarmatha Sambaad will be utilised to draw global attention to mountain issues from climate crisis

Kathmandu, May 4: Secretary at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Amrit Bahadur Rai, has said the upcoming Sagarmatha Sambaad will serve as a platform to draw global attention to the climate crisis faced by mountainous communities.     

Nepal will host the Sagarmatha Sambaad, a multi-stakeholder dialogue, from May 16 to 18 in Kathmandu. The dialogue aims to highlight the concerns of mountain communities suffering from the impacts of climate change.     

Speaking at a pre-Sagarmatha Sambaad event organized today by the People's Forum in Lalitpur, Secretary Rai said that the growing climate crisis poses a severe threat to human civilization in mountainous regions. He added that the voices of mountain communities have often been isolated from global climate discussions and stressed that the Sagarmatha Sambaad will attempt to fill this gap.     

“The issues of mountains were not recognized even in the Paris Agreement,” Rai stated. “We will amplify the voices of mountain people through the Sagarmatha Sambaad.”     

Chairperson of the Federation of Community Forestry Users Nepal (FECOFUN), Thakur Bhandari, called for 80 percent of the Climate Resilience Fund to be allocated to local levels. He urged the government to highlight the contributions of community forests to environmental conservation and the effects of climate change on forest users through the multi-stakeholder dialogue.     

Similarly, President of the NGO Federation Nepal, Arjun Bhattarai, stressed the need to incorporate the voices of all relevant stakeholders in the Sagarmatha Sambaad’s agenda.     

The Forum, comprising representatives from various campaigns, civil society, human rights groups, children, people with disabilities, marginalized and indigenous communities, mountain residents, and people living in low-lying areas, organised the event.     

The gathering advocated for the protection and fair distribution of collective resources as part of ensuring climate justice at the local level. It also called for equitable access to land, forests, and water, and for the empowerment of local communities to manage these resources sustainably. Additionally, the Forum emphasized the need to strengthen community resilience against climate impacts.(RSS)