Uttam Maharjan

The Paris Climate Agreement came into existence in November 2015. The Agreement is designed to improve upon and supplant the Kyoto Protocol, an international agreement adopted in 1997 so as to curb greenhouse gas emissions. The Kyoto Protocol turned out to be ineffective due, especially to the USA and China, the top carbon dioxide-emitting countries, not participating in it. Now the number of countries that have signed the Agreement has reached 194, while 188 countries have ratified it.
The main goal of the Paris Climate Agreement is to limit the global temperature to below 2 degrees Celsius, preferably 1.5 degrees Celsius, above pre-industrial levels. Climate change being a formidable challenge across the world, the Agreement aims at enabling nations across the world to enhance their capacity to tackle the adverse impacts of climate change, take effective measures to curb greenhouse gas emissions and adopt a climate-resilient approach.

Adaptation measures
Nepal is a party to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC) and has ratified the Paris Climate Agreement. Developing countries have formulated national objectives of mitigating the effects of climate change, and taken adaptation measures accordingly. It is incumbent upon developed countries to support such objectives. To materialise such objectives, financial resources should be mobilised, new technology should be adopted and capacity-building measures should be taken.
In 2016, Nepal made nationally determined contribution (NDC) commitments. The NDC aims at encouraging the use of renewable sources of energy, encouraging the adoption of climate-friendly technology in agriculture to boost production and productivity, addressing disasters in earthquake-prone areas, encouraging the application of scientific approaches to understanding and dealing with climate change impacts and developing adaptation strategy, among others.
Other objectives include maintaining forest cover at 40 per cent of the total area, attaining 80 per cent electrification through renewable sources of energy by 2050, reducing dependence on biomass and making it efficient through the National Rural Renewable Energy Programme, increasing the share of electric vehicles to 20 per cent by 2020, encouraging the use of renewable sources of energy with a target of increasing the share of such energy to 20 per cent by 2020 and decreasing the dependence on fossil fuels to 50 per cent by 2050.
Nepal has a 40 per cent forest cover. So one of the NDC goals has already been met. But other objectives have hit a snag. The year 2020 is nearing an end. The share of renewable sources of energy is around 3.2 per cent vis-à-vis 20 per cent as set forth in the NDC. Likewise, the share of electric vehicles in the transport sector is less than one per cent vis-à-vis a target of 20 per cent by the end of this year (2020). And only around 18 per cent of the population has access to electricity through renewable sources of energy.
Each party to the Paris Climate Agreement is required to devise its post-2020 climate action plans as part of the NDC. Accordingly, Nepal has recently formulated and submitted its revised NDC commitments (known as NDC-2020) to the UNFCC Secretariat, outlining its ambitious targets for the next decade. The targets focus on increasing forest cover to 45 per cent of the total area, increasing the use of clean energy, installing biogas plants, increasing the share of electric vehicles and managing sanitation and solid waste management, among others. These targets are designed to curb greenhouse gas emissions and help vulnerable communities. However, the efforts being made at present by the country are not adequate to meet its NDC.
Nepal is a small country contributing a mere 0.027 per cent to the global greenhouse gas emissions, whereas the USA and China contribute 28 per cent and 14 per cent respectively to the emissions. Still, the country is the fourth-most vulnerable country in the world. Excessive rainfall, drought, floods, landslides, storms, inundation of glacier lakes and other natural calamities are the impacts of climate change, which affect poor communities the most.
Nepal is a developing country marching towards overall development. The obligations that arose due to the Paris Climate Agreement are not just formal obligations for the country but also a sine qua non for bringing about sustainable development without degrading the environment. In a country where firewood constitutes a whopping 87 per cent of sources of energy and where the number of electric vehicles is negligible, it is imperative to jack up the share of renewable sources of energy.
As the country is making progress in the hydropower sector, the goal of promoting renewable sources of energy may not be unattainable. The appropriate policy of the government may put the campaign of supplanting petrol- and diesel-based transport with electric transport into overdrive. The problem of air pollution is humongous in Nepal. Under the NDC, the country aims at reducing air pollution by monitoring sources of air pollution like waste, vehicles and factories.
Given the present situation, the country has to make great efforts at reducing air pollution, such as through proper waste management, replacement of fossil fuel-based vehicles with electric ones, translocation of factories away from city areas and effluent management systems. It may be noted that the Paris Climate Agreement, in its preamble, ensures the right to health. Nepal has envisaged, through the NDC, the adoption of a strategy for lowering carbon emissions by making reforms in energy, agricultural, industrial and transport sectors.

Carbon trading
As a low carbon emitter, the country can take advantage of carbon trading as well. For this, appropriate policies need to be in place. However, the country has adopted the Environment-friendly Local Government Framework in municipalities and rural municipalities under the NDC. The framework includes disaster management, recycling, development of eco-friendly bags and green parks and so on. It follows that Nepal has a long way to go as far as its efforts at fighting climate change through mitigation and adaptation measures are concerned.
The impacts of climate change on the country have already manifested themselves. Due to climate change, 47 glaciers in Koshi, Karnali and Gandaki areas are on the verge of bursting as per the studies conducted by the ICIMOD and UNDP. Floods, landslides and other natural calamities are also the upshot of climate change. So the government should take prudent measures to lower the impacts of climate change by adopting appropriate measures.

(Former banker, Maharjan has been regularly writing on contemporary issues for this daily since 2000. uttam.maharjan1964@gmail.com)