What is climate change? How can Nepal combat climate change? Discuss the legal provisions in climate combats of Nepal.
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# https://www.un.org/en/climatechange/what-is-climate-change
# extracted: Country Climate and Development Report for Nepal, 2022
(a) taking an integrated approach to water, agriculture, and forests;
(b) harnessing the hydropower opportunity and energy transition;
(c) managing sustainable urbanization; and
(d) strengthening low-carbon resilient connectivity
Nepal needs to prioritize three key enablers:
scale up finance for resilience and low-carbon development;
strengthen household and community resilience; and
strengthen governance for climate change and DRM
integrated approach to water, agriculture, and forests:
Agriculture and land use together accounted for 62 percent of GHG emissions in 2019.
Forest cover has expanded in recent years. This is largely due to Nepal’s community-based forest management experience over several decades which now reaches over 18,000 communities managing 21 percent of Nepal’s forests.
Nepal’s forests and soils serve as an important carbon sink, counter-balancing emissions from agriculture, land use change, biomass burning, and other sources.
To optimize economic benefits, build resilience, and adapt to a changing climate, Nepal’s water, agricultural, forest, and energy sectors must approach resilience and sustainability in an integrated way.
Enhancing water resource management.
Embracing climate-smart agriculture.
Transitioning to sustainable forest management: large-scale success with community-based forestry and the new Forest Regulation 2022 form a solid basis to transition to sustainable forest management (SFM)
Harnessing the hydropower opportunity and energy transition
Nepal has among the world’s largest hydropower resources with an estimated economically viable potential of 42 GW.
Nepal’s hydropower development opportunity is fundamentally linked to exporting surplus during the monsoon season; realizing this will require securing offtake arrangements, upgrading storage, and ensuring investments are robust to climate risks.
Scaled-up hydropower also offers the medium-term potential to grow climate-smart energy solutions such as electric mobility and green hydrogen.
To complement the focus on hydropower, economically viable applications could be developed to support the electrification of the economy to provide better and more sustainable energy services across Nepal.
Managing sustainable urbanization
Nepal is the fastest urbanizing country in South Asia, with urban growth rates up to 5 percent per year.
As Nepal’s urban population grows rapidly, solid waste management (SWM), resilient buildings, and clean water supply present challenges and opportunities for climate action with development gains
Strategic urban planning can deliver climate and development benefits including advancing green urban transport in major cities and stimulating more efficient low-carbon trucking.
Strengthening low-carbon resilient connectivity
Nepal’s transport sector is a key driver of economic growth but is vulnerable to climate-related Hazards.
To integrate climate resilience in transport, managing the trade-off between cost and risk management remains a challenge.
To integrate climate resilience in transport, managing the trade-off between cost and risk management remains a challenge.
Nepal’s ambitions to digitalize its economy can help fill connectivity gaps and support low-carbon and climate-resilient development.
Scale up financing for resilience and low-carbon development
Nepal’s climate adaptation needs are substantial, but investment requirements need to be further defined and prioritized.
Nepal already faces the challenge of limited fiscal space, which is the result of consecutive wide fiscal deficits since FY18.
Reprioritizing public expenditures can deliver high development and climate synergies.
Private finance and FDI are currently limited, and private investment flows are unlikely to materialize without significant improvements to the regulatory framework.
In the near term, Nepal should focus on elaborating, costing, and implementing a more detailed and clearly prioritized pipeline of adaptation and mitigation investments.
Attracting investments in adaptation and resilience is particularly challenging, as such investments do not usually offer a revenue stream and are not immediately attractive to the private sector.
The government’s call for concessional climate finance is well justified and efforts to mobilize and provide such finance should be strongly supported.
Development finance can help
Strengthen household and community resilience
Social protection can help build the resilience of poor and vulnerable households to prepare for, cope with, and adapt to climate shocks.
Communities are usually the first responder to disasters and play a key role in local climate and disaster resilience action
Nepal currently has limited ex ante financing instruments in place to respond to disasters.
Human resources with relevant skills can be key factors in engaging communities in climate solutions.
Strengthen governance for climate change and disaster risk management
It is imperative to strengthen institutions in Nepal, particularly local and provincial governments that are on the front lines of integrating climate and DRM.
Addressing climate change and disaster risk demands a shift from the BAU approach in terms of knowledge and technical capacity to understand, assess, and plan for the changing climate and adapt to and mitigate risks effectively.
Federalization of climate and DRM governance is imperative to effectively respond to climate and disaster risk across Nepal.
National Climate Change Policy, 2019
• Environment Protection Act, 2019, and Regulation 2020
• Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC), 2020 and NDC
Implementation Plan, 2023
• National Adaptation Plan (NAP), 2021
• Nepal’s Long-Term Strategy for Net Zero Emissions (LTS),
2021
• Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 2015-2030
• Green, Resilient and Inclusive Development (GRID)
Approach, - Kathmandu Declaration 2021
• Industrial Enterprise Act 2020
• Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Act 2017
• Local Government Operation Act 2017
• Motor Vehicle and Transport Management Act 1993 and
Regulation 1997
• Forest Act 2019 and Rules 2022
• Water Resources Act 1992
• Electricity Act 1992
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