Sunday, July 14, 2019

Nepal faces disproportionate impacts of climate change

Nepal – as a country in the climate change hotspot – faces disproportionate impacts of climate change despite its negligible emissions, according to higher official.
Addressing 2019 High-Level Political Forum (HLPF) on Sustainable Development – in the morning in a discussion on Goal 13 –Climate Action – convened under the auspices of the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) today in New York, National Planning Commission (NPC) vice chair Prof Dr Puspa Raj Kadel said that Nepal has decided to convene ‘Sagarmatha Dialogue’ as an annual global forum to exchange views on pressing global issues, including climate change.
Making a reference to the recent report of ICIMOD that highlights impacts of climate change in the mountains, he stressed that there was urgent need for climate action.
The forum that began on July 9 in New York, witnessed different sessions.
 In the evening today, the vice chair also spoke in an event, ‘Taking Stock of Effectiveness Principles at Country Level’, organised jointly by Nepal and Bangladesh to showcase country-level realities of the Asia-Pacific region. The event was organised on the eve of the Global Partnership for Effective Development Cooperation’s Senior Level Meeting (GPEDC-SLM) in New York yesterday and today. The vice chair highlighted the huge financing gap in the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the role of development effectiveness.
Nepal also shared its efforts in reducing inequalities and called for fulfilling the commitments to reduce inequalities within and among countries in an HLPF plenary meeting held here yesterday. On the occasion, Nepal highlighted the need to apply ‘whole of society’ approach in achieving all the 10 targets of Goal 10.
Earlier, Nepal also spoke in an HLPF discussion on LDCs and LLDCs and underlined the need for ‘smooth transition’ and ‘sustainable graduation’ as well as addressing particular vulnerabilities facing the countries like Nepal. Later today – during the discussion on Goal 16 – Nepal also shared its nationally driven and owned peace process and underlined the importance of negotiations and dialogue to resolve conflicts and build inclusive societies. Nepal will deliver its national statement during the ministerial segment that begins July 16. The HLPF this year will conclude on July 18.
The HLPF is the central platform of the United Nations (UN) for providing political leadership, guidance and recommendations for the implementation and follow-up and review of the 2030 Agenda. The Forum is reviewing progress towards achieving SDGs 4, 8, 10, 13 and 16 in addition to the annual review of SDG17. This is the fourth HLPF after the adoption of the 2030 Agenda in 2015.
This year's HLPF, including the High-Level/Ministerial Segment on July 16-18, is being organised from July 9 to 18, under the theme of ‘Empowering people and ensuring inclusiveness and equality’. A separate high-level segment of ECOSOC follows the HLPF on July 19. This year too, 47 member states are presenting their VNRs. Nepal presented its VNR during the 2017 HLPF. As this year marks the completion of the first four-year cycle of the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, a separate HLPF, under the auspices of the General Assembly will be organised on September 24 and 25, which is also called SDG Summit. The SDG Summit will also adopt an inter-governmentally agreed outcome document.

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