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Scheduled to convene in the Amazon city of Belém from Nov 10–21, COP30 is being regarded as a pivotal summit. This session marks the 10th anniversary of the Paris Agreement and introduces Brazil’s new climate priorities, including a focus on tropical forests, alongside the “Baku to Belém” roadmap for raising $1.3trn per year by 2035 for climate action in developing countries. Host Brazil has dubbed the event ‘Global Mutirão’, a call for collective effort. 

In addition to global goals on adaptation and mitigation, COP30 will press major emitters to close longstanding finance gaps and set firmer targets for the world’s most vulnerable communities.

The team of the Ministry of Forests and Environment led by Secretary Rajendra Prasad Mishra is already in Brazil for the preparations. Also, Minister for Agriculture and Livestock Development Madan Prasad Pariyar will lead the ministerial delegation to COP30. Officials have held phased consultations with government agencies, civil society and development partners to finalize a national position for COP30. 

This year, a very small team will represent Nepal at COP. The decision comes in line with the Sept 21 Cabinet meeting, led by interim Prime Minister Sushila Karki, to curb non-essential overseas travel and limit official delegations. To cut government expenses, the government has capped heads of state or government-led delegations at 10 members and limited other government-sponsored teams to only three members.

Organizers hope this year’s COP will deliver both financial commitments and concrete actions to advance the goals set at previous meetings, branding it the “Implementation COP.” However, achieving this will be challenging due to reduced participation from the world’s largest emitters. The heads of the three biggest polluters—China, the United States, and India—will be notably absent. President Donald Trump, who withdrew the US from the Paris Agreement on his first day in office, will not send any senior officials, while China will be represented by Deputy Prime Minister Ding Xuexiang.

A week earlier, the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), the International Water Management Institute (IWMI), and Prakriti Resource Centre (PRC) organized a two-day Climate Negotiation Training to strengthen the negotiation skills, knowledge, and preparedness of Nepal’s inclusive climate negotiation team. The training aimed to enhance their capacity to effectively represent national priorities and perspectives in international climate discussions.

Nepal plans to highlight outcomes from its Sagarmatha Sambaad held on May 16-18, which produced a 25-point ‘Sagarmatha Call’ urging stronger mountain conservation and climate action. In particular, Nepal’s COP30 agenda will stress the needs of Himalayan countries, emphasizing glacier preservation, water security, and mountain biodiversity, as well as core United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) issues such as the Global Stocktake, finance, adaptation, mitigation and Article 6 carbon markets. The draft climate position paper covers nine themes from loss and damage to gender and youth, reflecting Nepal’s status as a Least Developed Country facing acute climate risks. The issues of climate transparency, capacity building and technology transfer, and climate justice are also priorities 

The government says it will present a ‘national document’ at COP30 listing key priorities: climate finance, loss-and-damage, adaptation, mitigation and technology transfer for mountain regions. 

In line with UNFCCC requirements, Nepal is revising its Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) for 2035. Its recently published NDC 3.0 raises Nepal’s ambition in clean energy, cooking and transport, agriculture, forestry and other land use, waste and urban sectors. Nepal commits to reduce net greenhouse-gas emissions by 17.12 percent by 2030 and 26.79 percent by 2035 relative to a business-as-usual baseline, targets that are almost entirely conditional on receiving international climate finance. 

The government estimates these mitigation efforts will require about $73.7bn through 2035, only 14.7 percent of which Nepal can fund domestically. Nepal also reaffirmed its long-term goal of carbon neutrality by 2045 (as announced at COP26), aiming for “net-zero emissions” with enhanced forest sinks.

Nepal’s energy strategy centers on renewable power. Nearly 100 percent of its electricity already comes from hydropower, and the country has accelerated hydropower and solar projects in recent years. The country plans an all-electric vehicle fleet by 2031 as it pushes to phase out petrol and diesel transport. Despite these efforts, analysts caution that Nepal’s actions must be matched by finance: as experts note, Kathmandu will press at COP30 for “global compensation for climate loss” and for simpler, grant-based funding mechanisms to help low-income countries like Nepal cope with impacts.

Nepal faces severe climate vulnerabilities despite negligible historical emissions. The country’s dramatic topography, from the southern Tarai plains to the towering Himalaya,  is already showing stress. 

Long-term trends are alarming. Glaciers in Nepal’s high mountains are melting rapidly. A 2023 report by ICIMOD and Himalayan scientists warns that at current warming trajectories, the Hindu Kush Himalaya glaciers could lose up to 75 percent of their ice by 2100. 

“The Least Developed Countries (LDC) Group has set clear priorities for COP30, focusing on three main areas: Climate Finance, Ambition for 1.5°C, and Adaptation,” Environment Secretary Rajendra Prasad Mishra told ApEx, sharing the outcomes of the LDC Group meeting.

On climate finance, he said, “We aim to triple adaptation finance to at least $3bn under the LDCF-GEF-9 cycle, which is a crucial step toward addressing the estimated $120bn annual adaptation costs. We also support the implementation of the New Collective Quantified Goal on climate finance as part of the broader $1.3trn roadmap, and emphasize the need for a clear definition of climate finance.”

Speaking on the 1.5°C goal, Mishra added, “The group calls for urgent responses to the NDC Synthesis Report, the first Global Stocktake, and the Mitigation Work Programme to keep the 1.5°C target on track. We are proposing a Belém Roadmap to revisit 2035 NDCs, ensuring they align with this target, and we stress enhanced support for the implementation of all Nationally Determined Contributions.”

On adaptation, he said, “We are pushing for the adoption of a comprehensive list of indicators with strong ‘Means of Implementation’ coverage, and the launch of fast-track funding for National Adaptation Plans by 2030. Many of these priorities will be advanced through a Cover Decision at COP30.”

He also highlighted additional priorities: “The LDC Group seeks outcomes on Just Transition, predictable funding under the Forest and Land Restoration and Deforestation (FRLD) program, full implementation of the Technology Implementation Programme and National Technology Needs Assessments, strengthened delivery by the Climate Technology Centre and Network, review of capacity-building frameworks, and finalization of the Gender Action Plan. It is critical that the special circumstances of LDCs are recognized across all thematic areas to ensure they receive the support and funding needed to tackle the climate crisis effectively.”

At the Sagarmatha Dialogue earlier in 2025, official statements stressed that climate change threatens “the well-being of present and future generations” and undermines mountain communities even though they “contribute negligibly to global greenhouse gas emissions”. Officials and experts have repeatedly called for simpler access to climate funds, grant-based financing, and operationalization of the new Loss and Damage Fund agreed at COP29. In Kathmandu, UN agencies and think tanks echo these calls. UNDP experts advise that Nepal should press “for global compensation for climate loss” at COP30 while also building domestic policy and capacity to use funds efficiently.

Local scientists and NGOs are equally vocal. For example, WWF International’s director-general Kirsten Schuijt cautioned that “climate change is moving faster than we are, leaving no part of the world untouched”, a stark reminder of the urgency. 

The new targets pledge ~17 percent (2030) and 27 percent (2035) cuts in net emissions (conditional on aid). These enhancements reflect Nepal’s view that even LDCs must strengthen ambition in line with the Paris stocktake. The UNFCCC now lists Nepal among about 60 countries that have presented updated NDCs by 2025.

Nepal has also enshrined a long-term net-zero goal: at COP26 in 2021, the country announced its intent to reach carbon neutrality by 2045, supported by a long-term low-emissions development strategy. Climate Action Tracker notes this pledge, rating it as “almost sufficient” on a 1.5 °C pathway if implemented with international support. In practice, achieving that goal will require vastly scaled-up funding and technology: Nepal estimates it will need $33bn through 2030 to meet its current NDC and another $47.4bn to implement its long-range adaptation plan by 2050. The government acknowledges it can only muster a tiny fraction of this, a reported $100m, domestically, underscoring why COP30 negotiations on finance are critical.

Importantly, at the Sagarmatha Sambaad, the government called for a dedicated Global Mountain Fund, a new finance mechanism to channel aid directly to vulnerable high-altitude communities. It also endorsed key elements of the UN’s Loss and Damage agenda, including capitalizing the new fund agreed at COP29 and simplifying access to climate finance for developing countries. These moves signal that Nepal views COP30 not just as an occasion to speak, but to deliver concrete policy proposals on how the world can support mountain nations.

As one of Earth’s most climate-vulnerable countries, Nepal approaches COP30 with urgency. Its message is clear: warming beyond 1.5°C threatens the Himalayas and the water supply of billions; glaciers are vanishing; floods and droughts are becoming daily life; and without dramatically increased finance and solidarity, even ambitious targets are hard to meet. Government officials and scientists alike say that real progress at COP30 will require bridging the gap between pledges and action, ensuring that decisions in Belém translate into money, technology and safeguards on the ground in Nepal and other frontline states.

Nepal is set to send a significantly smaller team to 30th UN Climate Conference (COP30) in Belém, Brazil. The conference will be held from Nov 10 this year. Environment Secretary Rajendra Prasad Mishra told ApEx that negotiations are ongoing to decide the representatives.

The decision comes in line with the Sept 21 Cabinet meeting, led by interim Prime Minister Sushila Karki, to curb non-essential overseas travel and limit official delegations. To cut government expenses, the government has capped heads of state or government-led delegations at 10 members and limited other government-sponsored teams to only three members.

The choice also shows Nepal’s political instability following the abrupt political change brought about by the GenZ protests that led to the fall of the KP Oli government. The new government is now tasked with rebuilding scores of government buildings, as well as fixing the infrastructure damaged in recent floods and landslides.

When Nepal first started going to UN climate talks in 1995, it had just two delegates, while the United Kingdom and United States had 19 and 27 respectively. Its delegations expanded incrementally over the years. Sixty-nine delegates attended COP26 in Glasgow and, at COP20 in Lima, the government was reprimanded for sending a ‘jumbo delegation’ on limited resources.

A 2024 ApEx report revealed that Nepal’s delegation missed 68 out of the 392 sessions at COP29 because of overworked negotiators. Organizational shortcomings aside, Nepal has used the COPs to lead mountains and climate justice causes. At COP29 in Baku, Nepal sent its high-level team led by President Ramchandra Paudel, where Nepal emphasized mobilizing climate finance, protecting mountain habitats, and triggering the Loss and Damage Fund.

The delegation also pushed for an annual financing target of $1.3trn for developing countries, gave highest priority to mountain‑specific risk exposures, and made appeals for finance for adaptation and technology transfer. President Paudel called for the reallocation of military expenditures to climate efforts, made calls for grants‑based climate finance and the polluter‑pays principle, and asserted that saving the Himalayas is saving the planet.

Nepal also organized a ‘Sagarmatha Sambaad’ dialogue on mountain resilience in May this year.

Analysts note that although the agendas of Nepal have become more expansive, its bargaining power has not increased. The new ‘small’ negotiation team may therefore push the government to concentrate on core issues such as climate finance, adaptation and mountain conservation and eliminate ceremonial or non‑technical members.

Meanwhile, Brazil’s hosting of COP30 in the city of Belém in the Amazon region has created an accommodation crisis. Reuters reports that Belém hotel rates have risen between $150 and $4,400 a night, and some developing nations could not secure a room.

Latvia climate minister Kaspars Melnis said that the expense is prohibitive and that his nation is considering whether to attend via video link. Lithuania has even talked about boycotting the summit on the same grounds, and the Alliance of Small Island States is concerned that reducing delegations will result in priceless expertise being lost.

African delegates have told Reuters that they have been quoted $700 a night, a far higher sum than the UN daily allowance. In response, the UN International Civil Service Commission has increased the subsistence daily allowance for 144 developing countries from $144 to $197. Brazil has offered restricted available rooms up to $220 a day for developing countries, but with only approximately 18,000 hotel beds for an estimated 45,000 participants, demand outstrips supply.

The cost crisis provoked a wider backlash. During an emergency session in July, the UN climate office listened to complaints from the African group and others. The group chairperson, Richard Muyungi, told Reuters that poor nations cannot cut delegations and make themselves heard. Nevertheless, some wealthier EU states, like the Netherlands and Poland, have said that they might halve or drastically reduce their delegations, with Polish officials warning that they might cut the delegation to the bone or stay away altogether.

With Nepal looking at its COP30 participation, it must juggle local austerity, global cost pressures and the imperative of good representation. An experienced-officer austerity-cut delegation aligns with former Environment Secretary Deepak Kumar Kharal’s proposal of a full-time negotiation team but risks Nepal’s voice in a platform where the more, the merrier is the motto.

Large rates of accommodation in Belém and Nepal’s internal budget crisis also put additional constraints. The ability of the interim government to balance these competing pressures will make or break Nepal’s climate diplomacy and its ability to attract financial and technical aid for its poor hill communities.

The Nepali Army has completed five decades of service to the conservation of nature and environment across Nepal, marking a milestone in the country’s fight to protect its fragile biodiversity and natural heritage. Over the years, the Army has played a critical role in safeguarding national parks, wildlife, forests, and Himalayan ecosystems.

Nepal’s formal conservation journey took a major step in 1961 when the Army began rhino patrols in response to the declining population of the endangered one-horned rhinoceros, which had dropped from 800 to around 100. In 1973, Chitwan was declared the country’s first national park, and two years later, the government officially tasked the Nepali Army with park security.

Today, around 8,000 army personnel are deployed across 14 protected areas—including 12 national parks, one wildlife reserve, and one hunting reserve—through eight battalions, seven independent units, and one dedicated conservation training school.

Operating under National Parks and Wildlife Conservation Act (1973) and the ‘Permanent Operating Procedure’ endorsed by the Council of Ministers in 2010, the Army has worked closely with government bodies, local communities, and international partners to implement large-scale operations like ‘Operation Conservation’, now in its 11th edition, says the Nepali Army Spokesperson Brigadier General Raja Ram Basnet who also is the director of Directorate of National Park and Wildlife Reserve.

The Army’s protection duties include patrolling inside national parks and wildlife reserves, preventing encroachment, combating illegal poaching, and controlling deforestation. In support of nature conservation research, the Army provides human resources for wildlife censuses, offers essential information related to conservation efforts, and assists in the rehabilitation of wild species.

As part of its social services, the Army aims to raise awareness about environmental protection. These efforts include large-scale afforestation programs, repairing and renovating schools and shrines, supporting health centers in buffer zones and protected areas, providing medical care and water supply, and contributing to the construction of bridges and short stretches of road.

According to the Army website, in disaster management, the Army’s strategic locations and organizational structure enable it to respond swiftly to natural calamities and assist victims effectively. Furthermore, the Army contributes to human resource development by preparing and providing trained personnel for conservation education and training programs within buffer zones, national parks, and wildlife reserves.

Forests occupy 25.4 percent of the land area of Nepal, but deforestation is rampant. FAO estimates that Nepal lost about 2,640 sq km of forest cover between 2000 and 2005. In this bleak scenario, the protection of forests and their biodiversity is a great challenge to Nepal. The Army’s 12 battalions and independent companies protect forest areas measuring some 9,767 sq km.

This effort has yielded remarkable results. The number of Bengal tigers in Nepal increased from 121 in 2009 to 355 in 2022, making Nepal the first country to more than double its tiger population ahead of the 2022 global commitment timeline. Similarly, the one-horned rhino population, once near extinction, rose to 752 as of the 2021 census.

In 2019, the Army launched the ‘Clean Himalaya Campaign’ in coordination with various stakeholders to address rising pollution in the mountain regions. So far, the campaign has collected over 119 tons of waste, recovered 12 dead bodies, and managed four human skeletons from Sagarmatha and other peaks.

Despite budgetary constraints halting this year’s campaign, the Army carried out the ‘Exercise Shikhar Yatra’ to collect 500 kilograms of waste from Pangboche and Dingboche under the Sagarmatha National Park and raised awareness among locals and trekkers, says Basnet.

Deployed across the country’s diverse geography—from the +42°C heat of the Tarai to the -20°C cold of the Himalayas—the Army conducts daily patrols on foot, bicycles, vehicles, boats, and even elephants to prevent illegal activities like poaching and encroachment. “The Army also runs awareness campaigns in local communities and schools to ensure people are part of the solution.

Technological advancements such as drones, CCTV surveillance, Smart Eye, Vehicle Tracking, and the Real-Time Patrol Monitoring System have been incorporated to modernize conservation efforts,” says Basnet. However, the Army emphasizes the need for further technological upgrades to meet evolving challenges.

The Army notes that despite strong efforts, numerous challenges persist. These include climate change impacts, illegal wildlife trade, human-wildlife conflict, habitat encroachment, and limited access to cutting-edge technology. Nepal also faces external pressures, such as international demand for wildlife products and its role as a transit country in global trafficking networks.

Nonetheless, Nepal’s integrated conservation model—combining military deployment, community involvement, and governmental cooperation—has earned international acclaim. Nepal celebrated several years (2011, 2013, 2015, 2016, 2018, and 2019) as ‘Zero Poaching Years’. Multiple army units have received the Abraham Conservation Award, and Bardiya National Park won the prestigious Tx2 Award for tiger conservation.

According to Basnet, the Army’s 50-year conservation journey is not just about protection, but also about ensuring sustainable development and responsible tourism. The preservation of Nepal’s unique biodiversity contributes significantly to global climate goals, especially in light of the Paris Agreement’s Article 6 and 9 provisions for climate finance.

Moreover, the Himalayas, which are crucial to the water supply for nearly 1.5bn people, are under increasing threat due to global warming and tourism-related pollution. “The Army’s clean-up campaigns and high-altitude patrols aim to safeguard these ecosystems for future generations,” says the Army.

Lieutenant Colonel Gajendra Rawal, operation officer at the Directorate of National Park and Wildlife Reserve, says that the Army is continuously enhancing its efforts through School of Nature Conversation. The school, operated by the Army for about a decade now, trains security personnel in nature conservation practices, particularly for those deployed within the park. The school also functions as a joint conservation institution, involving park officials, conservation partners, and other stakeholders.  

There are 12 different regulations related to national parks and wildlife conservation. The government is currently working to consolidate them into a single umbrella regulation, which is expected to address the existing gaps and community concerns.