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Nine municipalities in Nepal have been selected for a global youth climate fund that will provide $50,000 to each local government. But the municipalities are at different stages of planning how to use the money, with some still waiting for the funds and a climate policy expert warning that the grants should not become another round of generic plantation or awareness programs.

The municipalities selected under the 2026 expansion of the Bloomberg Philanthropies Youth Climate Action Fund are Bedkot, Belauri, Biratnagar, Garuda, Ilam, Kageshwori Manohara, Lahan, Parshuram and Tulsipur.

The fund is intended to support climate and environmental projects led by young people aged 15 to 24. Each municipality receives $50,000, which can be distributed as microgrants of between $1,000 and $5,000 to eligible youth-led projects. Up to $10,000 can be used for administrative costs.

In Bedkot Municipality, Mayor Bhoj Raj Bohara said the local government has already identified seven or eight activities, with each planned to receive about $5,000. “We have created seven or eight activities to carry out youth and climate activities,” Bohara said.

The proposed activities range from environmental promotion and biological embankments to a ‘Nakshatra Vatika’, a space intended to familiarise young people with different plant species and environmental issues. The municipality also plans to mobilise a natural underground water spring at Bhankeshwar. Bohara said the focus would be particularly on school and college students, providing them with information about the environment and opportunities to participate in climate-related activities.

But Bedkot has not yet received the money. “We are currently just in the initial phase,” Bohara said, adding that the municipality has signed an agreement with an NGO called NEEDS, which works on climate and climate action. The funds will come through the organisation rather than directly into the municipality.

According to Bohara, the arrangement was made because receiving the money directly through the municipal system could have created administrative complications. Bedkot’s proposed activities reflect the flexibility built into the fund, which allows municipalities to support projects ranging from climate education and environmental campaigns to green infrastructure, resilience, waste management and youth-led governance initiatives.

But climate policy expert Abhishek Shrestha says municipalities should begin with a different question: what climate problems are actually affecting their communities? “First of all, the main thing is what are the climate-related problems or disasters of the local municipalities? Have they made a plan on how they should respond to those? If not, they should work on that first,” Shrestha said.

Projects would be more effective if they were developed around existing local climate risks and municipal plans, rather than being designed simply because funding has become available, he said.

The differences between the nine municipalities are significant, Shrestha said, and climate action should reflect those differences. “In the case of Ilam, maybe landslides could be a major problem,” he said. He also pointed to Ilam’s dependence on agricultural cash crops, saying climate-related stresses affecting agriculture could provide an entry point for youth engagement and entrepreneurship.

Biratnagar faces a different set of risks, he said. “Currently there are many problems with heat stress, followed by cold waves and heat waves,” Shrestha said. He also identified inundation as a major concern for Biratnagar, with potential consequences for agriculture. Heat waves and urban heat islands could likewise provide the basis for adaptation projects. “For that, it should be context-specific,” he said.

The same principle could apply to Lahan in Madhesh, where flooding and other climate stresses could shape the projects selected under the fund. Shrestha said municipalities should examine their historical climate stresses, understand how those risks have been addressed institutionally and then determine how young people can contribute.

That does not mean awareness programs should be excluded. But Shrestha cautioned against treating familiar environmental activities as climate solutions without connecting them to specific local problems. “Definitely, a level of capacity building and awareness for these issues needs to be done,” he said. “But not just ‘as usual,’ like saying ‘plantation.’ Plantation programs can come under many environmental programs.”

In some municipalities, he said, the priority could instead be water sources or other physical interventions needed to address specific climate risks. “Such hardware projects should be made,” Shrestha said, stressing that the starting point should be the municipality's understanding of its climate risks and whether it has a plan or documentation to address them.

The fund is significant not only because of the money involved but also because of the opportunity it provides to local governments to access resources for climate action. “Even if many resources come, they arrive at the federal government level,” Shrestha said, noting that local governments often have limited technical capacity to access and manage climate resources. “However, the way this money is coming is a good opportunity,” he said.

Climate change affects all 753 local levels to varying degrees, he said, making locally specific climate planning increasingly important. The program’s stated purpose is to give young people the resources, guidance and platform to design and implement solutions to climate and environmental problems at the local level. The program’s earlier participating cities have supported activities including green spaces, composting stations, tree planting, community gardens and waste collection.

For Nepal, however, Shrestha argues that the bigger opportunity lies in using the grants to establish a model for locally led climate action. The municipalities could also learn from one another, he said. “If there were a platform for cross-learning among them, perhaps everyone wouldn’t have the same level of understanding,” Shrestha said.

The municipalities may differ in their understanding of how the resources can be accessed and mobilised, while their technical capacity is also likely to vary. “They can move forward by creating such a structure,” he said.

A cross-learning mechanism could allow municipalities to share successful approaches, technical knowledge and ways of involving young people. A successful project in one municipality could then potentially be adapted elsewhere.

The nine selected municipalities are not moving at the same pace.

Parshuram Municipality Mayor Bharat Badayar Joshi said his municipality had opened a call for proposals targeting youth clubs, schools and colleges, initially envisaging eight groups receiving $5,000 each. The municipality is considering climate, waste management, disaster preparedness, renewable energy and green-cover projects, but plans to extend the call after the first round failed to produce proposals considered strong enough.

Lahan Municipality Mayor Mahesh Chaudhary has linked the program to the municipality’s previous work on ponds and fruit-tree plantations. He said around 10,000 saplings had been planted and that the municipality wanted to involve young people in planting and protecting trees and conducting awareness activities, while also creating employment opportunities.

In Garuda Municipality, Mayor Kanthamani Jaisawal said he needed to check municipal records before providing details about the fund. Meanwhile, Tulsipur Municipality Mayor Tikaram Khadka said the money had not reached the municipality and that he had no information about it so far.

The mayors of Belauri, Biratnagar, Ilam and Kageshwori Manohara did not respond to multiple calls seeking information about their plans for the fund.

The program also provides participating cities with coaching, training and templates for project selection, communication, co-design and project support.

For Shrestha, Nepal should use that support to build more than individual projects. “If they do even better work, then more such resources can be brought in,” he said. He believes successful projects could help municipalities attract additional matching funds from organisations seeking to work on climate issues at the local level. “In that sense, if they do good work, they can bring in other matching funds in the coming days, because climate doesn't fall under the priorities of many local levels,” he said.

The grants could therefore become a starting point rather than an endpoint. The immediate challenge, however, is to ensure that the money does not simply reproduce familiar environmental activities under a new funding label.

If local governments can use the money to identify their specific climate risks, build youth capacity and demonstrate workable local solutions, the program could provide a model for attracting and managing additional climate finance at the municipal level.

A day after a massive flood in the Bhotekoshi River caused widespread destruction in Rasuwa and affected downstream areas of Nuwakot, Dhading and Gorkha, questions remain over what triggered the disaster.

While some Nepali experts have raised the possibility of a glacial lake outburst flood (GLOF) or a combination of cascading events in Tibet, the Chinese side has attributed the disaster to an earthquake on the Nepali side that allegedly triggered an ice avalanche and subsequent mudslides.

Foreign Minister Shishir Khanal, speaking in Parliament on Wednesday, said that initial information has been received about an earthquake in Tibet and that it may be related to the flooding in the Bhotekoshi.

Climate change expert Ujjwal Upadhyaya said the nature and scale of the flood suggested that a GLOF could be one possible explanation, although he stressed that this was only an initial assessment. “Looking at the nature of the flood, it appears like a glacial lake outburst flood,” Upadhyaya said, adding that rising global temperatures and increased atmospheric temperatures in the region could be increasing the risk of such events.

He also identified another possibility: heavy rainfall in the Tibetan region of China may have triggered a massive landslide, forming a temporary natural dam that subsequently collapsed. Such an event, known as a landslide dam outburst flood, could have produced a sudden surge of water, mud and debris.

Upadhyaya said satellite imagery and further analysis would be needed to determine what actually happened. He noted that at least one of three glacial lakes located around 26 kilometers north of the Nepal-China border in the Tibetan region could potentially have contributed to the disaster. Another possibility, he said, was that an ice or landslide temporarily blocked the river before the accumulated water suddenly broke through.

A combination of events could also have produced the scale of destruction witnessed downstream, he said. A glacial lake outburst or landslide could have triggered a flood that swept away water and debris accumulated behind a lower temporary dam, creating a cascading disaster.

Upadhyaya warned that the risk may not yet be over if a landslide-created dam remains partially intact and a large volume of water and debris is still trapped upstream.

The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority and geologist Dan Shugar have presented preliminary evidence suggesting that a major landslide occurred in the Tibetan region and may have triggered the flood. However, Upadhyaya said an important question remained: where did the enormous volume of water, mud and rock that entered the river actually originate?

He called for a detailed scientific investigation into the possibility that the landslide and a GLOF may have occurred together. “The scale of destruction seen in this disaster would generally be difficult to explain through a single event,” he said, suggesting that a sequence involving an ice avalanche, glacial lake outburst, river blockage and sudden release of water could have occurred.

Meanwhile, the Chinese Embassy in Nepal has offered a different preliminary explanation.

Chinese Ambassador to Nepal Zhang Maoming said initial information indicated that an earthquake had occurred on the Nepali side on Wednesday morning, triggering an ice avalanche and subsequent mudslides. According to Zhang, the mudslides caused significant casualties and left people missing on both sides of the Gyirong-Rasuwagadhi border.

Talking to Nepal government national broadcast NTV, he said, “Following the disaster, the Chinese Embassy activated its emergency response mechanism, assessed the situation of Chinese citizens and businesses in the affected areas of Nepal, and requested the Nepali government and relevant authorities to intensify rescue operations. The embassy also dispatched a working team to the affected area to coordinate rescue efforts.” Despite casualties and losses on the Chinese side, China has also begun coordinating emergency supplies and cash assistance for Nepal, Zhang said.

He stressed the need for greater Nepal-China cooperation in disaster preparedness and response, including cross-border information sharing, monitoring and early-warning systems for meteorological, hydrological and geological hazards. He also called for stronger institutional coordination in emergency rescue, as well as greater cooperation in personnel training, technical exchanges and emergency supplies.

“Accusations help nothing; cooperation saves lives,” the Chinese Embassy said in a social media post.

The exact cause and sequence of events behind the Bhotekoshi flood, however, remain unclear. Experts say satellite imagery, hydrological data, geological assessments and information from both Nepal and China will be needed to establish what triggered the disaster.

Prime Minister Balendra Shah has received an invitation to participate in the upcoming United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP31), extended by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

The invitation was officially disclosed on Wednesday by Krishna Prasad Dhakal, joint secretary at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, during a meeting of the National Assembly’s Development, Economic Affairs and Good Governance Committee at Singha Durbar.

Dhakal said the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has already forwarded the invitation to the Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers. However, a final decision on the level of Nepal’s representation at the summit is yet to be made.

COP31 is scheduled to take place from November 9 to 20 in Antalya, Turkey.

Prime Minister Shah has not visited any foreign country since assuming office. He has also recently received an invitation to visit India.

At COP30 in Brazil, then Minister for Agriculture and Livestock Development Madan Prasad Pariyar led Nepal’s delegation. Speaking on behalf of Nepal, Pariyar said that although the country contributes minimally to global greenhouse gas emissions, it is disproportionately affected by climate change.

He highlighted the rapid retreat of glaciers, worsening water and food insecurity, and a series of climate-induced disasters that claimed more than 300 lives in Nepal in 2025 alone. “Our agriculture, the backbone of our economy, is reeling,” he said.

Pariyar reaffirmed Nepal’s commitment to ambitious climate action, noting that the country has submitted its action-oriented NDC 3.0 and National Adaptation Plan, with a target of achieving net-zero emissions by 2045. He also highlighted Nepal’s conservation record, noting that forest cover now exceeds 46 percent.

Calling climate finance received by Nepal “negligible,” Pariyar urged developed countries to fulfill their past commitments and provide simplified, predictable and grant-based support to vulnerable countries. He welcomed the launch of the Barbados Implementation Modality (BIM) and called for the full operationalization of the Fund for Responding to Loss and Damage (FRLD).

Nepal sent a significantly smaller delegation to COP30, following a Cabinet decision under then-interim Prime Minister Sushila Karki to curb non-essential overseas travel and limit the size of official delegations. To reduce government expenditure, the government capped state- or government-led delegations at 10 members and limited other government-sponsored teams to three members.

When Nepal first began participating in UN climate negotiations in 1995, it sent only two delegates, compared with 19 from the United Kingdom and 27 from the United States. The size of Nepal’s delegations gradually increased over the years. Sixty-nine Nepali delegates attended COP26 in Glasgow, while Nepal was reprimanded at COP20 in Lima for sending a “jumbo delegation” despite its limited resources.

A 2024 report by ApEx revealed that Nepal’s delegation missed 68 of the 392 sessions at COP29 because its negotiators were overworked.

Despite organizational shortcomings, Nepal has used the COP process to advance issues related to mountains and climate justice. At COP29 in Baku, Nepal sent a high-level delegation led by President Ramchandra Paudel, with Nepal emphasizing the need to mobilize climate finance, protect mountain ecosystems and operationalize the Loss and Damage Fund.

For nearly four decades, farmers in a small settlement upstream of Khageri watershed of Ichhakamana Rural Municipality-7, Chitwan, had given up hope of growing paddy. A devastating flood in Oct 1984 turned once-fertile farmland into barren wasteland, leaving families dependent on rain-fed maize and seasonal vegetables. The soil degraded, irrigation sources disappeared, and farming slowly became a struggle for survival rather than a sustainable livelihood.

Then, last year, something changed.

For the first time in 40 years, local farmer Mangal Raj Shrestha harvested paddy again. On his 6,095 square meters of land, he produced nearly 3,100 kilograms of spring rice, enough to feed his family throughout the year and generate income from sales.

The transformation did not come through expensive machinery or large-scale infrastructure. Instead, it came through something increasingly seen as critical in addressing climate and environmental crises: nature-based solutions.

At Ranikhola Community Forest in Ichhakamana, local communities embraced watershed and springshed management solutions such as bio-dykes, water conservation ponds, irrigation protection, water augmentation structures for springs revival and ecosystem restoration. The result was the revival of land that had remained unproductive for decades.

According to Ram Prasad Gurung, secretary of the Ranikhola Community Forest Users Group, restoring the land required years of difficult work.

The degradation of the Chure region had left the settlement highly vulnerable to repeated flooding and land erosion. To restore the ecosystem and protect the community, locals constructed bio-embankments, conservation ponds, water augmentation structures, protected irrigation sources, and a 1.5-kilometer irrigation canal. Today, the system supports rice cultivation across nearly 135,453 square meters of land, alongside vegetable farming.

But Ranikhola is far from the only example. Across communities in Chitwan and Nawalpur, local residents are increasingly discovering that restoring watersheds and springshed is also restoring livelihoods.

Three years ago, nearly 40 households were affected, and eight families were displaced by a landslide in Kawasoti Municipality-4, Nawalpur. The settlement lies within the Gindri Wetland area of Sankhadev Hasaura Community Forest, between the Gindri River and a landslide-prone slope.

The landslide had been gradually worsening since the 2015 earthquake, with fragile soil conditions causing sections of the forest to slowly move downhill.

Prem Prasad Tiwari, chairperson of the community forest, says the situation has improved significantly after the community introduced nature-based interventions as low-cost soil and water conservation measures which included bioengineering through bamboo crib wall, bamboo palisades, bamboo check dam, plantation of bamboo and other slope stabilizing vegetations, and gully erosion treatments with diversion canal and siltation traps. “Since we started these interventions, the landslide has stopped for almost a year,” Tiwari said. “Some displaced families now want to return because they feel safe again.”

A short distance away in Hupsekot Rural Municipality-4, communities have focused on springshed management for restoring groundwater systems.

The recharge ponds and other water augmentation structures (eyebrow pits, contour trench, flood diversion canal, etc.)  built inside the forest may appear dry during summer, but according to Karun Dewan, Program Officer (Freshwater Programs) at WWF Nepal, their function is far more important beneath the surface. “These water augmentation structures collect rainwater throughout the year especially during the monsoon and allow it to slowly infiltrate underground recharging the aquifers for springs,” he said.

Local farmer Khem Bahadur Magar says the difference has been dramatic. “Before the ponds were conserved, agricultural productivity here was low, and there was very little greenery in the area,” he said. “Now irrigation has improved significantly (through the water collected from the springs), and our crop yields have nearly doubled.”

The impact is visible even during harvest season. “Earlier the land remained dry, and we used machines to harvest paddy. Now groundwater recharge has improved so much that the fields stay muddy, forcing us to harvest manually,” he said.

A similar transformation is underway at Joltepokhari Community Forest in Hupsekot, where once-dry forestland has turned visibly greener.

Rupa Rana, chairperson of the community forest, says local understanding of conservation has changed entirely. “We now understand the importance of recharge ponds, conservation ponds, eyebrow pits/half-moon pits, and other nature-based conservation measures,” she said.

With support from local organization Sahamati under the Triple Benefit Program–Nepal, and financial and technical assistance from WWF Nepal, communities have expanded into water efficient vegetable farming, livestock rearing, beekeeping and market-based enterprises.

Among the 233 households in the Community Forest Users Group, many are now directly engaged in income-generating activities. “We had tried farming before, but it failed because water availability was poor,” Rana said. “Now water availability has improved along with enhanced skill on water efficient technologies, which has led to farming expanding rapidly.”

Vegetables are sold locally in Kawasoti, while peak production is transported as far as Kathmandu. “Sometimes we cannot even meet market demand,” she added.

The benefits extend beyond agriculture. The community has developed local entrepreneurs who collect produce from farmers and supply larger markets. Some households have even started allocating a portion of their profits to nearby government schools for student scholarships.

For 30-year-old Hemati Masraini, the impact has been life-changing. A mother of two daughters studying in primary school, she now supports her entire household independently through goat farming. “Last year, I earned nearly Rs 100,000,” she said, adding that she consistently raises at least 10 goats.

Locals say wildlife populations in the surrounding forests have also increased since conservation efforts began, as evidenced by the hoof prints of wild boars and other ungulates around the conservation ponds, along with the frequent songs of birds echoing through the forest.

In neighboring Ichhakamana Rural Municipality, nature-based solutions have also protected critical infrastructure.

A drinking water tank at the edge of Kalika Pipaltar Community Forest supplying around 400 households was once at risk of destruction due to a landslide. Bioengineering interventions for this landslide helped stabilize the slope and save the water supply system and also possible damage to the settlement and agriculture land below.

Additionally, at Kalika Pipaltar Community Forest, improved wetland management, ecosystem regeneration, bioengineering and fire-line construction have significantly reduced environmental risks.

Som Bahadur Chepang, an advisor to the community forest, says forest fires have nearly disappeared. “Previously, forest fires were frequent,” he said. “But this year, it has been almost zero.” However, irrigation remains a challenge, and the community still depends heavily on rainfall for farming.

Collectively, these stories across two watersheds- Khageri (Chitwan) and Gindri (Nawalpur) show how nature-based solutions are doing far more than conserving forests. They are reducing disaster risks, restoring degraded watersheds, improving groundwater systems with springshed management, strengthening community institutions, and creating sustainable livelihoods for vulnerable communities.

Across Chitwan and Nawalpur, communities are proving that environmental conservation and economic prosperity do not have to exist separately. In many cases, protecting nature itself is becoming the foundation for improving people’s lives.