Submit your Article

Forty-nine people have died and 25 are still missing due to the monsoon-induced disasters and road accidents in Karnali Province in the second and third week of October. Seventy-four persons were injured in various disaster-related incidents in the province. The highest casualties were reported in Jumla and Mugu due to the disasters triggered by incessant rains in the second and half of the third week of October, said Krishna Bahadur Rokaya, Disaster Contact Person at the Karnali Province Government's Ministry of Internal Affairs and Law. He gave this information in the Disaster Response Review and Earthquake Scenario discussion program organized here on Sunday. "Ten persons each died in Jumla and Mugu, nine in Kalikot, eight in Humla, two in Dolpa and one in Dailekh," he said, adding that the number of persons missing in disasters has reached 18 in Kalikot, three in Dailekh and one each in Jumla, Humla, Dolpa and Rukum Paschim. No human casualties due to disasters have been reported in Surkhet district in the month of Shrawan, Bhadra and Ashoj (July 17 to October 17) in the current fiscal year 2022/23. As per the data shared by the Ministry, 20, 794 families have been displaced due to the disasters in the province. Among them, 7,418 are from Kalikot and 5,282 are from Mugu. Similarly, 33 persons lost their lives to road accidents, one person died due to lightning and two persons due to frostbite in the province. The preparedness and response plan greatly assisted in the search and rescue works during the disasters, said Dinesh Sagar Bhusal, Secretary at the Ministry.

The European Union in Nepal is to collaborate in increasing participation of women in football in Karnali Province. This issue came up in a meeting between EU in Nepal's Charge d'affaires, Joëlle Hivonnet, and Mayor of Birendranagar Municipality, Mohan Maya Dhakal on Sunday. On the occasion, Hivonnet said that collaboration has been started through a non-governmental organization for EU's investment to increase women's participation in football and in promoting women's football in Karnali Province. "Investment would be scaled up for training women football players and their career development. This will boost self-confidence in women. We are confident this will increase women's attraction towards football," the EU Delegation's top official said. Hivonnet is in Surkhet in connection with the inauguration of the 11th edition of the Nepal European Union Film Festival here. During the meeting, Hivonnet talked on the projects the EU has implemented in Nepal, especially in Karnali Province, the future plans, women empowerment and inclusion, among other topics. She said an agreement has been reached recently with the Government of Nepal for running a project on gender empowerment. During the meeting, Mayor Dhakal informed about the activities carried out by the Municipality regarding women empowerment and women health and protection. She mentioned the skill development training provided to women, free distribution of sanitary pads from health posts, free medical examination to pregnant women and gynecological services. She said these programs have helped in increasing income generation of women and in protecting women's health. She thanked the EU for focusing on women participation and empowerment.  

Over a thousand young people from more than 140 countries closed out the three-day Climate Change Conference of Youth (COY17) just days before the official opening of the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP27) in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt. The Climate Change Conference of Youth is an annual event under the banner of YOUNGO – the Official Youth Constituency of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). Its 17th edition was organized and led by five Egyptian youth organizations namely: Act—Sustainable, El Emam Foundation, Enviro-X, Youthink Green Egypt, and Youth Loves Egypt, with the support of the Egyptian Ministry of Youth and Sports and endorsed by the COP President Designate. “Young people are the Plan A and only plan in this most difficult moment, and their voices are needed to fight against backsliding, delay or deprioritization of climate action,” said Ambassador Aboulmagd added, the COP27 President Special Representative. Featuring 68 workshops, panel discussions and side events held over three days, COY serves as a space for capacity building and policy development to prepare young people for their participation at COP, thereby empowering them and formally bringing their voices to the UNFCCC processes. The key outcome of COY17 is a policy document called the Global Youth Statement, a comprehensive text providing youth input to world leaders on the steps they believe should be taken to advance climate action. The 66-page policy document provides detailed advice on a range of topics from mitigation and adaptation to just transition and financing, including a call for a loss and damage facility. “From heat waves across Europe to droughts across Africa and massive flooding in Asia, the past year of extreme weather events have served as another wake-up call for humanity,” the text reads. “Global Youth urges political leaders to take heed, take charge, and take action. We have no more time to lose. Our future literally depends on it.” The statement was presented to the incoming Egypt COP Presidency on the final day of COY17. “We welcome the great work done to produce a rich, comprehensive and detailed policy statement that we consider a very important input to the COP negotiations and its outcomes,” said Ambassador Wael Aboulmagd, Special Representative of the Egypt COP27 Presidency, in a statement delivered on behalf of the incoming COP President. The Egypt COP Presidency has taken a number of steps to ensure that the youth constituency is playing a key role in COP27 including the first ever Youth Climate Pavilion and Youth-led Climate Forum, the creation of a full Young and Future Generations day co-created and implemented with YOUNGO, and the establishment of a COP27 Presidency Youth Envoy, Dr. Omnia El Omrani. “The biggest issue we want to address is climate justice and intergenerational equity,” said Dr. Omrani. “As the largest demographic on Earth, we are disproportionately impacted by the physical and mental health impacts of climate change. At the same time, we contribute the least in the decision-making process, so we don’t want to be excluded. We want and deserve to be meaningfully engaged.” “As young people we are in the forefront facing climate change consequences and we have a major role to influence global attention and commitment,” said Saad Ukkas, program co-lead of the first-ever COP Children and Youth Pavilion. Organizers of the COY and the youth agenda at COP were clear about the critical importance of creating a formal link between youth voices and the COP process. “COY17 represented a leap transformation point in the role of youth in enforcing climate action across the global climate agenda,” said Abdelrahman Fahmy, Managing Partner, youthinkgreen Egypt. “History will remember this COY hosted by Egypt as the igniting point for youth driven implementation.” The key findings of the policy paper will be introduced via two roundtables under the Youth-led Climate Forum on Young and Future Generations Day on November 10 at COP27 in Sharm El-Sheikh. For the first time ever, this youth statement will find its way to the COP Presidency’s Action Agenda where youth representatives, Ministers and negotiators will discuss the expectations and the demands agreed by the youth activists. “Youth participation needs to be integrated into a holistic vision of climate change governance for deeper structural changes to take effect,” said Claudia Ondo, National Coordinator of YouthConnekt Gabon. “This requires accepting the sharing of power between young people and adults. And it means letting us speak our minds, tell our stories and offer our solutions to achieve a resilient future and climate-neutral society.” In addition to providing programmatic linkages between the youth constituency and the formal UNFCCC process, the incoming COP Presidency provided financial support for youth to attend COY17. “Not only did COY17 finalize the 2022 Global Youth Statement it also saw youth finding new knowledge, connections and funding to implement their creative solutions, especially dynamic new initiatives coming from young Egyptians,” said Xan Northcott, Global North Focal Point, Children and Youth Constituency to UNFCCC.

Egypt Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry was formally elected as the COP27 President by the Parties during the opening plenary, following which he called on countries to show faith in multilateralism over the next two weeks as they negotiate to deliver on the goals of the Climate Convention and the Paris Agreement. Addressing climate envoys and delegates at what is considered to be one of the largest COPs ever in terms of attendance, COP President HE Sameh Shoukry said: “It comes as no surprise to anyone that the COP is being held this year in a world which is witnessing political turmoil that cast a long shadow on all our nations and has resulted in energy and food crises; however these challenges should be no reason for delaying our collective effort to fight climate change. It is inherent on us all in Sharm El Sheikh to demonstrate our recognition of the magnitude of the challenges we face and our steadfast resolve to overcome it.” Minister Shoukry highlighted that Egypt made sure that COP27 will provide the optimum setting to align and converge multiple views, and facilitate transparent, inclusive, and fruitful discussion to ensure the most positive outcome achievable. He stressed that albeit the challenging economic and geopolitical factors, external circumstances should not be allowed to negatively affect the negotiating process, adding that as a COP hosted in Africa, it must consider the needs of the developing countries and ensure climate justice through availing the appropriate finance and other means of implementation, as countries that are the least responsible for emissions are the most affected by climate change. The new COP President, HE Shoukry acknowledged the tireless efforts of his predecessor, COP26 President Alok Sharma, and thanked Mr. Sharma and his team for their effort and dedication with everything they achieved in hosting COP26 and commended the outcomes and agreements their work helped to secure, reiterating the commitment of the Egyptian Presidency to deliver on an impactful and inclusive COP. The conference of the parties adopted its agenda, and for the first time since the adoption of the UN climate convention, parties agreed to introduce loss and damage funding as an agenda item at the climate conference, after a yearlong work culminating in 48 hours of continuous informal consultations led by the Egyptian COP Presidency on the eve of the COP. Shoukry lauded the sense of responsibility and commitment that parties showed, as well as the collective keenness on preserving the credibility and relevance of the climate process by making the right decision that responds to the suffering of millions of climate calamities’ victims around the world. More than 50,000 attendees are registered and expected to participate at COP27’s Blue Zone and thousands of others at the Green Zone. The Egyptian Presidency has designated several key thematic days that will include pledging opportunities, discussions, roundtables, and side events. The thematic days are part of efforts to advance climate action that can address existing implementation bottlenecks and gaps and deepen engagement with youth, women, civil society and indigenous people. The Sharm El-Sheikh Climate Implementation Summit will start tomorrow and runs for two days, bringing all participating heads of state and government. Following the summit’s inauguration, several roundtables led and attended by tens of world leaders will be held to focus on six key topics: Just Transitions, Food Security, Innovative Finance for Climate and Development, Investing in the Future of Energy, Water Security, and Climate Change and The Sustainability of Vulnerable Communities