--Collective efforts will be made to minimize the impacts of climate change.
--Institutionalized and other processes essential against climate change will be started all the earliest. --The program will be started as a campaign by mobilizing the youths, students and women. The points of the election manifesto prepared by the Nepali Congress in 2017 --Major political parties raised the issues of climate change in their party’s election manifesto five years ago. People also gave nearly two-thirds of their votes to the CPN-UML and the CPN (Maoist Center) in 2017. The Nepali Congress faced a humiliating defeat. But, the Congress came to power after three years. The major parties led the government for five years. Neither they raised the issues of climate change as per the manifesto nor they organized any programs when they were in the government. Experts have said that the political parties have not taken the issues of climate change seriously. Dr Bimal Regmi said that it is unfortunate that the issues of climate change have not become the agenda of the political parties. The main agenda of the political parties during the election time is just the development of infrastructure. “The political parties give priority only to the development of infrastructure which can be seen by the people,” he said, adding, “The problems of marginalized communities and people have never become the agenda of the political parties. The parties have not been able to make practical commitments.” Now, the country is gearing up for the elections to the House of Representatives and Province Assembly again. But, the political parties have not made their commitments public yet. Experts have underlined that the political parties should include the issues of climate change in their election manifesto and should come up with various programs to minimize the effects of climate change. Climate change expert Madhukar Upadhyay said that the issues of climate change get priority only during the time of COP. “Political parties talk about the issues of climate change only during the time of COP,” he said. He expressed his grievances that the issues of the environment are discussed only on Environment day. “We only talk about the ways to mitigate the climate but never take initiatives to implement them,” Upadhyay said. Interestingly, the issue has not even been raised in the Parliament, he said. “No one is interested and no one cares about the issue,” he said. Recently, the floods in Far-Western region have caused a huge loss. Last year, the floods destroyed the ready-to-harvest paddy crops in the Far-Western region but the government has not been able to give compensation to the people yet. This clearly shows how serious the political leaders are in Nepal, experts said. Upadhyay said there is no one who has been taking the issue of climate change seriously in the country. Some NGOs and INGOs have been doing little from their sides. But, the questions still persist, who will look after the small problems at the local level. Another climate change expert Manjit Dhakal said that it can be taken in a positive way that the political parties have included the issues of climate change in their election manifesto. “But, it has been limited only in the manifesto,” he said, adding, “The issue of climate change has a direct and indirect impact.” The impact of climate change can be seen on the three main sources of the economy, energy, agriculture and tourism. Though the COP has brought the issues of climate change to the international platform, the COP is not everything, Dhakal said. “There are many problems in the country. The problem of farmers always becomes the headlines,” he said, adding, “Unseasonal rain inundated human settlements. But, the government has not been able to raise awareness among the farmers on time.” The agenda and manifesto of the political parties are considered as the important basis to run the country. People trust the agenda and manifesto made public by the political parties. It is obvious for the people to believe that the parties will implement all the commitments made while canvassing the votes after being elected. But, there are many instances that the commitments expressed by the political parties in the manifesto have been limited only to paper.
