Climate-proof infrastructure a must for a healthy society

The COP28 has concluded with an agreement that signals the beginning of the end of the fossil fuel era by laying the ground for a swift, just and equitable transition, underpinned by deep emissions cuts and scaled-up finance.  The global stocktake is considered the central outcome of the climate conference, as it contains every element that was under negotiation and can now be used by countries to develop stronger climate action plans due by 2025. Another key takeaway of the conference is parties reached a historic agreement on the operationalization of loss and damage fund and funding arrangements—the first time a substantive decision was adopted on the first day of the conference.  

In the COP28, Nepal effectively raised the issues of impact of climate change on Nepal’s Himalayan belt and other issues. As highlighted by Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal at the conference, Nepal is already bearing the brunt of adverse climatic impact though the country’s contribution to global emissions is negligible. To cope with climate change, Nepal has prepared several policy documents and research reports on the sectoral impacts of climate change. One of the key areas of focus is climate-proofing of infrastructure. 

For that, Nepal needs a huge amount of finance. Experts are of the view that Nepal must adapt its development pathway to a changing climate. The key areas which are being affected from global warming include agriculture and food security; forest and biodiversity; water resources and energy; rural and urban settlements; industry and transport; physical infrastructure; tourism and cultural heritage; health; and drinking water and sanitation.

Consider some recent climate-induced disasters and its impact on infrastructure. The Melamchi flood in 2021 washed away the entire human settlements and other public infrastructure such as bridges, school buildings, roads and health posts. 

There is no shortage of policy and documents but there is a serious gap of finance to fund the climate resilient infrastructure. Nepal has implemented a Green, Resilient, and inclusive Development (GRID) approach. The National Climate Change Policy 2019, 2022 Solid Water Management Policy, the 2022 Forest Regulation, and 2022 Land Use Regulation has offered some policy framework. Nepal’s Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) plans for a prosperous, climate-resilient society with ambitious adaptation and mitigation targets. The National Adaptation Plan (NAP) includes a comprehensive set of programs until 2050 that aim to boost adaptive capacity and resilience. For the effective implementation of NAP, Nepal needs $47.4bn to implement priority programs up to 2050. Nepal will contribute $1.5bn and external support totaling $45.9bn is required.

The 2021 Long-Term Strategy (LTS) raised the ambition by setting a 2045 net-zero mitigation target. The effective implementation of Nepal’s climate ambitions is key, but significant challenges exist in terms of limited financial resources, a weak business environment, administrative inefficiencies, weak vertical and horizontal coordination among institutions, and low capacity, especially at local levels, the World Bank Report published in 2022 states. The 15th periodic plan of Nepal government states that a long-term strategic plan will be formulated for the implementation of the Paris Agreement on climate change and the nationally determined contribution roadmap will be modified and implemented as needed. The plan further states that infrastructure related to disaster risk management will be developed in order to adapt to climate change; and appropriate technologies to address the impacts of climate change on agriculture, water, and energy resources will be identified, protected, promoted, and disseminated.

The Country Climate and Development Report prepared by the World Bank in 2022 outlines four priority system transitions that are fundamental to addressing the risks that climate change poses to Nepal while also providing opportunities for improving the quality and sustainability of economic development. They are improving systemic resilience of rural landscapes including food, freshwater, and forest systems to boost adaptation, livelihoods, and food security; harnessing Nepal’s significant hydropower opportunities; managing urbanization and environmental quality to build resilience and improve health; and strengthening Nepal’s low-carbon, resilient connectivity—particularly roads—to improve the country’s growth and services.

According to the Ministry of Forest and Environment (2021) infrastructure, water, and tourism are among the key sectors sensitive to climate extremes. Besides, agriculture is also an economically exposed sector that is vulnerable to climate extremes. According to Vulnerability and Risk Assessment and Identifying Adaptation Options, a report prepared by the Ministry of Forest and Environment, transport infrastructure in Nepal are impacted by floods, mass wasting, debris flow, sedimentation, and rise in groundwater levels, rain, and windstorms.

Common problems include the collapse of industrial buildings and properties; increased exhaustion of infrastructure; silting of drains; increased instability of land through the weakening of riverbanks, hill toes or land subsidence; inundation; and submergence of infrastructures.  The report further says that related impacts consist of high costs for maintenance and repair; limited community access to jobs, schools, and hospitals; and large economic losses. Nepal is experiencing 0.056°C increase in temperature annually, whereas the precipitation patterns are changing with a shift in onset and withdrawal of monsoon and reduction in winter monsoon. As a party to the Paris Agreement, Nepal submitted its Nationally Determined Contribution which has envisioned post 2020 adaptation actions through National Adaptation Plans.

Nepal is one of the first countries to receive support from the Green Climate Fund to carry out a process to formulate and implement NAP. The GCF support NAP process, which has been delivered by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), was formally launched on November 23, 2018 by the Minister for Forests and Environment. In light of the new federal structure and considering the alignment with the new National Climate Change Policy-2019, the NAP process is being formulated through a multi-stakeholder approach building on the experiences from National Adaptation Programme of Action and Local Adaptation Programme of Action and adopting gender responsive ‘Leave-no-one-behind’ principle. The NAP is considered as a primary instrument to translate new climate change policy into action.

Dr Maheshwor Dhakal, joint secretary, Ministry of Forest and Environment, says though it is crucial to address the climate crisis, most of the ministries are weak to take ownership of the policy and set the priorities. He adds that there is a need for capacity building in understanding climate change problems, fixing the priorities, making plans and implementing them. 

According to Dr Dharma Upreti, head of climate and resilience at Practical Action South  Asia Office, Nepal currently has a policy but no specific mechanism for monitoring and evaluation. This has direct impacts on critical infrastructure such as health posts, hospitals, schools and other infrastructure.  

Failure to develop climate and disaster proofing infrastructure could result in huge loss of lives and damage of properties. Therefore, climate risk needs to be integrated into the planning and implementation process which is becoming a component of fundamental human rights of the people. The World Bank report states that climate action at the provincial and local government levels is lacking. However, there are opportunities to strengthen local climate action, including by operationalizing coordination mechanisms, developing a climate capacity building plan for all levels of government, and establishing a system to track progress toward NDC and NAP targets, supported by enhanced data generation at all levels of government, the report says.

To manage climate risk and achieve an integrated path toward GRID, the report says, Nepal needs to prioritize three key enablers: scale up finance for resilience and low-carbon development; strengthen household and community resilience; and strengthen governance for climate change and DRM.  The report is of the view that Nepal’s climate adaptation needs are substantial, but investment requirements need to be further defined and prioritized. The government estimates financing needs through 2050 of nearly $50bn for its NAP, nearly $200bn for its LTS, and $36bn for its NDC until 2030, the report says. These initial assessments vastly exceed the country’s fiscal resources and domestic savings mobilization. As a result, major efforts are needed to prioritize public investments and improve the regulatory environment to attract private investment. Development finance can help catalyze these necessary changes, according to the report.

The health impact of climate change is alarming. A report prepared by the Ministry of Forest and Environment has found a clear link between climate change parameters and health outcomes.  According to Ram Chandra Khanal, program director of Nepal CRS company, climate change has increased the risk of maternal and infant mortality due to extreme weather events. 

Due to disasters like landslides and floods, he says both men and women will have limited access to contraception and this will lead to unintended pregnancy. Khanal adds that women also need to travel long distances for drinking water which in result had an effect on their reproductive health. 

From 2005 to 2018, the baseline status of climate-sensitive diseases in Nepal showed that cases of heart and respiratory diseases were on the rise. In Dhankuta, Kailali, Dhading, and Kathmandu, annual variations in the number of heart disease patients were positively correlated with maximum temperature. In the Tarai, an increase in mean temperature caused an increase in drought events and warm days, which led to a rise in respiratory diseases. In the Hill region, an increase in cold wave events led to an increase in respiratory disease cases. In Achham and Kalikot, rainfall and maximum temperature were both positively linked with water-borne diseases. 

For over 13 years, the frequency of drought occurrences was linked to the number of undernutrition cases per 100,000 people. In Kailali and Kanchanpur, the annual variations of vector-borne diseases and maximum temperature were positively related.  In Kapilvastu, the yearly sum of under nutrition patients was positively related to the yearly precipitation, while the under nutrition of those from Dolakha, Kanchanpur, Rolpa, and Sarlahi was positively related to the annual mean temperature.  The report findings suggest that climatic extreme events and hazards put the population and healthcare infrastructure at risk.

In order to ensure the health facilities for all, it is imperative to protect the physical infrastructure such as roads, highways, health posts. Robust and climate resilient infrastructure should be in place for the swift response in the natural disasters. 

In conclusion, it is not only about the big mega infrastructure that should be climate proofed. Government should come up with concrete policy and measures on how it can encourage or support the community and individual people on how they can build climate-proof infrastructure. 

The year 2022 is recorded as the hottest year on record and global warming is likely to go up which means even the current houses need to be rebuilt in a way of withstanding either extreme heat or extreme cold. And, it is obvious that absence of climate-proof measures seriously impacts the health of common people and it particularly hits the women, poor and vulnerable community. It is imperative that the Nepal government should prepare a national strategic plan to deal with these issues.