Sagarmatha Sambaad beckons. Will the world come?

In order to draw the attention of the international community toward the adverse impact of climate change in the Himalayas, Nepal has decided to organize Sagarmatha Sambaad, a global dialogue, on May 16-18 in Kathmandu.

Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli made this announcement at a special function organized in Singhadurbar in the presence of Minister for Foreign Affairs Arzu Rana Deuba and other high-level government officials. According to officials, the government plans to organize Sagarmatha Sambaad every two years to highlight key issues facing the country.

The theme for this year’s dialogue is ‘Climate Change, Mountains and the Future of Humanity’ and PM Oli has requested the international community to take part in the dialogue. Nepal plans to invite high-level government officials, representatives from multilateral organizations and other climate stakeholders for the dialogue.

Over the years, Nepal has tried to draw the attention of the international community toward the adverse impact of climate change on her Himalayas and beyond, with little success. 

Nepal’s snow-capped mountains have shed a considerable mass of ice due to global warming, adversely impacting biodiversity, local communities, livelihoods and accentuating risks of water supply disruptions. The dialogue was initially planned in 2019 when KP Oli was in power, only to be postponed at the 11th hour due to the covid-19 pandemic. Successive governments after 2019 did not take any initiative to organize such a dialogue.

This dialogue, if it materializes, will be the first global dialogue with Nepal as the host at a time when countries across the world are organizing their own dialogues to raise their agendas in the global arena. 

According to government officials, it is a multi-stakeholder dialogue forum committed to deliberating on the most prominent issues of global, regional and national significance. The dialogue is named after the world's tallest mountain Sagarmatha (Mt Everest), which is a symbol of friendship and is meant to promote the notions of common good and collective well-being of humanity, which relies heavily on freshwater sources like Sagarmatha and other Himalayas for survival.