The International Court of Justice’s (ICJ) recent advisory opinion marks a historic moment in international environmental law. In this landmark ruling, the court recognized climate change as an “urgent and existential threat” and confirmed that states have “erga omnes obligations,” or duties owed to the global community. For Nepal, this ruling provides a critical legal foundation to demand that historical polluters honor their responsibilities under agreements like the Paris Agreement and related frameworks. Crucially, the ICJ affirmed that environmental protection is essential for human rights, underscoring that climate justice is inseparable from human rights protection.
Climate injustice
There is a saying in Nepali society ”The poison you have not consumed does not affect you.” However, the suffering that Nepal and the Nepali people have endured due to climate change appears to be exactly the opposite of this saying. Like being poisoned by a fault one did not commit.
In case of carbon foot print, Nepal, contributing just 0.027 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions, faces severe climate impacts. These are not distant projections but realities in daily headlines and collective trauma: the devastating drought in Madhesh that crippled farmers; the Glacial Lake Outburst Flood (GLOF) in Thame, a warning from melting glaciers; the destructive floods in Bhotekoshi that swept away lives, homes, and livelihoods; and most recent a reported cholera outbreak in Birgunj, potentially linked to the warming climate, though sources remain unconfirmed yet.
This reality highlights the brutal arithmetic of climate change: its causes are global, yet its burdens fall disproportionately on nations like Nepal. Urgent action—through low-carbon policies, technological adoption, and societal lifestyle shifts—is essential to address this inequity.
Shared vulnerability
The consequences of climate injustice are evident in small island nations like Tuvalu, Kiribati, the Maldives, and the Marshall Islands, which face existential threats: rising seas, severe storms, freshwater scarcity, and infrastructure damage. These challenges threaten all four pillars of statehood—territory, population, governance, and the capacity for international relations. For instance, Tuvalu risks losing its entire physical territory within decades.
Nepal’s melting glaciers are part of this global catastrophe. These shared vulnerabilities unite Himalayan communities with sinking island nations in a collective fight for justice and survival.
Planetary boundaries
The landmark study Earth Beyond Six of Nine Planetary Boundaries (Richardson et al., 2023) confirms that humanity has exceeded safe limits for six of nine critical Earth systems: climate change, biosphere integrity, biogeochemical flows, land-system change, alteration of freshwater systems, and atmospheric aerosol loading. Ocean acidification nears its limit, while stratospheric ozone shows recovery.
These boundaries define the stable conditions supporting human civilization for 10,000 years. Exceeding them underscores a Malthusian reality—that societies are bound by natural limits—and overshooting risks destabilizing systems critical to Nepal’s survival.
Varsities as catalysts
A key barrier to climate action is pluralistic ignorance, where individuals privately worry about climate change but assume others do not, creating a spiral of silence that stifles debate and enables policy inaction. The UK’s Climate Barometer (April 2025) found 56 percent of adults rarely express climate opinions, and only 10% regularly share them. Though no similar surveys exist for Nepal, this pattern likely persists, with climate discourse dominated by technocrats, consultants, and experts, making it inaccessible to the public.
Universities can break this silence. In many Global South institutions like Nepal, students lack resources—computers, internet, and research materials. These future leaders must be empowered to tackle climate challenges. Knowledge-exchange programs between Global North and South universities can provide access to data, journals, professional development, and collaborative research, fostering grassroots capacity-building. NGOs and negotiation groups should prioritize local researchers, ensuring expertise grows where it is most needed.
Technology transfer
Bridging the technology gap between the Global North and South is a long-standing goal of climate negotiations. Yet many technology transfer programs fail due to insufficient local capacity-building. Renewable energy technologies, climate modeling software, mapping tools, and databases remain inaccessible to many in the Global South.
Progress requires local ownership and expertise, supported by Global North funding and collaborative programs. Universities are ideal platforms for these exchanges, ensuring sustainable, locally managed, and contextually appropriate technology adoption.
Transparency and accountability
Nepal has shown leadership in community-based climate adaptation. Its community forestry program empowers locals to manage over 25 percent of its forests, including women and marginalized groups in decision-making. Nepal’s policies align with the Paris Agreement, Kyoto Protocol, and UN Sustainable Development Goals. It aims for net-zero emissions by 2045 and has met its 45 percent forest cover goal. However, achieving these requires $33bn by 2030 for Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) and $47bn by 2050 for its National Adaptation Plan (NAP).
Despite resource constraints, communities apply indigenous knowledge to protect forests, preserve water, and pioneer adaptation. For example, Poly Concrete Nepal transforms non-biodegradable polystyrene foam—packaging waste from imported goods not created by Nepal—into lightweight, insulating construction blocks. This circular economy solution cleans up waste, creates jobs, builds resilient homes, and reduces emissions, deserving wider celebration and scaling.International climate funding often operates as a “black box,” with resources diverted to consultants, workshops, and reports rather than reaching communities.
Climate justice as rights
The ICJ’s affirmation that environmental protection is a precondition for human rights highlights how climate impacts amplify inequalities based on gender, caste, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status. For instance, a Dalit woman farmer in Madhesh facing drought encounters greater risks than a wealthy urban man, yet policies rarely address these realities. Climate justice must integrate equity, prioritizing the most vulnerable.
Moving forward requires reframing support as reparative justice, not charity. Resources should flow to community-led initiatives combining indigenous knowledge with innovation. The polluter-pays principle, reinforced by the ICJ, must guide climate finance.
Nepal can leverage international frameworks and local innovation. Directing funds to solutions like Poly Concrete Nepal’s waste-to-resource model, while holding polluters accountable, offers a path forward. The challenge lies not in solutions but in the political will to implement them.
The time for silence has passed
Nepal’s climate crisis is immediate, existential, and tied to global challenges. The ICJ has spoken, science has warned, and communities are innovating. What remains is the courage to act: breaking the spiral of silence, empowering universities, democratizing technology, ensuring transparency, and channeling resources to the frontline.
By combining local innovation with international accountability, Nepal can claim its right to climate justice and inspire the Global South. The era of passive suffering is over; Nepal’s voices must be heard, and global leaders and polluters must listen.
