KATHMANDU, NOV 23 - Nepal, in the capacity of LDC Chair, should play a meaningful leadeship role at CoP15 of UNFCCC to draw the attention of world leaders for earnestly addressing the negative impacts of climate change in the LDCs, despite they being least responsible for global carbon emissions, experts said on Monday.

Speaking at a 'Seminar on the Impacts of Climate Change in the Livelihoods of Nepali People: Issues and Concerns' organised by Rural Reconstruction Nepal (RRN), Arjun Karki, international coordinator for Least-Developed Countries (LDC) Watch, said that though the effects of climate change is experienced more by least-developed countries like Nepal, the countries’ voices are neglected by the global community. Nepal holds the current chair of the 49-nation LDC group at the United Nations.
 
The main objective of the seminar was to interact with relevant stakeholders including national organisations and government bodies to get relevant and up to date information that can be taken forward by Nepali representatives to the 15th Conference of Parties (CoP15) of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) to take place in Copenhagen, Denmark, on 7-18 December 2009.
 
Dinesh Devkota, Member of the National Planning Commission of Nepal, expressed the importance of establishing a system for managing traditional and indigenous knowledge on climate change to effectively feed this vital information into the national-level planning processes.
 
Krishna Oli, Regional Coordinator of the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development, highlighted the need for all to shift towards environmental-friendly consumption patterns.
 
Drawing on a recent report entitled Even the Himalayas Have Stopped Smiling by Oxfam Nepal, Prabin Man Singh stressed upon the immediate challenges of coordinating changing weather/climate patterns with livelihoods strategies.
 
Though all LDCs must prepare a National Adaptation Programme of Action (NAPA) to Climate Change, Nepal remains the only LDC to prepare it.
 
Source: The Kathmandu Post (24 November 2009)