CANCUN: The Mountain Alliance Initiative for Climate Change — Nepal’s effort to bring mountainous countries to a common platform in order to bring the mountain issues on climate change into global negotiation — has hit a snag after it failed to forge their support.
The ministerial level meeting of the mountainous countries proposed by the Government of Nepal received a nominal response in October this year which led the government to postpone the meet for March, 2011. Once again, the government has failed to gather the countries in the meeting organised here in Cancun of Mexico, where Minister for Environment Thakur Prasad Sharma was present.
Although the government had invited 50 countries, less than 10 turned up at the highly expected meeting.
The representatives from Peru, Uganda and Republic of Tajikistan, who attended the meeting, expressed their commitment to support Nepal’s initiative.
According to high-level sources of the government, most of the countries want to make a separate group and have not expressed their commitment because of the fear that other groups with which they are bonded at present may be disrupted.
Many groups are lobbying at the global meeting in various names like developed nations, developing nations, small islands group, least developed nations, to name a few.
“Regardless of other groups, ours is different in that it will promote the issues of mountains on climate change as these issues have been put on the backburner in global negotiations, “ said Dr Ganesh Raj Joshi, secretary, Ministry of Environment.
The Cabinet had decided to host a ministerial level meeting in Nepal. Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal had made an announcement to this effect at the Copenhagen Summit on climate change in December 2009 in the presence of over 110 heads of government.
Following the Cabinet decision, the MoE had invited ministers from 50 mountainous countries to attend the meeting slated for July, but the government had failed to receive confirmation from most of the countries, which led to the postponement.
Experts have opined that Nepal cannot lead such a group of countries with multiple interests and that bringing them into a common platform is a highly challenging task.
“It will not function well if we try to put all the mountainous countries with varying interests in one basket and that Nepal cannot lead this group because they are reluctant to come to a single common forum,” said Adarsha Pokharel, a climate change expert.
The ministerial level meeting of the mountainous countries proposed by the Government of Nepal received a nominal response in October this year which led the government to postpone the meet for March, 2011. Once again, the government has failed to gather the countries in the meeting organised here in Cancun of Mexico, where Minister for Environment Thakur Prasad Sharma was present.
Although the government had invited 50 countries, less than 10 turned up at the highly expected meeting.
The representatives from Peru, Uganda and Republic of Tajikistan, who attended the meeting, expressed their commitment to support Nepal’s initiative.
According to high-level sources of the government, most of the countries want to make a separate group and have not expressed their commitment because of the fear that other groups with which they are bonded at present may be disrupted.
Many groups are lobbying at the global meeting in various names like developed nations, developing nations, small islands group, least developed nations, to name a few.
“Regardless of other groups, ours is different in that it will promote the issues of mountains on climate change as these issues have been put on the backburner in global negotiations, “ said Dr Ganesh Raj Joshi, secretary, Ministry of Environment.
The Cabinet had decided to host a ministerial level meeting in Nepal. Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal had made an announcement to this effect at the Copenhagen Summit on climate change in December 2009 in the presence of over 110 heads of government.
Following the Cabinet decision, the MoE had invited ministers from 50 mountainous countries to attend the meeting slated for July, but the government had failed to receive confirmation from most of the countries, which led to the postponement.
Experts have opined that Nepal cannot lead such a group of countries with multiple interests and that bringing them into a common platform is a highly challenging task.
“It will not function well if we try to put all the mountainous countries with varying interests in one basket and that Nepal cannot lead this group because they are reluctant to come to a single common forum,” said Adarsha Pokharel, a climate change expert.
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