Stakeholders have pointed out that collective awareness and youth activism are necessary to minimize the effects of climate change. They said that although the effects of climate change are visible, policies, budgets and programs for mitigation are not enough.
Yagyamurthy Khanal, the focal person of the climate change program of the Ministry of Forests and Environment of Lumbini Province, said that since there are no separate laws on climate change at the provincial and local levels, they have to work within the policies and procedures of the federal government.
Khanal said that community awareness and youth activism are important for climate change mitigation and adaptation. He also informed that there is always lack of budget and manpower in the field of climate change in the ministry. He said that although there is a policy to form a council on climate change under the chairmanship of the prime minister in the union and the chief minister in the state, the council has met only once in the last 5 years in Lumbini.
Muna Sharma, Forest Officer of Division Forest Office, Palpa, said that to reduce the impact of climate change, it will be effective if a single policy is made that covers the topics of forestry, agriculture, tourism and climate change. He said that most of the forest areas in Lumbini province are community-based and forest management is being done on the same basis, so agriculture, forestry and private forestry programs should be carried out together for carbon storage and climate change adaptation.
Sharma said that due to the low population in the settlements around the forest area and the lack of young people, they could not work in the areas of climate change. Hemant Acharya, a young man from Bardia, campaigner against wildlife poaching, said that human-wildlife conflict is increasing due to the effects of climate change. He said that after the rivers were drying up, the wild animals started moving to the settlements and this was increasing the conflict with humans. He said that although Bardiya is an excellent destination for nature tourism, the number of eco-tourists is decreasing in recent years.
Yuvraj Kandel, a scholar of environmental impact, said that the effects of climate change are increasing due to the lack of coordination between the agriculture and forestry sectors. In the climate dialogue program, Biswas Baral, editor of The Kathmandu Post, discussed policy and legal issues, the role of stakeholders and the role and responsibility of the community and youth. Local youth, environmental engineers and students studying environment also participated in the discussion.
