Kathmandu, May 23: Climate change experts from home and abroad have underlined the need to strengthen the roles of locals in efforts aiming to mitigate the impact of climate change.
They have pressed for enhancing the capacity of local communities to pursue an effective implementation of policies on climate change reduction and its adaptation.
The speakers stressed on this in a session on “Locally-led Adaptation: From Mountain to Marine Ecosystem” under the two-day international expert dialogue on “Mountain, People, and Climate Change” underway in the capital since Wednesday.
Food and Agricultural Association (FAO) Nepal representative Ken Simizu called for prioritising the implementation of inclusion-based policies on climate change mitigation and adaptation.
The good practices for climate change mitigation undertaken at the local level should be promoted by keeping the locally-available resources at the center, only climate finance is not sufficient to tackle problems caused by climate change.
Professor Dr Linfeng Fan from the Chinese Academy of Science stressed the need that the government’s entire policies and programmes aiming to mitigate climate change impacts should be guided by the resilience-based approach.
Mountain regions are at risk of landslides and avalanches due to climate change. Such incidents are expected to be complex and result in a significant loss, according to FAN who expressed concerns over a rising sea level due to the impact of climate change. He pressed the need to intervene in the rise of sea levels with the implementation of effective strategies, policies, and plans.
Dr Pam Pearson, the Director of the International Climate Cryosphere Initiative, warned that if the level of something persists, the sea level will increase, posing more threats to the low-lying settlements.
He called for making the local level aware that snow melting is a consequence of climate change and has led to the rising level of seawater and protecting snow is a must to prevent the sea level from further rising.
Dr Gopal Kumar, natural resource expert of International Water Management Institute, India, insisted on the need to awaken the local related organizations to implement the local adaption and mitigation at the local level effectively.
Time demands us to think about ways to promote green ecology and bring programmes capable of increasing the efficiency of local levels in the mitigation of climate change problems, according to him.
