As Nepal heads toward the federal election on Falgun 21, 2082 B.S., political parties are once again promising employment, infrastructure, irrigation, energy security, and economic revival. In a country where many citizens still struggle with basic services and stable livelihoods, such priorities are understandable.

But one question demands serious attention amid the campaign noise: Are the candidates truly aware of the depth and urgency of Nepal’s climate crisis, and are their commitments sufficient to act on it?

Climate change has clearly entered mainstream Nepali political manifestos, with detailed commitments on forests, renewable energy, disaster risk reduction, Chure protection, and climate diplomacy. On paper, this is progress. But written promises and real governance are not the same. Despite policies since 2009, an NDC in 2020, and a net-zero pledge for 2045, national emissions have still risen sharply over the past decades. The gap between commitment and delivery persists. The 2082 election offers a chance to narrow it if voters demand action, not just language.

Climate change is no longer an environmental sidebar; it now shapes economic strategy, diplomacy, and national security worldwide. Since the 2015 Paris Agreement established the 1.5–2°C framework, climate policy has become politically decisive, with shifting U.S. commitments revealing its fragility, COP28 marking a first global pledge to transition away from fossil fuels, and Europe’s Green Deal reshaping international trade through carbon border measures. In South Asia, India is expanding renewables while targeting net-zero by 2070, Bangladesh has strengthened its global voice on adaptation and loss-and-damage, Pakistan’s 2022 floods intensified climate justice debates, and Bhutan sustains a carbon-negative model. As a Himalayan headwater nation, Nepal holds significant ecological leverage; the challenge is whether its leadership treats that position as strategic influence rather than mere vulnerability.

Climate change in Nepal is not just environmental, it is about unequal vulnerability and structural injustice. Rural communities, Indigenous groups, women, and the poor bear the heaviest burdens from floods, landslides, and drought, as shifting climate patterns disrupt livelihoods and erode traditional knowledge. The crisis exposes power imbalances at home and globally. While Nepal’s calls for climate justice are morally grounded, real progress requires stronger domestic institutions, empowered local governments, integration of Indigenous knowledge, and transparent, time-bound accountability.

Across major party manifestos, five core climate priorities emerge as the most substantial environmental agenda in any Nepali election so far, yet each reveals consistent structural gaps. Parties pledge to maintain 44% forest cover, strengthen fire monitoring, and protect the Chure, but enforcement and coordination mechanisms remain unclear. They promise to expand hydropower, solar, green hydrogen, electric vehicles, and clean cooking, building on Nepal’s renewable electricity base, though without a fossil fuel phase-out roadmap, binding targets, or firm budget commitments. Adaptation and disaster risk reduction are framed as development priorities, with commitments to early warning systems and resilience planning, yet implementation authority and financing remain unspecified. Manifestos also emphasize climate justice, green jobs, and inclusion of marginalized communities, but questions persist over who truly benefits from green investment. Finally, parties seek stronger climate diplomacy and access to global finance; however, without sustained institutional capacity and technical depth, these ambitions risk remaining rhetorical rather than transformative.

Nepal’s 2082 election is the first in which Generation Z forms a significant share of voters, placing climate at the center of the country’s political future. Over 90% of youth recognize climate change as a major threat, and many have directly experienced its impacts, making the crisis a lived reality. The gap is not awareness but policy understanding, reflecting weak political communication. Despite structural barriers such as patronage politics and youth out-migration, Gen Z remains the most climate-aware generation and will live longest with today’s decisions; parties that offer substance over symbolism will shape the future of climate politics. Globally, Nepal is often framed as a victim, but leadership offers greater leverage. As the source of major Asian rivers and home to a globally recognized community forestry model, with institutions like ICIMOD in Kathmandu, Nepal has the assets to champion regional water security and mountain climate advocacy, turning ecological vulnerability into strategic influence.

Nepal’s vast hydropower potential offers more than energy; it offers a verified climate contribution. Clean electricity exports to India and Bangladesh displace coal and should be recognized in Nepal’s NDC and international accounting, backed by concessional finance and strong diplomacy. To secure this leverage, Nepal must invest in negotiating capacity through a dedicated climate diplomacy unit, continuous technical training, and inclusive representation. With the right political will, Nepal can turn energy exports and diplomacy into real climate leadership.

While climate language has improved in party manifestos, it rarely shapes campaign debate, where attention remains fixed on coalitions and short-term infrastructure promises. Hard questions about hydropower resilience, fossil fuel transition timelines, and local adaptation financing go largely unasked. This reflects political incentives that reward visible, immediate projects over long-term resilience, whose success is measured by disasters that never occur. Yet climate is not separate from development; it determines food security, energy stability, and infrastructure durability. Despite existing commitments such as the 2019 National Climate Change Policy and the 2020 NDC, implementation remains limited, even as climate impacts reshape communities and drive migration. Linking credible climate action to local economic opportunity is now essential to Nepal’s democratic and developmental future.

Both manifestos show real climate ambition, but neither provides the institutional detail needed for delivery. A pledge becomes a plan only with accountability, timelines, dedicated budgets, clear responsibility, and transparent monitoring. Ring-fenced local climate funds, legally mandated coordination, stronger EIAs, and a credible Climate Finance Strategy are practical steps forward. Voters and civil society must demand that these scorecards and youth forums are essential tools of accountable climate governance.

Nepal’s 2082 election manifestos show that climate change has firmly entered mainstream political language. Parties now speak of forest conservation, renewable energy, Chure protection, climate diplomacy, adaptation, and international climate finance, a clear shift from a decade ago, when climate barely registered. But language is not governance. Awareness is not institutional transformation. Nepal stands at the frontline of climate risk between fragile mountains and flood-prone plains, at the source of rivers that sustain a billion people. It has world recognized community forestry, a climate-aware young electorate, and the moral and geographic standing to lead mountain climate diplomacy. What it lacks is not knowledge of the crisis, but the political will to turn promises into institutions, budgets, timelines, and accountable diplomacy. The 2082 election will not solve climate change. But it will determine whether Nepal chooses to treat it with the seriousness it demands.

Development without climate resilience is structurally fragile. Leadership without climate seriousness is diplomatically hollow. Nepal has the standing to be better than both.

About the Author:

Milan KC (Tigris) is a Social Science Researcher with a Master of Science in Forestry. His work focuses on the intersection of environmental governance, community-based natural resource management, and climate policy in the Himalayan context.

Email : milakc041@gmail.com
Contact : 9851091389

The post Are the Candidates and Voters Aware of Climate Issues? appeared first on DCnepal.

काठमाडौँ । ज्योतिषी रुद्रनाथ अधिकारी पक्राउ परेका छन् । चुनाव नहुने भन्दै भविष्यवाणी गरेका अधिकारीलाई काठमाडौँ प्रहरीले पक्राउ गरेको हो । 

उनले ग्रहण लाग्ने समयमा चुनाव गर्ने मिति तोकिएको भन्दै चुनाव नहुने र भए पनि अनिष्ठ हुने भविष्यवाणी गरेका थिए । 

निर्वाचन नहुने भन्दै भविष्यवाणी गरेर निर्वाचन बिथोल्ने गतिविधि गरेको भन्दै उनलाई मच्छेगाउँस्थित उनकै घरबाट पक्राउ गरिएको प्रहरीले जनाएको छ । 

परिवार स्रोतका अनुसार ज्योतिष अधिकारीलाई नियन्त्रणमा लिँदा प्रहरीले कुनै पुर्जी वा कागज देखाएको थिएन । उनलाई १० मिनेट कुरा गर्नुपर्यो भन्दै लगिएको परिवार स्रोतको भनाई छ । तर, साँझ अबेरसम्म पनि घर नफर्किएपछि बुझ्दा उनलाई पठाउन नमिल्ने र सम्मानसाथ राखिएको प्रहरीले बताएको अधिकारीको पारिवारिक स्रोतले बताएको छ । 

अन्य ज्योतिषीहरुले भने उनको पक्राउको विरोध गरेका छन् ।

काठमाडौँ । मंगलबार चन्द्रग्रहण लाग्दैछ । भूगोल सास्त्रीहरुका अनुसार नेपालबाटसमेत देखिने यो ग्रहण साँझ ०६ बजेर ०३ मिनेटबाट सुरु हुने यस ग्रहण ०७ बजेर ०२ मिनेट सम्म रहनेछ । एक घण्टा ०५ मिनेट यस ग्रहणको अवधि रहने बताइएको छ ।

चन्द्र ग्रहणको सुतक काल सामान्यतया ग्रहण लाग्नु ९ घण्टा अगावै सुरु हुने र यसबीचमा कुनै पनि शुभ कार्य नगर्न ज्योतिषहरुले सुझाएका छन् ।

तर निर्वाचनको मुखमा देश रहँदा केहि ज्योतिषहरुले नेपालीलाई ग्रहण देखाएर अत्याईरहेको पाइएको छ । चर्चित युवा ज्योतिष हरिहर अधिकारीले एक भिडियो पोष्ट गर्दै भदौ र फागुनमा भएको चन्द्र ग्रहणले नराम्रो असर गर्ने भन्दै फेसबुकमा पोष्ट गरेका छन् । भदौको चन्द्र ग्रहणलाई जोडेर भदौ २३ र २४ गतेको आन्दोलन देखिएको आसय ज्योतिषहरुले देखाएपछि त्रास फैलिएको छ ।

निर्वाचन आयोगले निर्वाचन भयरहित वातावरणमा सक्काउने भनेको छ । तर यहि समयमा ग्रहणलाई देखाएर युवा ज्योतिषहरुले नै जनता अत्याईरहेका छन् । यसअघि केहि ज्योतिषहरुले त फागुन २१ ग्रहणको प्रभाव रहने भएकाले चुनाव नै नहुने ठोकुवासमेत गरेका थिए । तर ती ज्योतिषहरुलाई फेल गर्नेगरी निर्वाचन आयोगले निर्वाचनको सम्पूर्ण तयारी सकीईसकेको छ । फागुन २१ गते हुने निर्वाचनको मौन अवधि सुरु भईसकेको छ ।

काठमाडौँ । नेपाल आयल निगमले पेट्रोलियम पदार्थको आयात नियमित रहेकाले अनावश्यक भण्डारण नगर्न आमसर्वसाधरणमा आग्रह गरेको छ ।

निगमका कार्यकारी निर्देशक चण्डिकाप्रसाद भट्टले अनावश्यक भण्डारण गर्दा दुर्घटनाको जोखिमसमेत हुने भएकाले अनावश्यक भण्डारण नगर्न अनुरोध गर्दै इन्धन नियमित भइरहेको र चुनावभरि नियमित हुने जानकारी दिएका छन् ।

उनले एक सूचनामार्फत भनेका छन्, ‘पेट्रोलियम पदार्थको आयात पाइप लाइनमार्फत नियमित रूपमा भइरहेको र आसन्न निर्वाचनको समयमा पनि पर्याप्त मात्रामा पेट्रोलियम पदार्थको आयात जारी रहनेछ ।’

उनले पेट्रोलियम पदार्थको अनावश्यक रूपमा जेरी क्यान, ड्रममा स्टोर गर्दा हुनसक्ने सम्भावित आगजन्य दुर्घटनाको जोखिमलाई मध्यनजर गरी जेरी क्यान, ड्रममा पेट्रोलियम पदार्थ भर्न निषेध गरिएको पनि जानकारी गराएका छन् ।

सम्भावित आगजनीजन्य दुर्घटनाको जोखिम न्यूनीकरण गर्न आवश्यक परिमाणमा मात्र पेट्रोलियम पदार्थ खरिद गरी सहयोग गर्न पनि नियमले सम्पूर्ण उपभोक्ता वर्गमा अनुरोध गरेको छ ।