KATHMANDU: There are rare incidents that the political parties in Nepal discuss the agendas and programmes on impacts of climate change on human lives- one of the most pressing global issues.
Instead, what the politicians often serve are the public are panegyric sloganeering, tirade of criticism, and haughty promises.
Despite the leaders’ claim for country’s development and prosperity for long, the country’s status is more or less the same as was in the past.
Impacts of climate change caused due to global warming – unseasonal rain, changes in snowline and impacts on the lives of people in the lower coastal are therefore rare discourse among political leadership.
However, the CPN (Maoist Centre) is raising this issue for the first time among Nepal’s political parties from its General Convention.
Maoist Centre Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ said that his party had kept the environmental issues on top priority like other political agendas, adding that human life was in peril due to climate change impact.
Prachanda argued that the agenda was included in his political document since the adversityof climate change should be raised strongly to reduce its impacts on human lives and it was their responsibility to prioritise the climate change issues.
“Climate change and the rise in temperature have created crises in the earth and the entire human civilization. This is all due to capitalistic production system,” Prachanda argued.
He also expressed deep concerns to the rising deforestation, desertification, unseasonal flooding, and snowmelt.
He stated that such crises emerged also because of the financial monopolistic capitalism.
The Maoist Centre Chairman added that the countries near the sea are being submerged and the Himalayan countries likely to face climate disasters due to maximum snowmelt.
However, the capitalists are not concerned about such crises rather they are oriented to amass profit anytime sooner.
The former prime minister claimed that economic development along with the climate change issues would get priority from the socialist model that he is proposing in the party’s general convention which is beginning from Sunday in the Capital City.
According to him, the general convention would discuss the ideas of preparing a base of socialism at the local level by advancing the ideas of utilisation and conservation of natural means and resources. The Maoist Centre Chairman said that his party established the notion of preserving natural means and resources to reduce the climate change impacts from the local-level initiatives.
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