ANTALYA (TÜRKİYE): Foreign Minister Shisir Khanal has called on media organizations to report on the ongoing 31st United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP31) with sensitivity, accuracy and a proper understanding of the conference’s processes and objectives.
He stressed that journalists should familiarize themselves with the COP negotiation process before preparing reports, cautioning against portraying the conference negatively at its early stage or suggesting that no progress has been made.
“It is not appropriate to present a bleak picture when COP31 has only just begun. Reporting should not create the impression that no achievements have been made, as journalists need to understand the COP process, its objectives and the broader context,” he said.
Minister Khanal, who is leading Nepal’s delegation to COP31, made these remarks during an interview with RSS correspondent Bhishma Raj Ojha on Nepal’s participation, initiatives and engagement in the conference here today.
Responding to a question about Nepal’s engagement at COP31, Khanal acknowledged that reaching agreements through the United Nations system requires consensus among participating countries, making negotiations a time-consuming process. Nevertheless, he said Nepal’s concerns and proposals had received encouraging responses.
He expressed hope that progress could be made on three key priorities: promoting research on the impacts of rising temperatures in mountain regions, securing climate finance and establishing a dedicated dialogue on mountain-related issues. He said concrete decisions on these matters would constitute a significant achievement for Nepal at this year’s conference.
Highlighting the challenges surrounding climate finance, Khanal identified three major concerns. First, the financial resources pledged by the international community have not been adequately mobilized. Second, the commitments made so far are insufficient to address the escalating costs of the climate crisis. Consequently, Least Developed Countries (LDCs), including Nepal, have been calling for climate finance to be increased by at least threefold.
Third, he pointed to the complicated and lengthy procedures involved in accessing climate finance, emphasizing the need for simpler, more transparent and predictable mechanisms.
Minister Khanal also revealed that Nepal and Bhutan had jointly proposed incorporating mountain-related concerns into the formal COP agenda, with Kyrgyzstan subsequently joining the initiative. The three countries have since coordinated their efforts to advance the mountain agenda through the negotiation process.
Although the proposal has not yet been formally adopted as a separate agenda item, Khanal said the COP organizers and the negotiating presidency had assured the countries of their cooperation throughout the two-week conference.
He added that discussions were continuing to ensure that the key concerns raised by the mountain countries were recognized and reflected in the conference’s final decisions.
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