KATHMANDU: Gharpajhong Rural Municipality of Mustang has invited all 753 local governments across the country to participate in a climate conference scheduled to be held in Jomsom next month.
The conference will take place on September 16 and 16 in Jomsom, the district headquarters of Mustang, according to the rural municipality.
The conference aims to develop a common understanding on the problems and challenges arising from climate change and ways to adapt to its impacts.
Chief Administrative Officer Bhim Kumar Basnet said the rural municipality is organizing the climate conference for the first time with the objective of drawing national and international attention to the effects of climate change.
He said letters have been sent to all local governments in coordination with the Ministry of Federal Affairs and General Administration, inviting them to participate in the conference.
The conference will discuss the impacts of climate change across the mountain, hill and Tarai regions. Participants will also make a collective commitment to reduce and address the impacts of climate change, with plans to issue the Gharpajhong Declaration 2083.
According to Basnet, invitations have been sent to all six metropolitan cities, 11 sub-metropolitan cities, 276 municipalities and 459 rural municipalities.
The conference will identify climate-related problems, disasters and impacts being experienced at the local level and discuss measures and strategies to mitigate them.
The organizers are preparing to hold extensive discussions along the Kaligandaki River, in the Muktinath area and at the foothills of Mt Nilgiri before issuing a climate declaration on behalf of the Himalayan districts.
The rural municipality said the common declaration will seek to draw the attention of national and international communities and amplify a collective voice of local governments against the impacts of climate change.
A photo exhibition highlighting the impacts of climate change will also be organized during the conference. Local governments have been requested to send photographs depicting the effects of climate change by Bhadra 15.
Basnet said local governments have also been requested to submit draft proposals by the same deadline, outlining their concerns and issues that should be incorporated into the declaration.
Preparations for the conference are underway with support from local governments that have sister-city relations with Gharpajhong and other local governments in Mustang.
In recent years, climate change has contributed to an increase in natural disasters in the Himalayan region, including avalanches, glacial lake outburst floods, floods, landslides and riverbank erosion.
Climate change has also significantly affected agriculture, livestock farming, religion and culture, and biodiversity.
The Himalayan region is increasingly experiencing irregular snowfall, drying water sources, shrinking grazing areas and growing human-wildlife conflict. These changes have also begun to affect livestock farming.
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