Himalayan nations draft climate adaptation roadmap

The climate summit to be held in the capital on November 19 expects to adopt and endorse a 10-year road map for adaptation to climate change in the eastern Himalayas sub-region for ensuring food, water and energy security, and mechanisms to ensure financing and implementation of the road map.

It also expects to make a proposal to secure all of the eastern Himalaya’s temperate and alpine forests and grasslands for ensuring biodiversity persistence and maintaining ecosystem services.

The summit declaration will have a clause on creation and operation of a regional adaptation experts group which will advise the governments on emerging concerns and risks.

The four countries of Nepal, Bhutan, India and Bangladesh will work together to protect the Himalayas on which more than 1.3 million people depend for their livelihood.

The efforts to reach a consensus at a global level to mitigate the impacts of climate change and to agree on a clear commitment to support poor and particularly vulnerable countries in their struggle to adapt to climate change are still continuing, according to the convener of the Climate Summit Secretariat, Nawang Norbu.

However, in the Himalayas, where the impacts of global climate change are manifesting at a rapid pace, he said the time for action is running out.

Bhutan and its partners, therefore, proposed to bring together leaders of the four countries, civil societies and academia to commonly develop and agree on a road map for adapting to climate change in the southern slope of the Eastern Himalayas, which is to be ratified at the summit later this year.

The urgent need for the Himalayan nations is to build resilience to the impact of climate change and generate resources for adaptation, capacity building, and technology transfer.

Instead of focusing on the UN Secretariat, UNFCCC, for financing, they will garner pledges from partner countries to implement the declaration, said the executive secretary of the Secretariat, Thinley Jamtsho.

However, areas which will require major chunk of money on the ground level are yet to be identified. The financing mechanism will be discussed at the upcoming meeting next month.

They will be exploring the regional bilateral and multilateral partners. “We definitely require a huge funding,” the executive secretary said.

The regional experts’ consultative meeting held over the last month brought the insights of the participants on the key issues related to climate change adaptation with regard to water, food, energy, and biodiversity in the Eastern Himalayas which will be addressed by the road map by defining adaptation actions, roles and responsibilities at the regional and local level.

The road map will be implemented over the coming 10 years following the ratification of Bhutan climate summit.

Enough funds would have been garnered, capacity built at the ground level, enough technologies developed, and the countries would be well adapted even if some catastrophes occur in the next few years.

Meanwhile, the results of the four expert group meetings will be deliberated during the policy level consolidation meeting to be held in Thimphu in September.

The policy level meeting will bring about a consolidated regional road map for adaptation to climate change and draft declaration of the summit for submission to ministerial meeting to be held in November 18 leading to the signing of the declaration on the following day.

The process of developing a regional adaptation road map is almost complete, said Tashi Jamtsho.

The summit outcome will be showcased at the COP 17 summit in Durban, South Africa, not necessarily to garner funds but to showcase a regional contribution on the climate issue.