Climate Change: Nepal's Growing Challenge and Legal Framework
Summary
Climate change is intensifying floods, landslides, glacier melt, droughts, and agricultural risks across Nepal, with the Himalayas, hills, and Terai all feeling the impacts. Nepal’s constitutional, environmental, forest, disaster, and local governance laws, along with international commitments under the UNFCCC and Paris Agreement, form the basis of its climate legal framework.
Key Points
- Climate change is causing rising temperatures, irregular rainfall, glacier melt, floods, landslides, and growing risks to agriculture and water security in Nepal.
- Mountainous and climate-sensitive regions of Nepal face increasing threats from glacial lake outburst floods, biodiversity loss, and damage to tourism and hydropower infrastructure.
- Nepal’s climate governance is built through the Constitution, Environment Protection Act, Forest Act, Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Act, and Local Government Operations Act.
- Nepal is a party to the UNFCCC and Paris Agreement, which shape its international obligations on emission reduction, adaptation, and climate finance.
